Very often I find resistance in my heart and mind before the crucifix or the altar – my mind and heart say like these: ‘It was not a big deal,’ ‘Everybody does the same,’ ‘I was just weak,’ ‘I didn’t have any other choice,’ ‘It’s me, I was born like that,’ ‘Nobody got hurt,’ and so on. I often deny my sinfulness. The world now whispers to our hearts ‘there is no real sin’ and ‘there is no true evil.’ I say to myself, ‘I don’t have to think about it now.’
But “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” As the Letter to the Hebrews writes, “before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”
Some say Christianity forces us to feel guilty. Some say Christianity created sin and guilt to control the man. Some preach the liberation of the man from Christianity to recover ‘humanity’.
But we know from history what happened to humanity when it denied its sinfulness and rejected Christ. How many thousands and millions of people were murdered under atheistic ideologies? Just take a look at the last century - too many massive destructions of human lives.
Where would I lead myself into when I deceive myself of my sinfulness? Will I be able to save myself? I don’t have such power. Self-deception will reject Christ and refuse his mercy. Because he has “come to call not the righteous but the sinners”, I will not find myself among those Christ calls to himself for salvation.
