Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Sin gives us amnesia; it makes us forget.
Our amnesia has its roots in our sin nature and in our world. We forget how faithful God has been in the past. Even now his steadfast love, grace and mercy is at work. We know this, yet…
Even the men acknowledged by God as being after his own heart (David for example) forgot and sinned. The reality, the ultimate reality that surrounds us, is that God the Father, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are constantly at work in our lives and the world around us. The daily cause and effect in our lives, the so-called coincidence and synchronicity, the chance and luck are but traces of a complex and intricate weave of time and God’s providence and sovereignty.
The Bible defines sin as the breaking, or transgression, of God’s law (1 John 3:4).
What is the Law? The Law is Gods instructions concerning the moral, social, and spiritual behavior of His people found in the first five books of the Bible. The Law reflects the nature of God, because God speaks out of his Holiness. Therefore, since God is pure, the Law is pure. Since God is holy, the Law is holy.
If we think of how God did not want Moses to see him directly or the Priests to touch the Ark of the Covenant because they would die, we have a picture of our spiritual condition as it pertains to God’s purity and holiness.
Pride or sin, which came first? Solomon points out in Proverbs 21:4 that pride precedes sin. The world in which we live operates out of pride. I am prideful and so are you.
Sin began in the cosmos with the pride of Lucifer, affected a large number of angels we now call demons, and ultimately found its way into humanity by way of Adam and Eve’s rebellious prideful decision. It was rebellion against God and his Word. To understand sin helps us to understand salvation and our Savior. The world takes notice of spectacular sins, sins that grab the headlines. But our personal sin is systemic and is part of all we do. The apostle Paul personifies sin with a nature that is depraved and holding sway.
Humility can set you free, because when you think about yourself less you are free to think about Christ more. Humility puts us on a path of grace, whereas pride puts us on the path of opposition to God. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. C.S. Lewis said, true humility is “not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.” Proverbs reminds us when pride comes, disgrace comes.
Humility is fundamentally a form of self-forgetfulness as opposed to pride’s self-fixation. Therefore, you and I must put humility at the center of our thoughts and behavior each and every day.