One of you blog readers recently asked me about sin, feeling like it was a bewilderingly long laundry list of shouldn’ts. I explained that that is not how I think about it. As a rebel, I don’t do well with a list of things to avoid. Tell me not to think about chocolate ice cream, and I’ll instantly be thinking about it and salivating. However, inspire me with a high ideal, and I’ll start gleefully climbing!
So if sin is anything unGodlike, then let’s expand our view of what God is like, and then strive to do that. When you are heading to Mexico, you don’t have to remember not to go to Prague. When they teach bank tellers how to spot counterfeit bills, they make them study a real bill instead, and then any anomaly will stand out. Focus on what is true, and let the rest go.
The way I think about this is “to avoid doing it wrongly, do it rightly.” This concept came from my spiritual teacher, David Driver, and fortunately he wrote about it here in this excellent article. Identifying the correct way to do something will steer you clear from all sorts of pitfalls.
Despite arguments to the contrary, you do not have a sinful nature that needs to be corralled, corrected, and whipped into shape. You are made in God’s image and likeness, which is very good. It is natural and joyous for you to do what is right. You express the full range of God’s glorious qualities and attributes, so there is plenty of wonderful good to be doing without ever deviating or getting bored!
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3 Comments
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If I live my life in love and good intent, do I need to define ‘sin”?
“Sin” seems to appeal to those who “know”, but more often prove they just think they “know”.The consequences of my own actions give me good guide posts.
❤️He’s a rebel and he’ll never be any good….
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Thank you for the link to David Driver’s Christian Science Journal article, which I really enjoyed and bookmarked.
My teacher also mentioned studying the real bank notes so counterfeits could be identified easily! Such good advice. -
Thank you!!!
