“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.” (Ephesians 2:1 NLT)

 

Sin is a difficult concept for many unbelievers to grasp. To be more specific, it’s a difficult concept for many unbelievers to accept. They prefer to think of themselves as decent human beings with a good heart. They know they’re far from perfect, of course, but who isn’t? Compared to certain people, they’re practically angels. Or so the justification goes.

The Bible has a different take. In Romans 3:23, the apostle Paul writes, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (NLT). In Ephesians 2:1 he writes, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins” (NLT). And in 1 John 1:8, 10, the apostle John writes, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. . . . If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts” (NLT).

Two points are made clear in these passages. The first is that sin is a universal condition. No one is unstained by it. The second is that sin means to miss the mark, to fall short of God’s perfect standard. Jesus says in Matthew 5:48, “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (NLT).

Imagine that you and I are competing in an archery contest. We each have ten arrows. You fire all ten of your arrows into the target, but never hit the bullseye. You get close to it, but not close enough to count. I fire all ten of my arrows, and not one of them comes close to the target. I hit a tree, a cow, a bystander, and a passing car, among other things.

Maybe I did worse than you, but if the standard is perfection, the result is the same for both of us. We missed the mark. In terms of sin, we’re both guilty.

Because God is holy and just, He demands the ultimate punishment for sin—that is, death. But because He loves us, He sent His Son to take that punishment in our place. Jesus did what we couldn’t do. He lived a sinless life. He satisfied God’s perfect standard. So He became the perfect sacrifice for us. God punished Him for our sins so that we might have eternal life.

Acknowledging our sin is the first step in receiving God’s amazing gift. We did nothing to deserve God’s mercy and salvation, but if we accept Christ as Savior and Lord, we receive His righteousness. So when God looks at us, He no longer sees the sin that separates us from Him. He sees the righteousness of His Son.

Jesus destroyed the power of sin over us. Paul wrote, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6 NLT). We now have the power over our desires and impulses. And we can celebrate the life-changing truth of verse 11: “So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus” (NLT).

 

Reflection Question: What does it mean to you that you are no longer controlled by sin?

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