Skip to main content

Sin

 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7)

 
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 13:3)

          Yesterday’s reading in Soul Keeping was about sin and the soul. There wasn’t anything new in what I read. Here is Professor Willard’s diagram of the soul again for convenience.



          Mr. Ortberg’s main point is something I’ve shared before: sin separates. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone. It’s even touched on in the Harry Potter books of all places! Harry is told that murder rips a soul apart. It’s easy to see how murder rips the soul of the victim apart because it destroys the body. But J.K. Rowling, Professor Willard, and John Ortberg are correct. Let’s continue using murder as the example. When you murder someone, you separate them from everyone else. You also separate yourself from everyone else. You either have to hide what you’ve done from others, or you have to prove how it is that you – apart from all other people – are justified in what you did. You can no longer be trusted by others, who have reason to be concerned about whether or not you will kill them. Even to want to kill someone requires that you separate yourself from the someone and you separate yourself from that part of you that knows it’s wrong.

          The same holds true of “lesser” sins. The part of me that wants to eat something I know isn’t healthy separates itself from the part of me that knows better, and instead of discussing the matter and coming to a response that will benefit my heart, my mind, my body, and my soul, my body (for example) says “Shut up!” and shoves that tasty oversized whatever into my mouth. It’s like trying to take a piece of something the dog has found along the road away from her! “Mine!”  I growl.

          There are so many things to think about this. Am I enough aware to know when some part has separated itself – has sinned against me? How do I figure out which part of me had separated itself? The goal isn’t to learn to beat each part of myself into submission, but how do I figure out whether there is a real need and what it is? I don’t have answers – yet. Maybe you do. If so, feel free to share.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more