My Addiction
SIN — When Wrong Becomes a Choice
The word SIN has become an interesting word in modern culture. For some people, it immediately belongs to religion. It brings to mind churches, sermons, commandments, judgment and punishment. For others, it sounds like an outdated word that belongs to another generation. Then there is the way we use the word casually in everyday life. Something can be “sinfully delicious,” chocolate can apparently be a sin, and a guilty pleasure can be described as a little sin. The word has been used so casually that much of its original weight has disappeared. But perhaps the problem isn’t the word itself. Perhaps the problem is that we have forgotten what the word is actually trying to confront.
At its most basic level, SIN is about something being wrong. You don’t need to be religious to understand that. We understand betrayal. We understand dishonesty. We understand cruelty. We understand abuse. We understand taking advantage of another person. We understand deliberately hurting someone. We understand destroying someone’s trust and then refusing to accept responsibility for it. These things don’t suddenly become wrong because somebody puts them into a religious conversation. We already understand them. We already know that some things are right and some things are wrong, even if we sometimes disagree about where every individual line should be drawn. That is where the word SIN still has power. It gives a name to something that exists long before we start arguing about religion: the reality that human choices can be morally wrong and that those choices can cause real damage.
When the language changes
One of the strange things about modern culture is how easily we can change the language surrounding our behavior. Something that was once called selfish can become “looking after yourself.” Dishonesty can become “being clever.” Irresponsibility can become “living in the moment.” Betrayal can become “following your heart.” Destructive behavior can become “just being human.” There is nothing wrong with trying to understand why somebody behaved in a particular way. Circumstances matter. Background matters. Experiences matter. But an explanation is not necessarily an excuse, and understanding why someone did something does not automatically make what they did right or acceptable.
We have become remarkably good at finding explanations for our own poor behavior. When something goes wrong, there is usually a reason. We were angry. We were hurt. We were under pressure. Somebody else started it. We were influenced by the people around us. We didn’t think it through. We had no other choice. Sometimes those explanations are completely valid, but they can also become a convenient way of avoiding responsibility. Eventually, we can become so focused on explaining our behavior that we never stop to ask the more uncomfortable question: Was what I did actually wrong? That is where the word SIN becomes uncomfortable again, because it doesn’t simply ask us why we did something. It forces us to consider what we actually chose to do.
Let’s Pray:
Lord, help me with my fickle heart – show me and teach me how to partake in responsibility.
In JESUS name – Amen!