“God, please forgive me for
my…MISTAKES.”
“Jesus died to take away
the…MISTAKES…of the world.”
“For the wages of…MISTAKES…is
death”
There’s something very wrong with
these statements, isn’t there? Now to be
honest, I have never actually heard these statements said. However, I regularly hear the word ‘Mistake’ substituted
for the word ‘Sin’. It’s scary how often
I have to fight the urge to use this word and just as scary how often I hear
this word used by others instead of SIN.
Some people might push back and say, ‘Mistake’ doesn’t sound so mean; ‘Sin’
is such a harsh word; or it’s not really PC to use the word SIN because you’re
implying that someone actually did something wrong…well that’s pretty much what
‘Sin’ implies. Just to be clear, let’s
define what sin is and what a mistake is, and then talk about why we should
care about the difference.
Mistake – Noun- An error in action, judgment, perception, impression, etc
Verb-To understand wrongly;
misinterpret
Sin – Noun- 1 A transgression*
against moral or religious law or divine authority, especially when deliberate.
2 Any action or condition regarded
as morally wrong or deplorable.
*Transgress means to
disregard & go beyond the bounds of something; for example, a law
Mistakes and Sins are both words for incorrect
actions, perceptions, judgements, etc.
However, the difference between the two lies in the intent and
foreknowledge. A mistake is like a
blunder, a miscalculation, ‘an error in judgment’, or even better, ‘acting in
ignorance’. On the other hand, a sin is
a deliberate disregard for what is right.
What makes a sin sinful is that the offender absolutely knew that what
they were about to do was wrong and yet they followed through with it anyway. On the other hand, a mistake is a decision or
action based solely on only the incomplete knowledge available at the
time. I know without a doubt that it is
illegal and even more importantly dangerous to text and drive at the same time
and yet on rare occasion, I still do. By
definition this qualifies as SIN; as opposed to someone who truly did not know
that texting and driving was illegal.
They would be making a mistake were they to break this law; they would
be acting in ignorance.
So why say all this?? Why bring this up and possibly split
hairs?? First off I need to say that
honestly, I am really only speaking to Christians with what I am about to say. It is time that we (Christians) eliminate the
word MISTAKE from our vocabulary when we talk about our SIN. As far as our walk with God goes, once we
understand (based on the Bible, teachings of others, and revelations of God)
that something is against the will of God, we no longer have the right to use
the word MISTAKE. A mistake is an error
done in ignorance and once someone is no longer ignorant of the wrong, all
other instances of disobeying God in the same way is SIN.
Please understand, I’m not saying mistakes get
free passes and don’t require forgiveness from God. Both mistakes and sins need repentance,
correction, and forgiveness. However, based
on my study of the Bible, we are accountable for what we know and SIN is what
God hates; so, being the one who knowingly does what God hates cannot be a good
place to be. God said “My grace is
sufficient for you,” (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that grace saves us from our
sins. So we should seek the instruction
and will of God, rest safely in the grace of God and run from the SIN that
snares and enslaves us.
