As we continue studying the book of Romans, we will see one word, in particular, keep popping up…sin. However, we often don’t understand the biblical concept of sin, or at least we don’t act like we do. So, before we go any deeper into Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, let’s define and discuss the topic of “sin”.
The term “sin” is actually an ancient archery term meaning “to miss the mark”; that is, “sin” is anything but a perfect bulls-eye. So, when God talks about sin in our lives, He is talking about anything that we do, think or say that is not absolutely perfect in His sight. That means living a perfect, sinless life means to live 100% in a godly way and to think 100% godly thoughts every minute of every day of our lives. I don’t know about you, but that kind of perfection is way out of my league!
We often think of sins as the major discrepancies..things like murder, adultery or blasphemy. But, God says that every evil little thought we have about the bad drivers that cut us off in traffic, every little “white lie” that we tell in order to spare someone’s feelings, and every rumor that we spread are just as ”sinful” in the eyes of God as murder, adultery and blasphemy.
This is why we all need the grace of God in our lives. We all need Jesus’ great gift of salvation from our sins and from ourselves. We all need to accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior and to allow Him to do the miraculous work of cleaning up our lives!
