Friday, 09 January 2009
-
How Sin Effects Us & How It Effected Adam and Eve
(I speak from my own experiences with sin here, what I struggle with, and what God is showing me.)
Have you ever thought of what happens when you sin? What effect it has on your relationship with God? Sure, we all know that we can repent from sins and be forgiven -- but what other, possibly lasting, effects does it have on us? Also, how much different is it for us verses the original sin of Adam and Eve?
When someone sins knowingly, they are building a wall between them and God. You know you are hurting Him, you know you are disobeying Him, you know you have done something wrong. So, how can one face their LORD of whom they have disobeyed? Unlike with humans, you can't simply act like it didn't happen. God knows everything, and He knows what you did or thought. There's no hiding it. The closest thing a human can do is to run away -- to avoid God, to not talk to Him, not associate with Him. Yet He's still there, still knows you did it. You just don't have to think about it. This is the worst aspect of sin, it causes you to turn from the only one who can save you. Shame, guilt, fear, not wanting to let go of a certain cherished sin or admit you were wrong for it -- these are all major blocks that build our wall between God and ourselves when we sin.
This, however, must pale in comparison to what Adam and Eve felt when they sinned. We can hide, we can forgot about God and go on about our daily lives, pushing Him further away. They couldn't, though. They lived face-to-face with Him in the garden, and it was impossible for them to avoid Him. Imagine how much greater the fear and shame must have been! To not only know you were caught in the act of something very wrong, but to know you have absolutely no way out of the consequences! How lucky we are that He is forgiving and patient, and that we have many chances to change and repent from our sinful ways. One sin does not throw us out of the "garden" unless we let it.
Does this mean that our sins are less important than those of Adam and Eve's? Less harmful? Not in the least! "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 6:23 NKJV. Paul didn't say that any one sin does not cause death, rather that all do. The only difference between that of Adam and Eve's sin verses ours, is that they were living face-to-face with God at the time they did it. We are born in a world already separated from God, into a world full of sin. Thusly our punishment may hold off until we are judged, because we simply have to blend in with the sinful world of which we live.
This does not mean that we won't see God's blessings less in our lives if we continue to sin, though. As I said before, with each sin we are building up a wall between us and God. It is not Him who builds it, it is us. Every sin we commit requires true repentance and a real desire to change in order to knock down the bricks we have places from it, otherwise it may still be present when we try to commune with God. Whether it is a lack of faith that we will be able to fight temptation next time, some remnants of guilt as we don't fully believe we are forgiven, or some feelings that we still want to commit the sin again in the future -- it still can play an effect on us, even after repenting.
So, next time you find yourself giving into temptation in some way, try and consider what damage it is really doing. Think of how much bigger its effects are on you and your relationship with God, beyond a simple moment's sin that you can later take back. Do we really want to risk putting one too many bricks on that wall, that it causes us to be unable of turning back to Him one day?
What have you noticed sin do to effect your life and relationship with God in the past?
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Post a Comment