The Abomination of Sin

This morning as I was reading Jerry Bridges new book, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, I ran across an illustration that got me really thinking. In the context, Bridges is writing about God's hatred of sin. He references such passages as Habakkuk 1:13 and Proverbs 6:16-19 which clearly demonstrate that God thinks of sin in a lot worse terms than we almost do.  It is in the context of God's hatred of sin that he shares the following illustration:

"Suppose you want a new rug to cover the wooden floor in your living room. Being of modest means, you go the local discount store and pay three hundred dollars for a rug. I come into your house with a bottle of black indelible ink and spill that ink on your rug. I have just ruined your three-hundred-dollar rug. But suppose you are a wealthy person and you pay thirty thousand dollars for an expensive Persian rug. If I spill ink on that rug, it is an entirely different matter. Why is that true? It is the same act on my part. In both instances, I have spilled black indelible ink on a rug. The difference, of course, lies in the value of the rug. This is the way we should view the enormity of our sin. God’s holiness cannot be compared to even the thirty-thousand-dollar rug. It is infinite. It is immeasurable. Furthermore, we do not accidentally “spill” our sin on God’s holiness. For the most part, we rather pour out our sin; that is, we choose to act out our pride and selfishness, our judgmental attitudes, and our unkind words about others. And when we do that, we deliberately pour out our sin on the holiness of God. That is why our sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, is always an abomination to God."

I must confess I often lose sight of just how abominable my sin is to God (and if you are honest you would certainly have to confess the same for your self). This is not hard to do given that we live in a society of people who, for the most part, look at what the Bible labels sin and simply shrug it off as "no big deal." However, it is a big deal to God. My prayer for you and for me is that we would learn to see sin as God sees it ... and to strive to put it off ... and to put on God's righteousness in its place (Ephesians 4:20-23; 1 Peter 1:13-16). I also pray that as we learn to view sin as God does, we will grow increasingly thankful for the cross. For in it ... we right now posses freedom from the penalty and power of sin ... and one day we will bask in the freedom from the very presence of sin! Oh what a day that will be!!!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj