A HUGE DIFFERENCE

My daughter, who lives in Mississippi, is visiting us for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it is so great to get to spend some time with her. Well, sort of great anyway. We were reminiscing about our past relationship, and I was surprised to learn that I was a pretty poor specimen of a dad. Glimpses of my ineptness could be seen in between the good memories she has of her childhood. We were discussing my flaws, but hers were not mentioned by either of us. I wonder why that is. I suppose with all that she has gone through the past couple of years, she needed to vent and I needed to be gentle. And, thank God I have matured some from the days I would have "stood my ground." In my old age, I have come to appreciate Proverbs 15:1 which says, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger."

During our conversation, she brought up "hypothetical" behaviors that some family members "may or may not be involved in," and pointed out that I should not judge them. "After all," she reminded me, "You are not perfectly innocent yourself." She reminded me of a relapse I had with alcoholism in 1980. It was in response to my comment that sinful life-styles are to be expected of unbelievers, but once a person has accepted Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, those behaviors should cease. I had been confronted by co-workers about whether or not I thought a Christian could drink a beer once in a while, and I said, "As long as it is just one or two, I don't see anything in the Bible that prohibits it." That was a mistake, because they offered me one, and like the idiot that I often betray myself to be, I drank it. And then another, etc. I was, once again drinking, and I had a difficult time stopping. But I did stop, and have not had a drink these past thirty years. Praise God!

Our conversation eventually came to an agreement that all Christians sin (the point of Romans 7 and 1 John 1:8-10), but that a Christian's life should not be marked by sin as a life-style. There is a vast difference between occasionally cursing by a slip of the tongue, and using profanity every other word. A person who is living in adultery has given himself over to a life-style, while a man responding with bad thoughts to a television commercial has committed an isolated sin. Yes, I know what Jesus said about looking upon a woman with lust as being equal to an act of adultery (Matt. 5:28), but there is a huge difference between a sinful look, and moving in with her. Both are sin, but one is obviously an on-going life choice.

Christians who are aware that they are sinning should stop. Many times, we don't even realize we are sinning, because it falls in one of those areas of subtlety, such as being laziness, gluttony, selfishness, or pride. We often do those things before we realize it. But the moment a born-again Christian is aware of it, he repents and asks forgiveness. If he fails to do so, God has a way of dealing with him (Heb. 12:5-11). It is true that it only takes one lie to be labeled a liar, but that does not mean you might as well continue lying. There is a huge difference between committing a sin, and choosing to live in sin. To be continued, Lord willing.