No Big Deal – Trivializing Sin
In virtually every context that makes people ‘feel good’, whatever that might be at the time, people inside the church find ways to justify things we should not do. Consequently, sexual sin is ‘ok’ because the Book is out of date, and substance abuse of various types is ok because most people aren’t trying to “unite with the spirit world”, and foul language is ok because it’s only the old-church fuddy-duddies who worry about that, and we can feed our eyes, ears, and minds with the trash the world offers because we’re ‘washed, sanctified, justified’ by the blood of Christ so it doesn’t affect us. Yoga is ok. Tai Chi is ok. TM is ok. Tarot is just a game. etc. Strictly speaking, it is possible to trivialize anything someone might prefer to do, making it ‘no big deal’ or ‘I’m only human’ or “God wants me to be happy’.
There is little or no awareness of Christ’s suffering for our sin. No association between that trivial little pet sin that someone wants to cling to and the cost to the One Who has shed His blood to purchase them back, filthy, tarnished, and used up. They don’t see themselves as the harlot in the prophetic analogies of Hosea or Isaiah. As Israel was depicted as God’s ‘bride’ in the Old Testament, the church is the bride of Christ, and whenever individuals choose to love something more than Christ, we become that harlot – the “bride’ who has cheated on the Husband Who has bought her.
When those nails were pounded into His hands, it was my sin that powered the thrust. When they hoisted that cross into the air, it was our sin that wrenched His tired and battered body, strained His muscles and ligaments, and crushed His breath from His lungs. Not just our ‘big’ sins, but all of our sin – every last tweek of trivial disobedience and unfaithfulness that is so easy and seems like such a trifling thing to us. That ‘one little sin’ would have been enough to bar us from the presence of God for eternity, and would require the very same grace to purchase back life as if we murdered a little child. And that’s what most ‘christians’ don’t get, and that’s why most christians don’t think it’s a ‘big deal’ when they conform to the world rather than being transformed by the renewing of their mind so they can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. They think that being friendly makes us ‘in the image of Christ’, but the image of Christ is pure, clean, wholly righteous, and just. Until we are like that too, we aren’t in His image. We won’t ‘arrive’ while we’re here, but as long as we seek our own way, we’re no different than any other sinner – in rebellion.
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