By 8 SINS YOU CAN’T BOUNCE BACK FROM
Sin is an ugly business, especially the deadly ones. I mean, how are you going to bounce back from your sins if they kill you? They are deadly sins after all, and once you are trapped in their clutches of darkness, there is no coming back to the light. Let me explain.
- Lust
Lust can be defined as an intense and uncontrollable desire. This can mean desire for power, fame, money, food or even a person. Just like the definition says, once these desires take hold, they are uncontrollable. By that very definition, you can’t control them. Rather than you controlling them, these desires begin to control your every thought and deed. The more you feed your thoughts, the more they grow until they are so far beyond your capacity to contain them, there is no reining them in again. Once this sin has you confined, you’re lost to the darkness of your own mind.
- Gluttony
Gluttony is all about overindulgence. As a matter of fact, it is overindulging so much that there is a fair amount of waste left over but you still keep eating anyway. Feeding the poor or the homeless is never on your mind because you are too busy appeasing your insatiable desire to feed yourself. You become the epitome of selfishness, always putting your desires before others’ needs. That is the true sin. Once you allow gluttony to take over, it becomes a ravaging wolf that continues to feed but will never be full. The hunger inside you will always win, and you’ll never ever be full again.
- Greed
Greed is the pursuit and desire of earthly possessions, gaining more material wealth than one really needs. It is forsaking the things of heaven for the love and pursuit of material things on Earth. In a world of excess, where newer models of old devices are released every few months and where it’s a sign of status to have both a house and a vacation home, this sin can really change your thinking. You start looking at everyone around you, see their things and you want one, too. Pretty soon, theft and violence become the new norm. In the spirit of being like your neighbor, you take from your neighbor the things you don’t have. Before you know it, you’re trapped in a world of your own design with everything you want but an Exit sign.
- Sloth
Sloth isn’t just physical laziness, it’s spiritual laziness, too. It’s also failing to do the things you should do like using your gifts and talents to help others and make the world a better place. Once a person starts down this path, it’s likely they’ll never come back. Once your mind and body figuratively slumber, you become sluggish and apathetic to the world around you. You see work as a bother and chores as a bore, both things that should be left to those who care. Your eyes are shut because you stop choosing to see. You’re stuck in a room that has no view, you’ve stopped moving forward, and God’s stopped moving you.
- Wrath
Wrath is anger and violence and hate, it’s impatience, spite and revenge. It can drive men and women to do unspeakable things to one another and is the cause for many of the wars throughout history. Not only is wrath ugly, it can lead you to be ugly too and persuade you to do very ugly things, often to the ones you love. When wrath gets a firm hold on your heart, it never loosens its grip. It clings tighter and tighter until your heart is hardened and your love of man grows cold. Once wrath has done its part, you’ll never feel love in your cold, cold heart.
- Envy
Envy is jealousy taken to an extreme. It’s not only the displeasure towards seeing someone else’s qualities, power, privilege, status, traits, abilities, talents or rewards, but it’s coveting those things and desiring to see those who have the qualities brought to a lower state. It’s not just a desire but an insatiable need to not only be better, but to see others brought lower than you. It convinces you into believing that you have to be miserable when you see the happiness of someone else. It twists your ability to think clearly into something misshapen and dejected. All you can think about is what you can’t have — another’s happiness. You’re consumed by desires that can’t come true because you’ll never be happy just being you.
- Pride
Pride is the source of all other sins, therefore it’s the most serious. It’s believing you are better than everyone else, boasting in your own strength and failing to celebrate or even recognize the accomplishments of others. It’s faulting your neighbor for his mistakes without acknowledging you have weaknesses of your own. In essence, it’s loving yourself while hating your neighbor and failing to see God’s hand in your life. Once you’re trapped by this way of thinking, you refuse to let others persuade you into thinking anything different. Because the thoughts of yourself are mighty grand, you’ll never ask others for a helping hand.
- Unbelief
Okay, unbelief isn’t one of the seven deadly sins, but let’s be honest, it’s the onlything you can’t bounce back from unless you choose to believe again. With God, nothing is impossible. You may not be able to fix yourself, but God can. He can help you control the uncontrollable, love the unlovable, soften the hard places and reshape the misshapen into something beautiful. He can help you feel proper love for yourself and increased love for others.
Believing in God and His miracles gives you the power and ability to do anything you set your mind to while God does the mending. But God can only help you if you believe in Him and forsake your sin. God will make up for where you lack, if you believe in Him, you can always bounce back.
