SIN or sins?

So many times when we are struggling spiritually, we tend to focus on our sins and this leads to several things - striving, self-effort salvation, even despair!

What can we do? Let me offer something to think about.

SIN in the Bible is defined as unbelief - or NOT resting in God's unconditional love (agape). We were created for a dynamic relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit and to be free to love and receive love! Unbelief in God's heart for us, believing that he is a judge and against us is SIN. We aren't walking and resting in the truth of who God is and therefore who we are.

What does this produce? Pain - Soul Pain! In the deepest parts of our being, we ache and hear a devastating whisper - "I am not...!" I am not special, loved, accepted, pretty enough, competent, adequate, young enough, old enough, smart enough, going to make it! This is unbearable!

What do we do? We develop our strategies of pain management. We abuse food, drugs, alcohol, sex, relationships and religion. We use porn, people pleasing, materialism, performance and hiding. We disobey our parents, we steal from our neighbor, we cheat with our co-worker who is not our mate, we lie about what we are really feeling. The list of strategies of pain management are endless! What are these strategies? The Bible calls them sins.

These sins are not the problem! They are problematic. They can cause much pain and heartache, but they are not the problem. The problem is the unbelief - the not resting in God's agape. Remove your favorite pain management strategy and you still can have tremendous amounts of soul pain and you will be forced to pick another poison.

True healing comes not by reforming your behaviors but by returning to God and letting Him love you and tell you who you are. Remember, man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Father. He says He loves you unconditionally! Rest!