Way back in the first few chapters of Genesis we begin to see the biblical account of how sin entered the world. We see how the first human beings on earth, Adam and Eve, lived in perfect harmony and fellowship with God. However, when they disobeyed God’s command to not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they committed sin.
The Bible goes on to tell us that everyone born since then has inherited this original sin nature. (Romans 3:23) tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Book of Jeremiah puts it this way: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
It is our nature, the Bible tells us, to sin. And no matter how hard we try we, by ourselves, can never break out of its evil clutches.
Just what is sin? Simply put, it is any action or thought that we do or entertain that goes against what God, through His Word, the Bible, has told us is right and proper. It is this inborn sin nature that lies behind all of the problems we face in life.
The reason the alarming trends toward self-annihilation are increasing today is that our society, by and large, refuses to acknowledge this biblical view of ourselves. Instead, the official religion of our land has become one of secular humanism. And one of its five fundamental tenets is that man is innately good.
To many people, sin is only something that other people do. To many, murder, stealing and adultery are all that sin encompasses. The Bible, however, says sin is much broader. The following two portions of Scripture will tell us what God views as sin:
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. (Romans 1:28-31)
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21)
Under this definition, we begin to see that sin is an integral part of our makeup. The above sins are outwardly expressed; but what about our sins of omission? Each year a new name of horror hits our headlines. Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Mali represent millions of people who have literally starved to death through severe droughts and political escapades. Yet our silos are bursting at the seams with food and grain galore.
How can we sit back and allow tiny children and old folks alike to cry aloud for a few morsels of food when we throw out more than enough to feed them all? The answer is not just apathy, but sin. Sin is the great divider that not only separates us from fellowship with God, but from quality relationships among ourselves.
The main focus in our lives, because of sin, is not on God, or even others, but on self. Sin always seems to find us out when we examine the motive behind our actions. I share the following personal testimony to demonstrate the all-encompassing nature of sin.
Back in 1981, before I became a Christian, I used to do volunteer work at a community center for mentally disturbed individuals in New York City. Twice a week I would donate my time to help feed, socialize with, and listen to the problems of these hurting people. Years later, when I began to analyze my motives behind doing such a worthwhile activity, the answer suddenly became obvious. Back then there existed a great void in my life, and a desire to find meaning. I thought that this work would help fill that void in my life. The real reason behind my outwardly good deed was not to help others, but to help me.
As our society continues to drift into the fantasy world of humanism, believing in our innate goodness and that we can somehow solve all of our problems, our hopes for solutions become dimmer and dimmer. It is clear that our natures by themselves are prone to evil; just examine the evidence and your hearts. Someone once said in referring to the Bible, “Sin will keep you from this Book or this Book will keep you from sin.”