How We View Sin

Saturday, October 05, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:7–9

How we respond to temptation is in large measure determined by how we view sin. If we regard sin as a minor, insignificant thing, then we will probably yield to the temptation. On the other hand, if we recognize it as a monstrous and wicked betrayal of God, the temptation loses its allure.

We see this displayed in the life of Joseph. He had been sold into slavery by his brothers and was far from home. When the opportunity to sin presented itself, Joseph could have easily rationalized it away and gone along with the temptation. Instead he firmly resisted, even though that led to him being thrown into prison after he was falsely accused. While Joseph recognized the human impact that would follow sin, his greatest concern was not to sin against God.

We live in a society that minimizes and downplays the nature of sin. It is vitally important that we not adopt their attitude.  Solomon wrote, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). The devil always tries to mask the consequences of sin, but we must not forget that sin is ultimately against a holy God.

Today's Growth Principle: 

When we view sin the way God does, it provides us protection against temptation.