Most of us don’t want to hear about sin. We have heard about sin for most of our lives. We have been beaten down by it. We are all too aware of the sin in our lives. Or are we?
We have our list of what we consider to be sin. There are what we call the big sins, such as stealing, murder, and adultery. We may have our personal list of other things we like to do but know they do not please God.
We may not think many of our daily interactions can be sin. Think about some of your recent encounters with others. Did you wound them by something you said? Did you purposely trip them up or make them feel small and insignificant?
Family encounters can be a challenge. Siblings often fight and argue. Brothers wrestle in the backyard and in the house. Sisters argue over the bathroom and who borrowed whose shirt. We also see or hear of siblings who demean one another for sport.
But notice what Paul tells the Corinthians, when we belittle our family members, which includes our church family, we sin against Christ. Ouch! That hits home sometimes, doesn’t it? How do we stop it or avoid it? One step at a time.
We first need to ask God for self-control. We know it is a gift of the Spirit. So, we need to ask God to gift it to us. With self-control, we can stop ourselves from continuing the behavior we have come accustomed to. We can learn to be better, be more like Jesus.
I pray we all ask God to gift us self-control. I pray we seek to be more like Jesus. I pray each one of us will strive to treat our family members better and stop belittling one another. Ask God for self-control. Stop the negative behavior. Treat one another with respect. Show Christ’s love for one another.
1 Corinthians 8:12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Marty Pressey 