I once heard Pastor Chuck Swindoll tell this story. Let's say we were to get twenty of the best long jump athletes in the world and take them to Huntington Beach pier in California and line them up. And let's say they were instructed, "We went you to jump as far as you can out into the water." Some could jump twenty-five feet. Some would come near the record and jump twenty-seven feet. Perhaps one could set a new record and jump twenty-nine or thirty feet. But nobody could jump to Catalina Island. It is humanly impossible. Every person would miss the mark because Catalina Island is twenty-six miles away.
In Romans 3:23, there is the universal statement that God gives to all men when He says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We all have sinned and have missed the mark and are in need of the saving grace of God.
We live in a day when people reject any kind of judgement from someone else. They ask, “Who are you to tell me that what I am doing is wrong?”
But the God who sees all things and knows all things, pronounces a judgement over us all. He says, “We have all sinned and we fall short of God’s standard.”
Rarely today will you hear anyone talk about sin. Instead of the word sin we say we “made a mistake, have a struggle, or are dealing with a problem.” We hesitate to label it sin. But sin is what God calls it.
If I were to ask you to give me a list of sins, no doubt you could do it. You might include things like pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, idolatry, disobedience, greed, lust, pornography, theft, murder, and more.
Sin can be partly defined by saying that it is “Doing that which opposes God’s will or failing to do what God wills.” This however is only a partial definition because ultimately sin comes from wrong belief.
All sin is the result of us failing to believe God’s Word and believing something else instead.
Here’s some wonderful news…Jesus came to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15 - “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for sin means “to miss the mark.” It is to miss the target of God’s standards for our lives. Whether we realize it or not, sin is our rebellion against God.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve with the idea that if they ate the fruit, they would be like God. Their decision was a rebellion against God and his command.
Since that time, sin has been passed down through all the generations of mankind and we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited sin from him. Romans 5:12 tells us that through Adam sin entered the world, and so death was passed on to all men because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. David revealed we are sinful from birth. We are born with a sinful nature. In Psalm 51:5 he wrote, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
The problem with sin is that it separates us from God. God is holy and righteous and our sin has created a disconnection. Jesus, by his sacrificial death on the cross, took our place, paid our penalty for sin, and reconciles us to our Heavenly Father.
In addition to sin separating us from God, sin is dangerous for many other reasons. Sin produces personal defeat. We cannot live in willful sin and have spiritual victory at the same time.
Sin hurts those around us. We rationalize thinking our sin is personal and private, but sin has it’s ripple effects and damages our personal relationships.
Today’s Challenge: If you have been living in willful sin receive this word from 1 John 1:9. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
