The seven deadly sins
Weeks ago maybe months ago I started to blog about the list of seven deadly sins. Now, Verizon comes out with a TV commercial naming them. They stole my thunder. I'm enVious.
Why don't we talk about this list of sins? I hear sermons, read articles and study lessons covering some of our culture's pet sins, alcoholism, pornography or terrorism. Several pod-casts I've listened to lately mentioned these same topics, too. That got me thinking about the "seven deadly sins." I guess that's a little weird.
I did a little research and found the list of the "deadly" sins and it seems pretty clear that if one could focus on staying away from this magnificent 7, we could pretty much limit the effect of some of our pet sins. Just look at the list: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. When was the last time you heard a sermon on one of these. Oh, that's right no one likes a sermon on sin.
Working to identify and battle these sins would definitely move us in the right direction towards holiness and slow the cultural decay around us. Maybe we've gone too long ignoring these "deadly" sins because they are too personal, even I don't like hearing a sermon on laziness. Maybe what we've tried to do is divert attention and conviction so that the focus is on someone else's sin and their consequences. I realize there is no difference between sins because sin is sin. It all is the same in God's eyes.
Or what if we focused on holiness and made Christlikeness our goal. As these 7 sins were identified in history there were 7 opposite, character forming traits: purity, self-control, generosity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility…sounds like a list in Galatians 5. In student ministry I was often asked, "how far is too far?" Instead of focusing on how close we can get to sin, what about Jesus? How close can we get to Him?
May we be careful with our lives and take sin as seriously as God does and move ever closer to Jesus.