Women's Focus Ministries

Capable of the Worst of Sins

 

There is no innocent person. We are all not only guilty of sin, but we are all capable of committing every type of sin.

My husband I watch detective shows…just about every one of them. We love watching the bad guy get caught, and at the same time we’re always amazed with how much bad there really is in the world. Something that has struck me quite a few times over the years watching these shows is how common it is for someone who is being questioned about a suspect to respond with, “Well, I just know that my Timmy would never do such a thing,” and, “There’s just no way that my darling Jennifer would ever be involved with such a crime or even those kind of people.”

After hearing one of these lines just the other day, I turned to my husband and said, “We are all capable of all sins. You, me and our children…we’re capable of lying, stealing, cheating, abusing, even using violence to get what we want….even rape and murder. It may not be our character, but we’re capable of it.” He nodded his head in agreement.

The more of the Bible that I study, these stories of real people, the more I see fallen man doing horrible things. But really, are we any different than they? We too are capable of turning away from God offering leftovers as a half hearted sacrifice. We’re capable of looking back with a yearning on a sinful city and turning into salt as a result. We’re capable of losing faith in God and putting things into our own hands even endangering our loved ones along the way. We’re capable of spitting in the face of God’s blessings and using manipulation to gain them. We’re capable of stealing idols, kidnapping and selling a brother, letting power go to our heads and even succumbing to lust. In fact, we’re capable of denying and even betraying our Lord.

If we haven’t done these things, it’s only by His Grace and His Grace alone. On our own, we have no power. We’re capable of all sins and have no right to judge others. Our anger, our pointing fingers, our denying that we would ever do such things brings no help to the one who needs it, brings no right to the wrong that occurred, and brings no vindication to the victim.

So why include all these stories of sinful people here in God’s Word? I used to go for walks with a neighbor friend from Slovakia who was raised Catholic, but appeared to be very secular. She definitely did not know Jesus personally, and she questioned me regularly because to her we seemed radical with our convictions of homeschooling, disciplining, etc. Our conversations would inevitably go down a road where my side of the debate would be backed up by scripture to which she would question. Apparently, the very Bible that she was raised on was unreliable in her mind, but then again she did live through the communist era of the Eastern Bloc. One day, she passionately began naming off famous Bible characters and the horrible things that they had done. It was her justification for not taking the Bible seriously, because why should she rely on such a book to guide her life when there were so many bad examples in it?

I don’t remember word for word what my answer was, but in nutshell, I responded with, “I believe these stories of sinful people are included in the Bible to show us what not to do. I also believe that it’s to show us that (as I’ve been explaining) we are all capable of that same behavior. But even better, and most importantly, I believe that it’s to show us how much love and mercy our God has for us all if we would just accept it.

I finished up by telling her that I’m glad those stories are in there because I need to know that after the things I’ve done, my God will still love me and forgive me, or else why serve Him to begin with. After so many frustrating conversations with my friend which always ended with hugging each other and agreeing that there are no hard feelings between us, this one felt different to me. It was as if something in my words came straight from the Holy Spirit and cut deep into her soul as if it were cutting between bone and marrow because she did seem to be a bit more receptive in our conversations after that one.

I’ve since moved and we’ve lost touch, but I know that many seeds were planted. That particular conversation comes to my mind when I ponder how much bad there is in the world, how humbling it is to realize that we all are capable of the worst of behaviors, and how important it is for us to read all of scripture remembering that in spite of it all, God still loves us and desires us to receive His love and forgiveness.

Amie Spruiell 2/17/2012