The least important thing about you is how you sin.
Of course, this is not what the majority of Christians will tell you. Lots of Christians like to label. They want you to know exactly where you stand in the eyes of God and the Church based on your actions.
Unfortunately, the two don’t always see eye to eye. The Church makes a much bigger deal about your sin than God does. When it comes down to it, God is really unimpressed with your sin. Yup. Unimpressed.
A long time ago, a woman listened to the voice of someone other than God and ate a piece of fruit.
Do you know what happened? She got a new name. Her husband, Adam, who had previously called her “Woman” began calling her “Eve.” It was the first time that someone was called something different because of their sin.
That apple-eater.
I am sure that is what folks would have called Eve if she had sinned today.
Of course, there would be protests that prevent the use of the name apple-eater and civil rights activists would do everything in their power to protect apple-eaters everywhere.
The Church seems to have forgotten that we are all just a bunch of apple eaters.
But our labels help us feel safe. Our little offenses (we don’t even like to call them sins) don’t somehow end up in the same category as the BIG ones. So long as we aren’t as bad as them, we must be okay.
The BIG sins. You know what I’m talking about. I’m not even going to list them. You have your own list that you are thinking of right now, and I am guessing that you have made sure to keep yourself off of that list.
But here is the deal.
There isn’t some bizarre hierarchy of sin. Your little lie and that BIG one? Just the same. Do you know how I know this? Because if there was some varying degree of sin, it would mean that there is some varying degree by which God saved us.
As if your sin could somehow change the value of the sacrifice of the Son of God. Because it was through His sacrifice that God showed us just how much He loved all of us.
He didn’t have to pay more or less because of your sin. It was the once and for all final exchange.
Payment is made based on the value of the product, and friend, you were worth dying for. Not because you are or are not on the list of BIG sinners… Not because you have or have not done this or that….
But because God in His infinite love and glory determined that the life of His Son was an EVEN exchange for a relationship with all of humanity. He paid it all, and His blood was strong enough to cover EVERY sin.
And if it wasn’t? Then, He isn’t God.
So, here is where my heart is troubled by the labeling of sins…
We measure our salvation based upon the sins of others. We like to categorize people. We like to make sure that sins are grouped together so that we can have a means of separating us from them.
But we forget that NONE of us are deserving of salvation.
Because of the first apple-eater, every single person born into the world has an eternal bounty on their head.
It is a death sentence. The price doesn’t go up because of our actions. You cannot get worse than death. Our sentencing said that we would never be able to touch a holy God. God whom our hearts craved to know intimately.
BUT GOD.
God in His love and mercy sent His only Son to die in our place. To shed His blood that would cover, literally cover, the testimony of our accuser who calls us “sinner.”
Once we say, “Hey, I really believe that God did that for me…” We must stop focusing on the sin and instead focus on the sacrifice.
Because our salvation was never about us. It was about His Holiness. It is about His redemption. It is about the exchange of our sin for His righteousness. Not by anything we have to offer, but by the free gift of God.
That means sin is unimpressive, and the most important thing about us is how passionately we proclaim the love of Christ – to everyone – even those on the BIG list.
I’m done with the name calling. The broad proclamations against all groups of “apple-eaters.” Because God doesn’t look at us and see the titles of our sin. He looks at us and sees the blood of His Son.
And that means, we are just alike.
I don’t have to be afraid to be like you. I don’t have to fear what it means to be just like BIG sinners. I can tear down walls and step through boundaries and extend love. Love without labels.
Because the least important thing about you is how you sin, and the faster we can realize this, the more we can begin to look and think and love like Jesus.
