If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:17, NIV)
Have you ever heard a great message about sin? Maybe older Christians would answer yes, but sin doesn’t get talked about too much these days. It has become controversial.
But I recently heard a great message about sin. The teacher explained the difference between sins of commission and sins of omission. Our Scripture verse today speaks about sins of omission, and it hit me hard.
Before we go much farther, let’s help ourselves with a golf analogy. I am a golfer who naturally plays pretty fast. I was out a while ago with a slower player, and finally I got tired of waiting. In my impatience, I stepped up and played out of turn. This would be a sin of commission: knowing what is wrong and doing it anyway. (Golf etiquette may not be a matter of true sin, but you see what I mean.)
What I should have done next was apologize. But I didn’t. This was a sin of omission: knowing what is right and not doing it. (And this one might have been true sin rather than just a question of manners, since I let my pride get in the way.)
Christ’s forgiveness is my only hope when it comes to truly defeating sin.
Now you know why James 4:17 hit me so hard. God’s word was telling me that I was a sinner. OK, this wasn’t really news to me, but it always hurts to be exposed again. We never get it all right when it comes to obeying God. God told Cain, “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door” (Genesis 4:7). Sadly, one sin leads to another. But God went on to tell Cain, “It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Cain rejected God’s exhortation and murdered his brother.
Murder looks like a bigger sin than others, but it was also James who wrote that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). Sins of all kinds (commission and omission) crouch at our door.
This is all very serious. Sin has eternal consequences. Left unaddressed, we cannot receive forgiveness from God. But if you know me, you know I like good news! And the best news of all is that our sins can be forgiven when we trust in Jesus.
It might have been a sin when the guy in the end zone at all those football games wore a rainbow wig—at least it was a sin of fashion! But it allowed him to catch people’s attention with John 3:16. Here it is: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
How many times do you look back later and wished you had done the right thing, but it was too late? I can say I do this every day. This is why I must have Christ’s forgiveness, which he paid for on the cross. His forgiveness is my only hope when it comes to truly defeating sin.
—
Dereck Wong
June 7, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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