The word TRIGGERING is front and center today as a way of describing something that prompts people to react. “Don’t say that or do this because it will trigger pain or bad memories in people.” That got me thinking this morning that the word SIN falls under that definition because it triggers a reaction in Christians.
When the word SIN enters the mind of a Christian, it triggers FEAR–flight or fight, freeze or flee. Worst of all it stirs up a flurry of adrenaline that might as well be a flare soaring 1000 feet into the sky for Satan’s eyes.
Being confronted with their sin prompts believers to slip into a “GUILT GEAR” that immediately causes their life to sputter, if not stall. If that happens, we are more likely to do what WE can to get our life back in the right gear than we are to immediately STOP the car and ask God what’s going on.
Dealing with the sin God is trying to point out is much easier without having that word enter the dialog. We would rather classify our actions as something other than SIN by thinking it “wasn’t that bad” or “I just slipped a little.”
But those “little” impurities, the tiny weeds of self-will that can choke out our garden’s fruit, set us up for living a life WE PAINT GRAY. Once we create a gray area in our life, it can only grow to accommodate more of our rationalizations.
Sure we “miss the mark” but we can toss the “small ones” into the GRAY ZONE. But it is NOT a matter of how far we missed the mark of Christ-likeness, it WAS a miss.
I ask God to help me remember that there is no GRAY AREA of sin.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What kind of reaction is triggered in you when God brings the word SIN into your mind and heart?
“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
