Hello! I know I have taken a break from telling my story... that's partly because I felt pressed to talk about the the questions I feel a lot of Christians and non-Christians ask. But back to my story, Jesus found me again and this time I was sure I wasn't going back. But as you may know, I started to sin (or fall short of God's glory as the Bible says).
I started to wonder, "God, I have accepted Jesus as my savior and believed that he died for my sins. Old habits are dead, everything has become new. I am a NEW CREATION! Why then do I still have lustful thoughts, or lie about my grades or covet my best friend's successes? Come on! Why?"
And he told me (yes, we are in the 21st century and God actually talks to people), "You don't know me!"
"Ok! Hold up! I don't know you? You know more than anyone else that I read the Bible everyday. I have quiet time. Heck I even started tho blog because I wanted to share you with the world. Come on! You know that's not true." I retorted.
......... Well I was waiting for a reply just as you all are but .. Nothing!
That was the end of the conversation.
Due to my persistent nature, I set out to find out what that meant. After studying the Word and listening to some Christian messages, it came to me.
You see what God meant was I don't trust him. Trust is so powerful that the lack of it could damage you and your relations with others. According to Erik Erikson, during infancy, children go through a Trust vs. Mistrust stage. If children have no parents or caregivers to trust, it is predicted that they will have a hard time trusting anyone for the rest of their lives, even themselves. Crazy huh!
So what does this have to do with sin?
Well the Bible states in Romans 14: 23 KJV "...for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
Meaning, SIN = (-)negative FAITH
If I do not trust God, I will lie, steal, murder and do whatever it is you might call sin.
A Christian who steals a car simply does not trust that God can provide his needs (in this case a car)
Let me take this a step further. the only two reasons why we sin or do not trust God are fear and selfishness.
Fear: Anything done in fear indicates a misdirected trust (i.e trusting the wrong thing). One who is scared of dogs, trusts in the ability of the dog causing harm rather than in the trust of one being able to fight the dog (depending on the dog, its always best to run). If I was born in a country that prosecuted Christians, chances are that I may lie about my faith out of the fear of being tortured or killed. Therefore, this fear indicates my trust in the ability of others rather than placing my trust in God knowing he will save me.
Selfishness: A selfish act indicates the need to benefit oneself over others. Stealing, murder and lust are all acts of selfishness. If you focus on yourself alone rather than on God and others, I put it to you, YOU WILL SIN!
So FEAR + SELFISHNESS = SIN = (-)negative FAITH
(note: the two don't have to occur at the same time to be called sin)
To every basic math problem, there is a solution.
I know the solution to sin. Do you?
Let me know in the comments section below
We'll talk more later.
See you tomorrow!
Or will I?
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