On a recent talk show, the host mentioned that something was a "sin" and the audience snickered in response. Whatever your thoughts about sin, if you consult the Bible you will pretty much come to the conclusion it teaches that sin and God don’t go together. There is no deceit, no evil, no darkness at all in him. God is truth; God is good; God is light. By his very nature God is perfect--but unfortunately we aren’t.

The surprise teaching of the Bible, however, is that this holy God, in an incomprehensible act of love and mercy, sent his only son to our earth in the person of Jesus to show us the way to live, and also to suffer the penalty we deserve for our sins. Jesus takes on himself the punishment we had coming, which is far more serious than we like to think.

In Isaiah 53 the prophet is looking ahead to the sacrifical death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary and says these words:

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." 

Christ’s suffering and death on the cross was nothing less than Jesus taking your punishment and my punishment. Why? Because to a holy God, sin is a serious matter--deadly serious.  But, God is serious about loving us back into relationship with him, as well.

Our response should obviously be one of immense gratitude. Who can imagine such a huge favor being done, especially when none of us is deserving of it? Logic also says that understanding the sacrifice required of God should bring us forever into agreement with him regarding sin. After grasping the lengths to which our Lord went to forgive us and make possible a renewed relationship with himself, we can no longer view sin in a casual way. It’s not something to snicker or giggle about. Sin is a serious matter-­deadly serious. It always has been and it always will be.

If you want to think of sin as innocent fun, modern, freeing, exciting—"it's my business and nobody else’s"--just understand that God's view concerning it is quite different.           

That's something to think about!