God's Word is our plumb line. If we look at other standards, they may look straight, but they can be tipped just a little bit, and with even that small error, can lead us off track when followed out to their end. Off is off whether by a portion of a degree or many degrees when you get out from the base far enough for the difference to be apparent.
When we dare to decide that God's Word has 'changed' and that we know better than He does we effectively lose plumb and get 'off' line. That's what has happened with Christians who have convinced themselves that any number of politically correct views are now the correct Christian view. It's sad.
When God says something is sin, and we hold to that standard, we allow people the opportunity to experience conviction from the Holy Spirit. We are not to condemn them - that's God's job. We are to love them; but loving the person does not mean embracing their sin. In fact, truly loving someone means helping hold them accountable.
Let's take a simple sin as an example. Lying. Lying is a sin. A parent of a young child who does not teach that value, and punish it as being wrong, will not have a child who is honest - and ultimately that will affect every relationship the child has. The truth is not movable. What is true for one person is true for another when it comes to the basic value surrounding being honest. If a child is never corrected and their lying makes them untrustworthy, they become identified as a LIAR.
There is a huge difference between being a LIAR, one who never tells the truth, vs. being an honest person who occasionally tweaks the truth (aka lies). The LIAR feels no guilt in their lying. The honest person feels immediate chastening.
God hates LYING. He will punish that sin right along with all the seemingly more egregious sins. He says that all liars will have their place in hell. He has given us more than one list in His Word of SINS and being a liar is on the list.
Sin - all sin - separates us from others and from God. That's the problem with sin. It builds barriers and creates brokenness.
If we call sin 'an acceptable alternative' instead of sin, the person is deceived and remains broken.... It also results in calling evil good and good evil....
On the other hand, the Bible also provides lists of what we are to be like if we are following Jesus' plan for our lives and seeking to be like Him. One of those lists is the fruits of the Spirit. They will be more and more evident in our lives as we grow more and more into modeling Jesus' character instead of the character influenced by sin:
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. We aren't likely to be perfect in all of them all at the same time this side of eternity, but they are the fruits that grow in our lives just because of having Jesus inside us and they are a good barometer for checking to see if we are growing in Him!
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