Sinfested

The Bible talks a lot about the conscience and regret for sin, but what about people who seem to thrive in sin and seem immune to remorse? When you knowingly sin (whether or not you’re aware of the definition of sin) the first time, you will feel bad about it afterwards. However, the next time, it becomes a little easier to do, and you feel a little less guilty. This cycle continues the more you sin. When you continuously sin, your conscience may become as dry as a bone, so much so that you don’t feel bad about it and may actually approve of others who do the same thing. Paul confirms this in Romans when he says that God reaches a point where he gives people over to their sin and sin-infested minds (Romans 1:26-32), which is a hard road to ever come back from. 

Empathizing with God’s View of Sin

God doesn’t look at sin as something you do or think that goes against a list of arbitrary house rules. Instead, as I mention in Chapter 1, God sees sin as a slap in his face and his holy nature. One of the most insightful examples in the Bible that illustrates this point is in the parable of the prodigal son. (For a full refresher on this story told by Jesus, see Chapter 3.) In his book The Cross and the Prodigal (Concordia Publishing House, 1973), Ken Bailey gives two insights into this parable that bring home the true nature of sin. First, the story starts off with a son asking his father (who is still very much alive and kicking) for his share of the inheritance. According to Luke 15:11-12, “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’” 

Even in the relaxed culture that you and I live in, this kind of request is a major no-no. But in the more traditional Middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ day, this request was unspeakably bad – it’s something that was never done. However, notice that the reason making such a request was so terrible had nothing to do with rules (the Hebrew Law was silent about such a request), but had everything to do with the relationship between the son and his father. The request was simply understood as impatience on the son’s part for his father to die. Through this story, Jesus indicates that the prodigal son’s sin wasn’t about breaking rules, but about breaking his father’s heart. 

In addition, the older brother in the story – who’s often thought of as the good kid – also sins against the father. When the prodigal returns and his father forgives him, the older brother complains bitterly. Jesus continued: But the older son was angry, and wouldn’t go in. Therefore, his father came out and begged him. But he answered his father, “Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.”

-Luke 15:28-30 

Living in the United States, I may overlook the cultural significance of how the older brother behaves, but if you ask a Middle Easterner, you get a much different take on the situation. The older brother’s refusal to attend his brother’s celebration is a public slap in the face to his dad. What’s more, his subsequent heated conversion with his father reveals a deep disrespect and contempt for the man. The older son seems to be the good, hard-working kid who obeys his father, but when push comes to shove, the spiritual sins inside of him hurt his father just as much as the impulsive sin of his younger brother.

 

When you look at sin in this light, you can see that it’s not simply about breaking a “do’s and don’ts” list. Sin is all about hurting God’s heart. When I sin, I wound God, just like both of the sons in the parable of the prodigal son break their father’s heart.