ROMANS 7:7-13 – “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.”
THEME OF THE DAY: SEEING SIN RIGHT. Today’s scripture is one of the most thorough in defining and describing sin. And it goes beyond defining and describing. It reveals how heinous and wicked sin is. The Apostle Paul didn’t even have words to explain how bad sin truly is. He called it “sinful beyond measure” and the reason is because of the object of sin – God.
The correct view of sin has largely departed the modern church which means Christians lack or have forgotten when they were awakened to their sin. Sin has been reduced to a mistake, and our concern seems more of the consequences to us than the offense it is to God.
Our view of sin determines whether or not the chief virtue for all and any spiritual growth occurs in our lives – humility. The 17th Puritan pastor, Jeremiah Burroughs in his book The Evil of Evils wrote . . .
“Sin is the greatest evil of all because it is against God. There can be no humiliation deep enough unless the soul is humbled for sin because it has sinned against God.”
It is only when we see sin in this light, do we see ourselves right. Then, we are humbled, and stand in awe of God’s forgiving grace, and live thankful which propels holy living. But it starts with sin being viewed as the Bible portrays it not as the culture or sadly, even the church.
In The Heart Taken Up: 90 Days with the Puritans, Steven Yuille also gives us great insight of sin and God’s amazing grace. He writes . . .
“When we see our sin as it truly is, we recognize that we are guilty of disobeying God’s law, despising God’s goodness, and grieving God’s Spirit. We are guilty of provoking the One who is the source of all life, light, joy, peace, and comfort. That indeed makes sin ‘the greatest evil of all.’ But praise God! ‘Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more’ (Romans 5:20)”.
Seeing sin right. May the Lord grant us eyes to see such.
PRAYER: Father, make me see how heinous sin truly is by seeing it as it truly is – an offense and rebellion against you.
REFLECTION: We will never see God right until we see sin right nor will we marvel over His grace until we see sin right.