The Problem
God calls this kind of behaviour ‘sin’ – it means that we have fallen short of what He desires. Like a contagious terminal disease, sin has been passed down from generation to generation with the effect of alienating us from God and our fellow human beings and breaking down our bodies until we eventually die.
We see the effects of sin on the world and people every day. Our world is dying: there is evidence of decay, breakdown, overheating, and chaos – one day the whole solar system will burn out.
We are dying: there is disease, deterioration, malfunction and breakdown. Globally, over one hundred people die every minute of every day! There is hatred, violence, greed and selfishness in all of us. We all possess the potential to do wrong and evil things; towards each other and towards God. Sinning has become a part of our very nature as humans.
That is not to say that we have all achieved our full potential in sinning. Yes, some have gone onto become murderers, rapists, thieves, and liars. Yet most of us would say that we have done very little wrong throughout our lives – that, however, does not change the fact that sin has become a ‘built-in’ part of our nature – it is something that we inherit and pass on. You don’t have to teach a child to do wrong things!
Furthermore, if we are honest with ourselves, even we can trace elements of sin in our lives – living just to please ourselves, having the attitude, “It’s my life, I’ll live it as I please,” telling little ‘white’ lies, turning a blind eye to injustices or harbouring unkind or malicious thoughts.
In fact, the apex of sin and something of which every individual is guilty, is failing to: “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
Sin has so infiltrated and infected the human heart that many have abandoned the whole concept of God; some make Him the scapegoat for all the ills of the world and others are just too busy to make time and space for Him in their lives.