Choosing Your Sin
Isn’t
it interesting how people tend to pick and choose which of God’s laws they will
obey and which they will ignore? Rather than take the entire word of God as our
standard for holy living, we are all guilty of committing some sins while disdaining
others.
Here
in 2 Kings 14, we have the record of king Amaziah who ascended to the throne of
Judah at the age of 25. For the most part, Amaziah did what was right in the
sight of the Lord. But not completely. While living a fairly “good” life,
Amaziah was guilty of picking and choosing which of God’s commands he would
respect and which he would ignore. He ignored God’s command not to worship
idols (Exodus 20:3-4) but still allowed the people to sacrifice and make
offerings on the “high places” (pagan altars). He ignored God’s command not to
murder (Exodus 20:13) by taking revenge and striking down those who had been
involved with the takedown of his father.
After
committing these horrendous sins, Amaziah draws a line in the sand. He refused
to allow the murder of his enemies’ children citing God’s command found in
Deuteronomy 24:16 – “Children shall not be put to death because of their
fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.” Why did Amaziah choose
to obey this particular command while ignoring the others? Why, in his mind,
was this sin greater than the sins of idolatry and murder of which he was guilty?
A
better question is why do you choose to obey some of God’s commands for your
life while ignoring others? Perhaps you steadfastly avoid the sin of adultery,
but you have no problem with the sin of gluttony. Or, maybe you steer clear of homosexuality,
disdaining its practice, but you commonly commit the sin of gossip or lust or
anger? Why is one sin considered greater than another when they’re all sin?
How
do we decide “their” sin is evil while “our” sin is no big deal? It
seems that we all have a tendency to draw a similar “line in the sand” and hate
our own sins “just a little bit” while hating the sins of others “a little
more.” Perhaps instead of making statements and passing laws and boycotting
stores, the most potent way we can combat “their” sin is to love God with all
of our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor—our fat, alcoholic, porn-addicted, liberal, homosexual neighbor—as ourselves. When we
do this, every command of God will be revered and honored and EVERY sin will be
shunned.
Amaziah
wasn’t ready to shun every sin. Are you?
