I used to be fascinated by King Tut's tomb. I can remember as a kid reading about Howard Carter's discovery of this site in 1922. Archaeologists are driven by a passion to discover ancient ruins and artifacts and their efforts are placed in museums. I think about some of the discoveries of scripture and how much more interesting to me these are now than coffins from an Egyptian's grave. I have been on somewhat of a "dig" with the book of Romans this month.
I studied Romans 2 this week and read vss. 23-24
" You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God ? 24 For THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU, just as it is written... "
I have lived with the idea that my sin hurts other people but it changes when I think about my sin as offensive to God. Here is a thought I liked from John Piper:
" If we want to think Biblically - think the way the apostles thought and the way God thinks, we do not merely talk about everybody's being a sinner; we get more specific than that and ask, ' What is sin ?' What is at the heart of our corruption and our depravity as human beings ? What is wrong with us ? Why is there so much evil in the world and what is the essence of this ? '"
The essence of evil is dishonoring God. Our sin doesn't just hurt other people, it is offensive to God. I haven't broken a rule, I have hurt a person ( God). This thought changes the way I view my sin. When the temptation to sin comes, it makes me re-evaluate and ask myself some serious questions: what will be the outcome of this ? Who will be hurt ? What does God think about what I am doing ?
