24.3.13

It Was Only a Little Slip-Up

It was only a little slip-up. Nothing bad, really.
Either we have all said, aloud, or to ourselves, “At least I’m not as bad as him.”
It seems to make us feel better to rationalize the triviality of our mistakes.

Perhaps it was something that should not have been said, or words withheld, that were needed. A small act of unkindness. A scowling glare. Lingering thoughts.

What was the tiny slip-up? Was it just a bad habit?

“I’ve been like this my whole life.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“I’ve always heard I take after my uncle, John. It’s just who I am. I can’t help who I am, right?”
“Nobody’s perfect.”
“The devil made me do it.”

One talent we have is making excuses. We begin practicing the art at a very young age. Some of us excel at it.

Eating a piece of fruit seemed like a
 tiny slip-up to Eve.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to our rationalizations that we begin to believe Satan’s lie of big sins and little sins. Satan would like us to believe the little sins are so tiny, we don’t need to be concerned with them. And the big sins, well, they are so big God will never forgive those so why bother?

This kind of thinking shackles us to sin. Satan offers nothing good and nothing that will last forever.

Here’s the thing—we’re not bound to our past, to our relatives, or whatever. We have a choice.
We can choose let go of the former things and grab hold of the Truth, Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

There are those shackles again. And he didn’t say anything about how big or little the sin is. Sin is sin—it all measures out ugly. If it goes against God’s Word, it is sin.

We all know some nice people but Romans 3:23 tells us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

The Good News is God loves us so much He gave His One and Only Son to pay the price for our sins. If we believe and truly love Jesus, we turn away from those sins. We can only do that with His help.

We have to grow in our relationship with the one, living God, by faith, through prayer, by Bible study, and fellowship with other believers.

That’s the Truth of Jesus.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

The worse slip-up we can make is denying the Truth.