Is it possible I am becoming an insensitive person? What about you? Would anyone have the courage to tell me to my face that I am becoming a very insensitive person? It’s definitely not a compliment – but is it the truth?

Do you gasp when someone next to you utters a swear word? Are you shocked when friends talk about their weekend partying escapades? Are you sick to your stomach when you hear that an unmarried co-worker of yours engaged in an immoral activity? Are you crushed when you learn a friend has gambled and won $250,000 in a lottery? When your buddy tells you he ‘got past’ the Customs Agent at the border crossing with twice the allowable amount, are you disappointed by his dishonesty? Are you deeply saddened when a neighbour tells you they sold their car without mentioning the need for a motor job? Are you devastated when your neighbour makes a disparaging remark about a new family next door and you sense the negativity springs from racism or prejudice? Do you instantly shut down the broadcast when you hear the exclamation: “Oh my God?”  When a movie scene is obviously leading up to a sexual encounter, do you immediately shut it off with disgust?

Okay. That’s enough! Do you think such reactions are a bit extreme? “Yes,” you say. “I wouldn’t be able to watch or listen to anything if I started applying those stringent standards! I would have to live in a bubble or leave this world.”

Just a second. Our minds have been so warped by sin that we think it’s okay for someone to hint at sin?! Do we think it’s clean if the picture doesn’t go all the way? Wow! The polluted values of the world have wormed their way far deeper into our thinking than we could ever imagine. I am an insensitive person – far too insensitive to sin.

Can my value system be recalibrated or realigned to the Christian standard? The more we read our Bibles, the more sensitive we will become to sin. If I’m becoming less sensitive about things around me, of which the Word of God disapproves, it’s because I am not walking closely with my Lord and being responsive and sensitive to His Word.

It’s impossible for me to appreciate the Word of God and not be convicted of sin’s seriousness. Without the Bible, we fail to understand how offensive all sin is to the Holy God. We lose sight of the catastrophic effects of sin.

In Genesis 1, everything God did was good. Six times over, we read “and God saw that it was good.” And then we come to God’s final assessment of everything He had made, and this is His summary:

And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

Just a few chapters later, we read the expression “God saw” again, but the contrast couldn’t be greater.

 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart Was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

What had happened? The catastrophic chasm between Genesis 1:31 and Genesis 6:5 was caused by one act of disobedience. I should never think lightly about sin of any kind. Any and all sin of every shade and colour is perverse in God’s sight.

We console ourselves by saying: “What I did may be wrong, but it sure could have been a lot worse!” That’s not how God reasons. He views all sin as an assault against or an affront to His Holy character. A proud thought; a five-second peek at an obscene image before clicking on to something better; an exaggerated story; a ‘mild’ racist innuendo – as if there could ever be a mild one; the failure to do something good; the secret imaginations of our minds – all are offensive to God. It was precisely those very things and others that caused the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Had it not been for sin, there would have been no crucifixion of the sinless, spotless Son of God. Sin was the cause.

As I read my Bible each day, I also need to pray that the Lord will help me to hate what He hates and love what He loves. Ask the Lord to make us more aware of sin in our lives and sin around us. And when we sin, we need to quickly confess to the Lord, with sadness, what we have done. We need to ditch anything we have in our possession that even hints of sin or anything that consistently and repeatedly leads us to struggle with sin.

Memorize Ephesians 5:3-4. The NIV renders it this way:

But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place…” Ephesians 5:3-4

By the way, did you pass or fail?

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ,

Peter Ramsay

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