Life: Honoring God’s Holiness

• The Bible Studies for Life lesson for April 14 focuses on Leviticus 5:1,4-5,14-16; 6:1-7.

We all can relate to sin because it plays a major role in all our lives. We do the things we do not want to do, and we cannot seem to do the things we should do (Romans 7:19). Scripture tells us we all have sinned, and we have all fallen short of God’s best for our lives (Romans 3:23). There is no way around it. We have a sin problem, and that problem must be resolved in order for us to have a relationship with our Holy God.

Sins of commission and omission

One of the Hebrew words for sin is an archery term that literally means “to miss the target.” God has a specific desire for the way we interact in relationships, the way we treat our bodies, and for the inner thoughts and motivations that come from our hearts and our minds. When we miss God’s desire for us, we sin. Sometimes we miss by an inch, and other times, we miss by a mile. Each and every time, it is sin, and it separates us from our Holy God.

Two types of sin are mentioned here in Leviticus—sins of commission and omission. Sins of commission are sins we choose to do. We know something is wrong, and we decide to do it anyway. We lie. We gossip. We deceive. We cheat. We manipulate. Because of our brokenness, we choose to do the very things that will destroy us. Sins of commission separate us from our Holy God.

Sins of omission are sins we commit by not doing the things we should do. We should speak up to defend the defenseless, but we remain silent. We should help someone in need, but we stand by and do nothing. We should initiate reconciliation in relationships, but we wait for someone else to reach out first. Because of our brokenness, we neglect to do the right thing and instead, we do nothing. Sins of omission separate us from our Holy God.

Sin can start small

An arrow launched at a target is not too far off the bull’s-eye if the arrow does not have to travel far. However, the further the arrow flies in the air, the greater distance between the bull’s-eye and the arrow’s landing place. Our sins often start of small. They start off just a smidge off God’s target. We excuse them as “no big deal.” But the longer we walk in our sin, the more it takes us off target. The sins that start off small tend to grow and move us further away from God’s desire for our lives. One lingering look at an attractive person can lead us into a pattern of lust, and before we know it, our marriage is in grave danger. One small lie leads to another, and before we know it, lying is a normal part of our conversation.

We know this is true in our own lives, and we know it is true in Scripture. Eve listened to the serpent, then she examined the fruit, then she ate it and then she shared it with her husband (Genesis 3:1-6). We know David first saw Bathsheba bathing, then he learned she was married, then he sent for her to come to his palace, then he slept with her, then he tried to cover up the evidence of their encounter, and then he arranged for the murder of her husband (2 Samuel 11).

We can’t pay the cost

This pattern is familiar. As often has been said, “Sin will always take us further than we wanted to go, keep us longer than we wanted to stay and cost us more than we wanted to pay.” In fact, the cost our sin requires is impossible for us to pay.

Commentary writer Roy Gane says there are two sides to God’s divine love—mercy and justice. As believers, we focus on one side or the other. On the one hand, we know God is just and has instructed us to live a certain way, so we focus on sin management. We are Pharisees in the way we live our own lives, and we certainly have opinions about the way others live theirs. On the other hand, we know Jesus came to die in order that we might be forgiven, so we sometimes act as though his grace gives us permission to sin.

The truth is in the balance of the two. Our Holy God loved us so much he did not let sin have the last word. He came up with a plan that was the perfect picture of justice, yet drenched in mercy. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).