Why not Sin?

Why Not Sin

As a boy, I understood that the reason I should not sin was so that I would not be punished. I observed that when I misbehaved, my parents punished me. I learned in church that God was much the same.

The result was predictable. I tried to be good, but I failed often and sometimes spectacularly. I could have benefitted from a different motivation for avoiding sin.

This is a statement that I think would have helped me.

Sin is bad for us.

As those in whom Christ dwells, the reason we shouldn’t sin is not so that God will be happy with us and withhold punishment. Neither is it so that He will let us into heaven. The reason we shouldn’t sin is so that we do not suffer the negative earthly consequences.

Those consequences are not just the inner turmoil and misery we feel. They also include damage and possible total destruction of our relationships. We might lose jobs, acceptance, even health. All of this would cause us even more misery, yet we would still end up in heaven.

Father wants what’s best for us and that’s why we are urged to do godly things and love one another. So, we are best advised to do all we can to avoid sin. At the same time, we do not need to beat ourselves up when we fail. We are going to fail, but our failure isn’t changing our relationship with God in the least.

Jesus took our sins away and Father has promised not to remember them anymore. He is guiding us in the direction of godliness, but just as we as adults do not punish little children for falling while learning to walk, so our Father does not punish us when we miss the mark and fail to express godly attitudes and actions.