The Problem Beneath the Problem
Most of us think we know what sin looks like. Sin is lying, cheating, stealing, hurting someone, or doing something bad enough that we hope nobody ever finds out. Those things certainly can be sin. But the Bible says the problem goes deeper.
Sin is not only about the bad things we do. Sin is something inside us that whispers, “This is my life. I will decide what is right for me.” That is the problem beneath the problem. We want to be our own boss. Our own authority.
Sometimes that rebellion looks ugly. Sometimes it looks surprisingly respectable. You can break every rule and live for yourself. But you can also follow every rule and still live for yourself.
Jesus met both kinds of people. He met obvious sinners whose lives were a mess. He also met religious people who behaved beautifully, knew their Bibles, attended worship, and were quite impressed with themselves. Jesus loved them all. But He also saw deeper than everyone else. He saw the heart.
That is uncomfortable, because most of us would prefer that God grade on appearances. We would like Him to compare us with the neighbor, the coworker, or that one relative who gives everybody plenty of material.
But God does not simply come to improve our behavior. He comes to rescue us.
Paul says sin entered the human story, and none of us escaped it. But that is not the end of the story. Another Man entered the story. Jesus.
Where sin brought death, Jesus brought life. Where we insist, “My life belongs to me,” Jesus went to the cross and said, “I give my life for them.”
The gospel is not God saying, “Try harder and clean yourself up.” It is God saying, “You cannot fix this, so I have come to save you.”
The great question, then, is not whether we have ever sinned. We have. The question is whether we will let Jesus rescue us from the life we were never meant to carry alone.
The Light has come. We do not have to keep hiding in the dark. We can step into the light and discover that Jesus is already there.
Have a great week!
-Pastor Corey
