Inspired by Sin
Is my church afraid of sin or inspired by it? In what way do we respond to the need of Christ in our community? People respond to a threat in one of two ways: fight or flight. When we chose to run away we gain security by avoidance. When we chose to combat the threat we risk victory over loss. Sin is the greatest threat to all of humanity. It is not the root of all evil, it is all evil. What does my church do in response to this peril? Are we motivated to gain security or rick victory? These two values typify many churches today. Their entire modus operandi consists of keeping sin out or taking sin head on. I want to be a part of a church that chooses the latter. Sin should inspire Christ’s church to make disciples of all types of people. Those who are most caught up in the charade of sin should be the most compelling but the church often views them as the most repulsive. A Jewish teacher once asked, “Do the healthy need a doctor or the sick?”[1] Clearly, the sick need a doctor; but why do the healthy often chose to horde his medicine? Roger Gill discusses various ways in which people are motivated and believes that, “treating threats, problems and failures as opportunities to learn can be a source of great inspiration.”[2] When sin rears its ugly head in our community do we run away clutching everything that is precious to us or do we run towards it with everything we have?
[1] Luke 5.31, New International Version
[2] Roger Gill, Theory and Practice of Leadership,(London: Sage Publications, 2006). p. 243.
