What Your Sin Looks Like To God

A wealthy landowner was seated on his front porch one afternoon, when two young men came walking by. He asked them if they would be willing to chop wood for him at the rate of $15.00 per hour. He explained that he was throwing a big party for everyone at his job, and they needed extra firewood.

Neither of the young men had ever chopped wood before, but since they were both in college and could use the money, they said they would. After the wealthy man got them started, his telephone rang. It was one of his co-workers. The co-worker informed him that the entertainment they had scheduled for the party had cancelled, leaving them with no entertainment at all.

After he finished the call, he looked out the window to see one of the men doing cartwheels, and even doing double flips in his back yard. He ran out the back door and asked if they would be willing to do that at the party that night for an additional $100.00.

The man said he didn’t know, and yelled to the other one, “Hey, Earl! Would you be willing to cut off another toe for $100.00?

Is there anything in your life that you would cut off, or give up, for some kind of reward? And if so, what would it be? And what would you require as the reward?

When you gave your life to Christ, were you aware that you were being asked to give some things up and cut them out of your life? You were. From the very moment you received Jesus, He expected you to start giving up those things that were sinful in your life.

Last week, I explained that, as long as we are okay with something in our lives, we automatically assume God is going to be okay with it. I also told you that it doesn’t work that way. God has already written all the rules, and He expects you to follow them. But I think the one thing He wants more than anything else, is to see us starting to get serious about having His Son in our lives.

A couple of weeks ago, I told you how some tribes in the jungle capture monkeys; by cutting a small hole in a coconut and stuffing berries in them. Then, they wait for the monkey to come along and put his hand in the hole to get the berries.

When they put their hand in, they grab as much as they can get in their fist. But the fist is then too big to get out of the hole. There the monkey sits, held captive by the coconut simply because it refuses to let go of what it wants. And it sits there until it is killed and taken home for monkey stew.

We are the same way in our Christian walk. There are sins in our lives that we just refuse to let go of. Oh, we have all kinds of excuses as to why we keep holding on to them, and we even convince ourselves that “it isn’t that bad” or that “God understands.”

In truth, it IS that bad, and God does understand. He understands that by holding on to the sin in your life, you are not taking Him seriously. And God will not be mocked.

I want you to think about something for a moment. Why did you receive Jesus? Why were you baptized? Why do you come to church? The answer to all these should be that you want to change so you can become like Christ.

But I feel that many people do these things because they want to “fit in” or they want to be Christians, and by doing these things they think they are Christians. But in reality, if we do not let go of the sin, we are not trying to be like Christ. And we aren’t taking Him seriously. Let me repeat what I said a moment ago: God will not be mocked.

MATTHEW 5:29 tells us,

‘If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.’

Jesus said it is so important that we stop sinning, that we should literally cut off body parts if they cause us to sin. Do you think He is serious about getting rid of the sin in your life? Yes He is! And don’t you think He expects you to be just as serious about getting rid of the sin in you life, too? Again, the answer is ‘Yes He is!’

But what do we do? Do we strive each day to do things God’s way, or do we waste our time away doing things the way we want to, all the while convincing ourselves that God will be okay with it, too, because – after all, He understands?