What is Sin? - Lee Brainard

What do you think of when you think of the word sin? Most men think of words like fun or pleasure. Sins are forbidden pleasures that the old party-pooper in heaven doesn’t want man to enjoy. This view of sin regards God as a little on the unrighteous side.

But this view is completely mistaken. Sin is sin because it is harmful to man. Playing with sin is like slowly poisoning yourself or playing chicken with cars on the highway. Eventually it will cost you far more than you ever anticipated. God doesn’t warn us against sin because he desires to undermine our happiness. He warns us against sin because he seeks our happiness.

Bible dictionaries tell us that the Greek word for sin means “miss the mark.” When we miss the mark, we are not missing some arbitrary mark set by an arbitrary God. We are missing the God-designed way that brings real and lasting happiness. God designed us and made us. Doesn’t it stand to reason that he knows better than we do what we need to find and retain happiness?

Will you respond to sin in a way that honors God? Will you trust that whatever he bans as sin, he bans because it is not good for you? Will you search the Scriptures often and carefully so that you can better understand the gospel and how Christians should live?

~Lee Brainard, July 25, 2015