Is Sin Really a Big Deal? Part 1: Sin Defined

Background Passage: Genesis 3:1-24; Romans 5:12-14
Today’s Focal Passage: Genesis 3:1-6

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden '?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die. ' " 4 "No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it]; she also gave [some] to her husband, [who was] with her, and he ate [it].

Smoking Kills

I’ve only been to Germany one time and it doesn’t really count. Sitting in the Frankfurt airport for six hours doesn’t really give one bragging rights to time spent in grand Deutschland. The Frankfurt airport, like any good international airport, provides globe-trotting jet setters with many a shopping opportunity. I found myself there in the international terminal browsing Duty Free passing time until my flight home. I noticed bulk cases of cigarettes in sizes I had never seen before. Let me say here that I am not a smoker and don’t really encounter retail cigarettes very often, meaning that these cases may be as common as a cold, but nonetheless new to me. It was only a moment before I noticed the special labeling on the outside of each of the bulk boxes. In large print, these words were scribed:

SMOKING KILLS.
SMOKING IS HARMFUL TO YOU AND OTHERS AROUND YOU.

This labeling was different than any Surgeon General warning you would find on individual packaging in the US. While the size and font did catch my eye, I was more caught up in the content. It was certainly of no shock to me to realize that smoking kills and is harmful to you and others around you. The surprise came and continues to come in the form of the following: How can we as people know something is bad for us and do it anyway? That’s a question we can ask about all sin. “Believers, why do we continue marring our life with things we know full well to be harmful, not only to us, but to others around us?”

Maybe it’s because we, like Adam and Eve, choose to believe some of the lies the evil one tells us about sin. (We won’t die; our eyes will be opened; we will be like God.) He is after all as scripture describes, very cunning. Maybe it’s because sin (like smoking) is habit forming. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.” Sin is an attitude of rebellion towards God and we do it even though we know it’s harmful to us and others around us. We do it even though we don’t want to. We do it because we want to believe the evil one’s lies and because we can’t help ourselves. Thank goodness we have a Savior who forgives our rebellious nature and connects us to God in spite of our sin.

What are the areas of sin where you struggle most? What truths about your own behavior do you need to believe? How can you rely on God’s power to kick nasty sin habits?