Casting Stones

I was thinking tonight, what differentiates one person's sin from another...nothing. While we try very hard to justify our sins with qualifiers such as minor, compared to others who have major ones, there really is no difference.

Sin, perhaps more clearly defined than what most of us learned in Sunday School, is simply when we disregard God's blessing in favour of our own desires for something that we believe will suit us better in the moment. It's believing that the promotion of our selves above God with respect to knowing what is best for us will somehow get us farther, faster, and in a more enjoyable fashion. Greed, Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth....which one of us has not been guilty of at least one of what are listed as the 7 Deadly sins, possibly even today, this moment.

Notice, they are not defined as a specific type of greed, lust, envy...just what they are. The deadly part seems so definite, so strong, so overwhelming until you consider that these things bring a slow death in every moment that we engage in them. There is no lightening bolt attached to the actions of these. Slow separation from the fullness of who God is, being activated by us, not Him. It's a choice we make to move away. He stays. He is always still there. Waiting. Ready.

It's a thought I have often, especially when I hear a friend judge another harshly while not considering that they themselves are equally flawed.

And, of course, the good news, for ALL of us, is that He knows, He cares, and He is there to provide a way back to Himself. Our only action, that we must choose, that we must take, is to turn back to His embrace.