This is my fourth and final blog of the series on my gleanings from the book, “Intimacy with God, Ourselves and Others.” In the first blog, I shared three nuggets of truth I gained from writing the book. In each of the next two blogs, I wrote about two of the truths: how we hide from God and each other and the importance of humility in the giving and receiving of grace.
In this blog, I will write about the third nugget, which I described as “understanding the harm sin causes. Often, the problem we have with something being sinful is that it is enjoyable. How can something that gives such pleasure be bad? We do not see the harm in it. The problem is that we are looking with physical eyes in a physical world. Sin’s worst harm is done in the spiritual realm. It damages our relationships with God, ourselves, and often others, if they are involved, even if we do not see it. Sin has spiritual consequences for our relationships. Sin dishonors God, others and ourselves.”
Since writing those words, I more deeply understand that sin is putting my desires before God’s desires. It is saying my will be done, rather than His will be done. God’s command was that they not eat of the fruit of good and evil (Genesis 2:16, 17). He knew the damage it would cause to our relationships. However, the desires of their flesh usurped what God wanted. Genesis 3:6 (NASB) tells us,
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Adam and Eve were without sin when they made this choice. We like to blame our sin natures when we sin and there is some truth in the statement. We are sinners and so, we sin. Yet, Adam and Eve were without sin when they made the choice. In other words, choosing our desires over God’s desires is not just a result of us being sinners; it is who we are.
We need to own up to the fact we seek to meet our desires our way and in our time, rather than wait on God. We want His desires only as long as they agree with our desires. We choose sin because our desires come first before God.
In other words, while we can make a rather comprehensive list of sins, the underlying factor is a heart whose desires are its god, rather than serving the only true God. Sin is serving the wrong god. It damages our relationships with the only true God, damages our heart because no other god can satisfy, and it damages our relationships with each other because life becomes about us at the expense of the other.
Let us pray that He will be the desire of our hearts. That His desires will become our desires. That we will seek His will for each other and ourselves. That His glory and honor will be most important to us. Let us pray that He will keep us from choosing other gods and thus, sin.
Mary studied Mechanical Engineering as an undergraduate student. While studying she traded semesters working at NASA in Houston, Texas. It was while working at NASA that she felt the tug on her heart that God had another plan for her life. Upon graduation, Mary proceeded to serve as a missionary for the next 11 years of her life; she served in Greece the last two years of her service. Upon returning from Greece, she pursued her Master's degree in Counseling, which led to a job with a major university. It was while working there that God did what God faithfully does, she found herself working as an engineer again as she managed major construction projects for the university. She also pursued her Master's degree in Engineering Management and her Professional Engineering License. Mary now on her ministry and writing. When Mary left missionary service it was her desire to return to fulltime ministry one day. She had her first outline for a book in 1989 (a book she has yet to write). Her first book was published in May, 2014 with the second quickly on its heels in December, 2014. She continues to write and is developing an evangelistic series of books centered around Jesus Christ. Her prayer is that her books will bless others' relationships with our Father God and His word.