Sin is still Sin

In a letter written to her son, John Wesley, Susanna penned the following regarding sin:

"Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."
-- Susanna Wesley (Letter, June 8, 1725)

John Wesley's own working definition of sin (although he did write that all transgressions of divine will need God's forgiving grace): "A willful transgression of a known law of God"

 

These two definitions are so opposed to what many hear being taught directly from the pulpit today. We had a bit of a discussion in Sunday School class this weekend regarding the fear of the Lord. I mentioned that the reason “churched” people and those in the ministry alike are getting caught up in sin and luke-warmness is the lack of fear of the Lord and lack of relationship with Him. If you are close to someone, it hurts you to even think of hurting them. How then can we so easily thumb our noses at God and go on living our lives for ourselves without an ounce of shame or guilt? We have either never drawn close to God, or have drawn ourselves away from God after being close to Him.

How do you resolve guilt? Either cut off the act that is causing your conscience to feel guilty (sin) and make it right with Him that you’ve offended, or you flee from Him that was offended and suppress the guilt feelings. The further away you are from God, the easier it becomes to offend Him.

Just my thoughts…