IMHO I think one of the hardest things to do is to see that we are all the same. My sin. Your sin. It’s the same in the eyes of God. No matter how you shake it sin still spells S.I.N.
What makes it so hard for us to admit that is that we are really good at comparing. We choose the sin of someone else that-in our eyes-is bigger and worse than ours. When we do that we get a sense of self-satisfaction. We think, “Whew! I’m glad I don’t do THAT!” We develop this air of arrogance.
You know what I have noticed? Two things actually. One, we have a bad tendency to rate or number sin. #1 is the worst sin (in our eyes) and #10 is the least sin. Two, when we compare, we often see the worst in another while our sin falls down lower on the number list. We pat ourselves on the back (if we can get around our big head) because our #8 ranked sin is not as bad as their #2 ranked sin.
There are several fallacies with that type of thinking. One, God never classifies one sin as being worse than another. That is a human invention. My sin of impure thoughts is not worse than your sin of lying. James 4 (which I read this morning) say, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” (verses 1-2 ESV). So sin is in all of us due to the sin nature we all possess. What I want fights with what you want.
Two, James writes just a few verses later: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” (Verses 6-8 ESV). Then in verse 10 James tells us to “Humble ourselves before the Lord.”
Pride. That is what James is talking about. “I want what you have.” “My sin. Your sin.” “My way. Your way.” Pride. Pride uses fine china and fancy linen. Humility (the way of Jesus) uses a basin and a towel.
“Pride goes before a fall” we are told. Let’s stop with the “I’m better than/more holy than” and get real to the sin in our own life.
