Some Ish-ues With Sin

Some things we say – sayings – are said for a reason. There is some truth to many of them. I’m thinking of a few that go this way: “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, “Just when you think it can’t get any worse…” and “Rolling off a bed of nails into a pool of vinegar”. Ok, I made that last one up. But the truth is that trouble is always around the corner. You are never going to escape it. That’s why James just says, “count it all joy…” because if you don’t, you’re going to be pretty miserable.

I’ve been thinking about sin, and how there seems to be a progression in the temptations we face. It seems that we start off having a lot of trouble in the “sensual” world. Early on, a lot of our problems stem from the appeasing of our senses. Substance abuse, gluttony and lust are base sins that no one is immune from. But I think maturity allows us to shrink from these kinds of sins to a certain extent. We outgrow them. But then we move on to the next stage, which we can call “soul-ish”. First we have body-ish sins and then soul-ish ones.

The soul-ish variety involves pride, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, condescension, compromise, hypocrisy, etc… They come from our minds and hearts more so than our bodies. We think we are so great when we do not give in to base temptations, but then we are so full of arrogance that we might be better off with the first lot! With this, I am by no means advocating “mortal” and “venial” sins. All sin is bad, and some are not worse than others in God’s eyes. Jesus died for all equally. But there does seem to be a progression that we naturally go through as we mature.

The last stage would be what we might call “spirit-ish” sins. I didn’t use the word “spiritual” because that is generally a positive word. But spirit-ish sins are the most subtle of all. They appear to be good when they are really far from God’s ideal. The clearest way I can put it is that you either choose your way or God’s way. There are many good things that we can put our hands to, but “unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labour in vain.” If the Lord is not in it, it does not matter how apparently good it may seem. You might as well be building casinos if the Lord is not in what you’re doing.

This progression is seen in the life of Jesus. That may sound strange, but even though he was sinless, he still went through trials. He was tested. The difference with Him is that he went through the progression so fast it makes my head spin. The scene is the desert, where the devil comes to test Jesus. He works first on the issue of Jesus’ hunger (bodyish sin). He’d been fasting for over a month out there and Satan tells him to just turn some stones into bread and eat. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to him and he moves on to the next stage. He then tells him to throw himself down from a great height to prove that the angels will take care of him (soulish sin). The Word of God speaks once again and the devil goes to the last stage. He offers Jesus the world if he will just bow to him (spiritish sin). The truth of Scripture bats this one away too and the devil then leaves him.

Whatever we happen to be dealing with in our lives, Jesus is our great High Priest who knows what we are going through. We will never be perfect this side of Heaven, but we will find victory in our spiritual walk when we trust the One who has won it for us already. Bring on the vinegar!