Outside my window, a lawn service is cleaning up the autumn leaves \u2014 for the fifth time. The total number of leaves is enormous, and the faces on the lawn crew show their astonishment. Though they\u2019ve come five times, they found us inundated every visit.<\/p>\n
This situation has made me ponder some things about sin. For example, growing up in a Christian setting is advantageous in many ways. There are life-damaging sins that need not be committed, the consequences of which need not be incurred. The pliable nature of a saved child can be formed into Christlike preferences and habits. What a precious testimony is made possible by a lifelong relationship with the Lord.<\/p>\n
However, every convert, young or old, must recognize and remember this truth: Each of us has many sins. Using figurative language, the Bible says they are countless (Psalm 40:12) \u2014 somewhat like the autumn leaves.<\/p>\n
When I came to Christ as a child, my sins were many. Some wrongs I hadn\u2019t committed yet and some I\u2019d never commit. But a canopy of sinful desires and behaviors had already begun to fall upon me, leaving me buried enough to need a Savior. Whether my pile of sins was measured at age fifty, twenty, or ten, it would have been an astounding total \u2014 more than anyone could withstand (Psalm 130:3).<\/p>\n
Compounding our \u201cpile\u201d considerably, James argues that breaking just one command of God\u2019s law is the equivalent of breaking them all (2:10). This is because what matters most isn\u2019t what<\/em> we violate but whom<\/em> we violate: God (v. 11). We do this by committing just one sin, because, by its very nature, sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2), the only source of life (Nehemiah 9:6). Even a \u201clightweight sinner\u201d is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1).<\/p>\n How many ways did Jesus say it? He\u2019s the water of life (John 4:14) and the bread of life (6:35). He is <\/em>life (11:25; 14:6) and was sent that we might have life (3:16; 10:10) \u2014 what every sinner needs.<\/em><\/p>\n Because conversion drastically decreases the incidence of sin in people\u2019s lives, we Christians can easily join the Pharisees and the disciples in viewing ourselves as less in need of a Savior than others (Luke 5:30; 15:1, 2; 9:51-55). How wrong we are, though, to think we stop sinning. The Bible is clear that this isn\u2019t the case (Proverbs 20:9; 1 John 1:8).<\/p>\n Praise God that my salvation stops me from engaging in so many different sins, but I have still been forgiven much and will continue to be forgiven much. My pile of sin \u2014 past, present, future \u2014 would be enough to doom me to an eternity without God. To be forgiven this amount is much indeed! I don\u2019t want to lose sight of this, ever, because Jesus said, \u201cWhoever has been forgiven little loves little\u201d (Luke 7:47). None of us has been or will be forgiven little. God forbid that we think it.<\/p>\n Every spring when seemingly countless leaves begin to bloom, that\u2019s exactly how many will drop to the ground in the fall. What a reminder of how much Jesus accomplishes the moment He saves us. The Old Testament praises God who forgives all our sins (Psalm 103:3), and the New proclaims the same (Colossians 2:13). How thankful I am that my pile isn\u2019t too big \u2014 that no pile is too big.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Outside my window, a lawn service is cleaning up the autumn leaves \u2014 for the fifth time. The total number of leaves is enormous, and the faces on the lawn crew show their astonishment. Though they\u2019ve come five times, they found us inundated every visit. This situation has made me ponder some things about sin. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":4236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n