Bird’s eye view of the nature of sin
What is sin?
Sin is a spiritual bullet that the devil uses to fight against God. We are involved in a spiritual war not because the devil wants to attack us, we are taking bullets that are aimed at God. The devil is always involved in a battle with Heaven.
We are the proxy of God on earth, and as the representatives of God on earth, we are also fighting against the devil. The spiritual battle we are involved in belongs to our Master, Jesus. He is One who defeated the devil and chased him from heaven. And since the devil was chased from heaven, he is always trying to level the score by attacking the only thing that God loves so much, His children.
Every time a child of God succumbs to sin, the Lord is hurt. He is hurt because He loves us so much and understands the consequences of sin to us. Sin is darkness and death and anyone who loves sin will not escape the trap of death. Indeed, sin is death because it leads to a spiritual as well as a physical death.
The most important level of human existence is a spiritual existence. Jesus died so that we may have a spiritual life and to have it abundantly. When we are alive spiritually, everything that is called by our name would also be alive.
The Lord is our Father who wants us to prosper, and He is disappointed when we succumb to sin. He would be disappointed because He knows that sin would kill everything that is associated with us. Sin kills our joy, peace, prosperity, and it also robs us of our eternal life that God promised us through the death of the Lamb of God.
Sin is any action or thought that fight against the word of God. Surely, sin wants to undermine the authority of God over His creation. The Lord has the first claim over all His creation, and every created thing was created to glorify God. God’s creation could only glorify Him when it is subjected to the authority of His word.
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do ever thing for God’s glory” (1 Corinthians 10:31, HCSB).
The Lord’s throne is in heaven, and He administers His Lordship over us through His word. His word is our blueprint of life, as it tells us how to live our lives the way God intended. But sin is the opposite of the word of God because its sole intent is to undermine it. The word of God helps us to glorify the Holy name of the Lord, but sin is doing the opposite, it wants us to shame Jesus.
Anyone who sins rejects God’s authority over his life. This is exactly what the devil wants when he tempts us to commit any sinful act. The devil wants us to fight against the only One who loves us so much. His goal is to steal us away from the heart of Jesus.
When the devil has succeeded in stealing us from God, we would live in an environment of spiritual death, and everything that is connected to us would be covered with darkness which is death. We might still be alive bodily, but God would see and define us for what we would be, He would see us as walking dead people. When we are in this sad spiritual space, sorrow, death, and failure would characterise our lives. Failure and death would not only affect us, it would affect our families as well.
Sin is connected to temptation, but the two are not the same. Temptation is bait that the devil uses to trap us into an abusive relationship with sin. The devil could tempt us to sin, but if we do not fall into his bait, we are innocent of any wrongdoing. It is only when we decide to bite the bait of sin that we would begin to have fellowship with sin.
Those who have a relationship with sin have fellowship with it at two levels. They either have fellowship with it because they have been deceived into that relationship, or sin is their idol, it is part of who they are and because of that, they cannot live without it.
Sin is a consequence of temptation. This is how many people begin their relationship with sin. Many people have been duped into a relationship with sin through temptation. The devil could use anything to tempt us to fall into a relationship with sin.
He could use those who are close to us to bring us into his kingdom. Anyone who lives in sin worships the devil. Indeed, more often than not, the serpent will exploit our weaknesses in order to trap us into a relationship with him. He could use our ignorance of the word of God to lie to us, he could use our needs to bring us into his fold, or he could exploit our weak character or personality to put a ring of sin in our finger.
If we are not honest or if we are impatient, the devil will use these weaknesses to make us commit sin. In fact, the devil could use any weaknesses that we have to lead us into sin. When we have a weak character, the devil will succeed to tempt us with sin.
The serpent also exploits our ignorance of the word of God to make us do what we are not supposed to do. When he uses our ignorance of the word of God against us, we will commit sin without realising the impact and consequences of our actions. Undoubtedly, many people commit sin out of ignorance of the word of God.
You cannot please God if you do not know how to please Him. The word of God explains all the expectation of God for us. If you do not know the word of God, you are already living in sin. You might not know this, but it is the truth. You might be having a relationship with sin without realising that you are living in opposition to the word of God.
Sin is an idol. After the serpent has trapped you to commit one sin, he will make sure that sin becomes your permanent partner. When you have developed a permanent relationship with sin, you would have backslid. Not only would the devil marry you to one sin, he would make sure that you are wedded to any kind of sin he wants to hook you with.
When the evil snake encourages you to commit one sin, he is actually introducing you to his vast world of sin. In due course, he would marry you to all kinds of sin, and as a result of that, you would not mind doing any sin. At this stage of your life, you would have forgotten about God and the authority of His word over your life.
When you have a permanent relationship with a particular sin or a number of sins, you would not be able to live without those sins. Anyone who cannot live without sin has made sin his god. Indeed, when sin is your lord. it becomes the most important thing in your life.
When sin is your idol, your behaviour would always be influenced by it. Sin is bossy and abusive. It knows how to issue instructions to people, and it would always compel them to do what it has instructed them to do. Anyone who listens to the instructions of sin has really made sin his idol. This person would worship sin the way he would worship God. Sin would take the place of God, as it would be the number one thing that determines his behaviour.
Sin is addictive and due to this, it will tell you what to do, how you must do it, and when you should do it. When you are addicted to sin, you would prioritise sin over anything, including your own family and health.
When you are wedded to the bottle or nicotine, you would drink, or smoke even though you might not feel like drinking or smoking. If you are married to fornication or adultery, you would also be controlled by these vices. You would do all that sin tells you to do, and unfortunately, you would disregard anyone who holds a different view.
Any person who is wedded to fornication or adultery is prepared to fight with anyone who wants them to break free from these sins. He would be prepared to break his marriage for the sake of sin. A fornicator or adulterer is willing to do everything to satisfy his lustful desires. He is prepared to waste his money and energy for the sake of the sin he is wedded to.
The same is true for those who love money. The love of money is sinful, and anyone who loves money would do everything to have it. He is prepared to risk everything to get money. He would risk his faith, his life and health for the sake of getting a few dollars. Anyone who loves money is ready to do anything as long as it brings them money or wealth. They are prepared to die, to be imprisoned, or to be sick as long as they could have money. To them, everything is rosy as long as they have money.
Not only would anyone who is involved in sin be prepared to do anything to stay in the abusive relationship with it, he is prepared to die for it. Sin has killed many people and it would continue to do so as long as there are people who worship it.
Those who idolise sin have also associated their names with it. When a person has associated his name with a particular sin, people will associate his name with that specific sin. Indeed, when people think about that sin, it would remind them of the one who is associated with it.
When a person has associated his name with a particular sin, he becomes an active agent of the devil. This person would become the advertisement board of the devil. He would become the walking advertisement for sin, and the serpent would lure others into a relationship with sin through this person.
Indeed, this person would be a point of reference for those Satan wants to trap into a life of sin. If your name is associated with a particular sin, the devil would encourage others to follow you. He would fool them by making them concentrate on the advantages of sin. Sin has no advantage because it kills. But the devil would use your success or fame to lure others into a life of sin, with the promise of fame and success.
If you are rich and live in sin, the devil will connect your riches with sin. He will make people concentrate on your riches, in order to give them the impression that sin has made you rich or famous. This is how the devil would use those who have fallen into sin to lure others into the same trap. Assuredly, when your name is associated with a particular sin, you would be net that the serpent would use to lure others into his evil corner.