What is Sin?

Humanity has made a ‘MESS’ of the ‘Gift’ of the Garden of Eden.

Sin is anything — and everything that separates us from God.

     Our culture today has “watered down the ‘Ten Commandments,’ or at least we have turned a ‘blind eye’ to the gravity of what we do to ourselves, others, but most of all to God. He is our loving Father, who “ . . . created us in His image and likeness… ‘ (Genesis 1:27), which is L-O-V-E.

‘Sin — turns us INWARD!’

Which means that we love ourselves more than God . . . at least for the moment.

     Jesus said in; (Matthew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:27), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all of the Law and the Prophets.“

     (John 13:31-35) Jesus said, “Where I am going you cannot come, A new command I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” both quotes from the Hebrew, Greek, English Bible( the original text written by the Scriptures writers.)

     What IS Jesus telling us with these few words?

He is saying; that LOVE, is the GREATEST of all the Gifts that we receive from God Our Father! And if we have Love in our heart – we have EVERYTHING at our fingertips that is good and right, and important in our lives!

     Love in our lives will bring us Peace in our hearts. And Peace is what Jesus came into the world to give us — an opportunity to Have — and to SHARE His love with each other.

     My sin of not Loving someone as much as myself,  happened just a few weeks ago. I CHOSE , to allow sin to enter into my heart, and spill out of my heart and into my life.

Remember, sin turns us inward.

What I allowed to happen to me after a small ‘wound’ entered my heart . . . and was to let it fester, and so the next ‘wound’ happened just a short time later, and I reacted poorly. And because “I,” was thinking only of my ‘feelings,’ I chose to let my anger fester, and it exploded inside of me and then it grew from a ‘bad – sad – feeling . . . into a ‘MORTAL sin!’ So easy to happen when the “devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).

I allowed my wounded heart to be tempted by the evil one and it ‘PECKED’ at the love that I felt for my husband, and with the release of my ‘Anger’ on my husband, ‘I,” put a ‘Wedge’ between me and him, and also my good relationship with God.

     As the ‘Anger‘ welled up inside of me ‘KNOWING‘ –  that sharing what was inside of me was wrong, and that I should give my feelings to Jesus on the Cross.  I DECIDED , that my husband should know how he made me feel! UNLOVED, and my help Rejected ! These thoughts inside of me came with the ‘FULL KNOWLEDGE’ that what I was about to do was Wrong for my Relationship to thrive.

     Anger is one of the ‘SEVEN DEADLY SINS.‘ Thus, Anger, allowed to fester, can become a Mortal Sin! Therefore , Anger, is a GRAVE MATTER !

DELIBERATE CONSENT !   

I freely chose to tell my husband what had hurt me . . . even though I knew I shouldn’t. My hurt . . . turned to a wound as surely as if I had been cut with a knife. As the wound became sore . . . I opened my mouth . . .and allowed my hurt to pour out of my mouth . . .

     I cannot say that the devil made me do it! But I can say that he tempted me, and convinced me that I had every wright to have my opinion be known! “I” was the one who allowed ‘temptation to grow, and fester in my heart. And I remember thinking, “I shouldn’t say anything! just ‘Let it go,’ he’s leaving soon for a four-day trip and I should not let him go with anger in our hearts! But,  I did it anyway, with  FULL KNOWLEDGE. TRUE LOVE, does not DESIRE to hurt the one that you love in any way!

MY ANGER , turned towards my husband, with; 1) FULL KNOWLEDGE that this anger shared was completely MY CHOICE, which makes it;  2) DELIBERATE CONSENT, and; 3) KNOWING THE GRAVITY of my anger, which was the chosen expression of my hurt, became a MORTAL SIN for my soul, And if left that way, it would continue to fester, and it would remain there forever to cause damage to my Relationship with God.

     I worked through my pain all the while knowing, that I would call to  apologize, which I did a couple of hours later. And I searched my heart for other wounds and weaknesses to confess. As usual, my confession was cleansing and healing and nourishing to my soul. Thank you Jesus for loving me this much.

That is how sin is born . . .

     What I know is that I started my day in a hurry, and did not have time to pray. In seven years since my Entry into ‘Quiet Prayer,’ this was the only time that I remember NOT taking the time to pray  except in September of 2016, when I had Open Heart Surgery. The pain was so excruciating that I don’t remember even thinking about prayer. But my friend Gail, told me that I asked to pray the Rosary, and she helped me.

      The most important thing that I can share with you, is that I chose to let my anger out! I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and “I” let my NEED to let my anger be known . . come before the “we” that lives within a Relationship, and that is the root of all ‘Sin.’

When we sin, we are being self-centered.

The word ‘I” is in the very center of the word S-I-N.

     What we need to do to prevent this from happening in our lives, is to put God First!

“A day Hemmed in Prayer seldom unravels.

     “Always write your wounds in the sand so they can wash away from your memory, but write your blessings on stone so you will never forget the goodness shown to you by others.” a conversation between two Buddhist monks.”

Billy Graham said, “Refusing to turn to God and accept His forgiveness is the eternal sin.”

“The unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,”

(Luke 12;10; Mark 3:29; Matthew 12:31-32).

‘It is a willful rejection of God’s Grace, which means ‘Denying God in our culture.’

      God, poured His Grace on me as I was trying to work through my pain, so, I went to Him for the Courage that it would take to call my husband to ask forgiveness, and begin the healing process.

God is ever faithful . . . if we take – or make the time to listen.

     I want to share with you that this behavior is totally foreign to me. I am usually quiet and unassuming by nature. But, I had not taken the ‘TIME’ to pray this one morning . . . and the evil one took advantage of the small change in my routine. And I quickly fell into ‘MORTAL Sin!’ If I had left it not confessed, That anger would have been buried there  and it would have been a stone that would begin to separate me from my God.

     First, we need to remember that Jesus already won the battle with His Life, Death, and Resurrection! Therefore we simply need to devote ourselves to being ‘Surrounded with God’s Presence and Love’ through daily Prayer. It needs to become Second nature to us. We, Make the time to ‘Be with God,“ and if we don’t deviate from it, you will be on the right path with Jesus.

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