“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1) I fear that far too many today have determined that sin is an action only, that performing a deed that goes against the will and Word of God is the only cause for repentance and the offering of our asking for forgiveness to the Lord with 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I believe that many, if not most have determined that an inaction, in and of itself is not a sin, for how can one repent when one has not performed a deed against the Lord?
There are certain commandments given to us by the Lord that are not seen as an action by many who call Him Lord, they are more of a suggestion to them, an “It would be nice if you did this” type of statement. The first one that comes to mind is “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37) Herein is where the world pushes at us the hardest, here is where we make our false gods, and place them before the Most High. Where our mind, our thoughts spend the most time is what consumes us, it is what draws us to itself, and in many believer’s minds that is the world.
Their employment field, their spouse or children, the cares and worries that the world through various sources attempts to tell us each day are so important. What we think about the most is what draws the majority of our thoughts, and if that is not Christ, then in accordance with that verse, it is a sin. Anything we place above or before Christ is an offense to Him. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8)
Humility is not a staple in the lives of many, they would rather be right than corrected, and the only replacement for humility when it is not in the heart of a follower of Christ, is pride, perhaps the greatest of sins.
To do justly is also an action, for it states that when we encounter evil, we are to speak and stand against it, not hope that someone else will come along and do something about it, not simply pass by it and hope that it does not knock on our door. And to love mercy?
Remember that person that cut you off in traffic, what about those people down the street that are not in the least concerned with Christ, much less a life that is pleasing to Him.
The inactions that we perform far outweigh the sins that we willingly commit, and they will be brought to bear on our day of accounting. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
The grace that far too many profess today is not the grace that they have envisioned, it is a life of works based on what they hope will be acceptable to the Lord. They will refuse one but accept the other. These are those who believe that Hebrews 10:25 is the epitome of service to Christ, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” These are those who place leftovers in the plate as it passes by, who will not speak of the hope of salvation that is in Christ alone to another, much less point out the blatant sin of one they call a brother in Christ, these are those whose only Bible is the words of the pastor on Sunday morning, who leave Christ at the church only to meet Him there again next Sunday.
Grace is unmerited favor, and I fear that many who profess to know this grace have never merited it, save for in their mind. “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Matt. 15:8)
