I was studying the word 'sin'. Another one of those religious words that seems to carry with it no more objective meaning than the memories it conjures of those who used it against us or when we used it against others. And, as a result, more of a weapon than a word.
But here's the meaning. The Greek word is hamartia. It comes from the root word meros, where we get merit, meritocracy, meritorious. Meros give the image of a portion, share, division of something good. The 'ha' at the beginning of hamartia is usually used as a negative prefix. Put them together and it implies no portion, share or division. Sort of like missing it...not obtaining it. In fact, many times the word is interpreted as 'missing'. That's why many bible teachers use the phrase 'missing the mark' to define sin. It's a derailment on the way to a purposeful destination.
In Hebrew, the word for sin is chataw and it means the same thing, but carries with it even more connotations. Chataw invokes the idea of leading astray in a way that results in harm.
What is the missing thing? What's the main idea or destination implied in this word? Well, a clue is found in James 1 when sin begins with what can be interpreted as desire or feelings. The Greek word for it is epithumia and means a heart's desire, coveting or lust for something. The feelings work together with our thoughts and choices to bring forth a missed objective. In James, the contrast is between life and death. To allow the pressure of our existence to bear down on us provides an opportunity for our faith to build us up strong and durable through the mess and lead to the crown or wreath of life. On the other hand, allowing the pressure to conjure up feelings to give in and react ultimately lead to death.
So, although we always have heard that sin leads to death, it usually goes in one ear and out the other as another religious phrase. I want to know what it means without allowing those thoughts and preconceived judgments and memories conjure. And I think the actual meaning in the Bible brings out an incredible thing. In fact, it knocks me over every time I think about it.
You think about it for a minute. Take inventory of an average day. Go through all the things that happened, your reactions and the stuff that resulted from it. How much of your day is driven by what happens to you, creating feelings that drive your reaction? Be honest. Someone drinks the last cup of coffee and leaves the pot burning causes you to cuss and spit. Maybe more serious things, like a pink slip or served with divorce papers. If you think about it, human beings are really just held captive to events and our almost unavoidable response creating a chain reaction and even more events, and it works outward like waves caused by a rock thrown in the water. If you were honest, you would have to admit that people are in bondage to what happens to them, what could happen to them or what they wish would happen to them. And our responses always follow accordingly.
Someone tempts you, messes with you, threatens you or your own, it produces feelings that produce reactions. They can either be active or passive, but they are reactions and strategic ones at that. They are intentional and are born out of a deep fear and mistrust about our own survival. We are thrown into existence, live through all these events and then die. We know this from the beginning and carry with us an anxiousness that acts like fuel for a car all our lives. Of course, we don't walk around as fearful, scared creatures. Some do. But most learn to mask it and mask it well, to the point that by the time we are adults, we are unconscious of it anymore. We're layers.
And despite our best efforts to drive appearances and outcomes, we get drug around by our feelings and desires. In fact, they drive our choices, thoughts, bodies and social context. Things we choose are driven by feelings. Our thoughts, whether they are imagination, perception or judgment are driven by them too. Our bodies follow and so do those we choose to hang around or not hang around...who we accept and who we reject. And rejection is so harmful to us at the deepest level, it alone drives most of those feelings and the resulting actions we take. We necessarily become self-absorbed, self-obsessed. Knowing how wrong that it and also realizing we are powerless to overcome it, left to our own resources, we mask these horrible deficits through well-practiced ways of appearances and relating. Yet, with all our ingenious ways to mask it, it is still there and as the pressure of life increases, our management of appearances works less and less until what is really on the inside is visible on the outside. It impacts lives around us, the entire time, including our own, and we end up destroying ourselves through all our efforts to survive and flourish. This is what is meant by sin leading to death.
At the beginning of James, he doesn't state that believers in Christ are immune to this dynamic. It's obvious we are in the middle of the mess too. But the distinguishing thing about us is that even though we are in the mess, we can count on the faith given to us (we don't have faith in God unless God gives it to us, because of everything I described above), to make us stronger, endure more with the end goal of being non-impaired, regardless of what hits us, lacking in nothing. And it leads to real life that we were looking for all along, rather than the counterfeit we get by following our desires like a dog on a chain. Many Christians, me included, can act just like the person giving into desires and the strategies to survive and prosper, just using 'Christianese' to mask it all. But we know what we're doing and it works no better than the unbeliever that does it. We end up getting dinged pretty good. It happens sooner or later, but it happens.
But, at that moment when we lose the client, get the pink slip or simply see the burning coffee pot, we are hit with the impact and at the very depths of us, we can either follow the pattern or fall back on the faith given to us. What does that mean? It means when the crap hits the fan, which it inevitably will, we can handle or manage it our way, or trust God with the circumstance, the strength to deal with it and the wisdom on how to move forward through it. What that does is help us trust Him more than we did before. For anyone who trusts that Jesus is the Son of God, died for all this mess so that we can have a way to God, His Spirit resides with us, all the time, asleep or awake, good times and bad. We have Someone to cooperate with and lean on all the time. And that trust as it plays out in life creates in us an endurance, a maturity, that leads to us resembling Who we worship. We don't need to fake it or even stay conscious of that fact. We just accidentally look like the One Whom we give praise, honor, thanks and glory.
Of course, that's what happens when we place our trust in a comedian, politician or rock star...we start to resemble them too. But there is power in resembling the One who holds everything together, sustains it and is redeeming it, over time. And there ought to be excitement in being able to be a participant in that whole deal. That's life. Real life. It's why we are hear and the point to our existence. As for old ideas of religion, church, preconceived ideas of a stifling imagination of the religious folks we knew or encountered, or the stifling life many have encouraged us to embrace and even pretend to love, forget that all. What He offers is a life far more imaginative, creative, exciting and wonderful than the coolest thing this world system could ever conjure up. He really does. We fall down, mess it up. But, unlike those who decide Jesus Christ doesn't have anything to offer, our mess ups are never cosmically fatal. We can get back up and get on the tight rope again, realizing the Net below is will always be there. This assurance gives us confidence to get back up.
By giving Scripture a second chance and using the resources available to us these days, I encourage you to delve into what Scripture means by these things, rather than relying on talking heads or billboards to interpret them for you. Something incredible can happen. I can remember getting my eyes checked and getting new glasses. It was like I could see for the first time. Stripping away all the layers of paint and getting to the actual source, you will find that Scripture isn't just the best answer for living; but the only answer out there.
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