Lately, it seems the definition of sin is being changed. It’s not being changed for any reason other than us not wanting to know we have done wrong. However, sin is define in the Bible. From the scriptures, we know the Bible is the full and complete revelation of God. We also know that we are no to add to or take away from what is written in the Bible (Revelation 22:18-19).

There are times when one sin might be called out more than another, but all sins come back to the same definition. Sin is anything separating us from God. Becoming separated from God happens after we act on a temptation. The temptation might be to get ahead by telling a lie. It might be relax into several drinks and forget the day. We separate ourselves from God when we make the decision to give into the temptation.

Some temptations are harder to overcome than others. We must remember sin is still a sin. God is our creator. Our desire should be for Him. We should want to be pleasing to Him in all we do. Yet, there are times we wish to speak our beliefs, and we feel persecuted for speaking up.

There are a few things we need to remember at anytime we speak about sin, whether our own or others:

1. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. At one point in our lives, we too were living in a life of sin. We were separated from God and in danger of eternal punishment.
2. We must do all things with love. When we approach a situation, we must make sure we are doing it out of love, not out of malice or to show ourselves better than another. If we begin pointing out other’s sin out of anything but love, we are akin to the Pharisee in Luke 18 that thanked God for making him not like the beggar.
3. All sins have the same punishment. No one sin is worse than another. When Paul speaks of sins in 1 Corinthians 6, he does not say homosexuals will be in the hottest fire. Nor does he say liars will be in a lesser fire. He says they will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. The sin separates us from God. By giving into temptation, we get our wages, Death (Romans 6:23).

When teaching others about God, we need to first examine our lives. Let us take the speck out of our own eye. Approach the situation with love. And always remember, you at one point were a sinner. You may also be struggling with a constant temptation.

I am not condoning sin in any way. Sin is a sin and is wrong. We must work to bring all to the understanding and knowledge of God. In doing so, we must do it with love.