In creation, there are two opposing forces: goodness and evil. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are goodness and perfection, and the opposite is sin. Sin is real, and its effects are real; and sin will destroy your life if you don’t resist it. The urge to do wrong is strong, but God’s love and power are stronger.

Sin is rebellion against God. He designed us to live in purity and obedience to him; therefore, sin is a war against God.

Sin arrived in the world when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, went against God. Romans 5:12 states, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death [arrived] through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” When the first man and woman sinned, death was the result.

God gave them the Garden of Eden, which was paradise on earth, as their home; where they were surrounded by beautiful plants and animals, waterfalls, trees and streams. God gave this gift to them, and they should have been happy, but they weren’t. They wanted more.

God told them not to eat the food from the Tree of Knowledge, which was a simple request; after all, they had everything a person could ever want – God’s love, no work, abundant food, no danger…. Wanting more than God has given is a large cause of sin.

We crave the status of a promotion, a fancy car and clothes, or a house; however, if that isn’t what God wants for us, the result is sin. God knows what is best for us and what we need. If God doesn’t want us to have these things, then there’s a reason.

1 John 5:7 states, “All wrongdoing is sin.” This makes clear the point that there is no compromise or grey area – everything is either right or wrong. We either obey God, or we sin. There is no place for interpretation, context, negotiation or perspective. Sin is sin. It is rebellion against God.

Sin is to disbelieve or doubt Jesus is the Son of God, and that he is totally without sin, and that He sacrificed His life to cleanse us of our sins. The sacrifice of pure Jesus’ life was the ultimate price to pay for our freedom; it was the only thing that could remove our sin. Romans 14:23 says, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” In John 11:25 Jesus states, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” 1 Peter 2:24 states: “He himself bore [took responsibility for] our sins in his body on the tree [cross], so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;[and] by His wounds you have been healed [saved from hell].” To not believe that Jesus died and rose to heaven, and is the only way for us to get there, is a lack of faith and trust. This is sin.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This means we are all sinners, without exception. Romans 3:10 states: “there is no one righteousness, not even one.” This means all sin is treated the same; it is a rebellion against God. We were born sinners, and are by nature disobedient to God; therefore, we must trust in God to rescue us from sin.

Because we are all sinners; it is a sin to judge others. We have no right to tell someone else they are sinners, when we too are sinners. Mathew 6:25 says,“Judge not unless you [want to be] be judged.”

Once we realize we are sinners, we must tell God of our sins. John 1:8 says, “If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just [fair] and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We do not have to keep guilt and fear with us, because once we tell God we’ve sinned and ask him to forgive us, our sins are forgiven. The Devil wants us to keep the guilt of our sins, so that we will suffer for them the rest of our lives; however, God wants to take our sins away from us so that we can be free.

Isaiah 59:12 states: “Though your sins are scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.” The color scarlet represents the deep red of sin; but the imagery of this verse shows that God will turn this to the whiteness of snow. White represents purity, cleanliness and spotlessness. The record of our sins will no longer exit

Sin separates us from God. Isaiah 59:1-2 states, “Our iniquities [sins] have separated us from you [God].” Sin disgusts God, which makes Him turn his eyes and ears away from the unrepentant sinner; therefore, we must repent, tell God we’re sorry; and He’ll forgive us.

James 4:17 says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” We must feed, clothe, shelter, visit and comfort those in need, because to not do this, is to sin. In the same way that Jesus looks after us, we must look after others.

The price to pay for sin is high. Romans 6:23 states, “The wages [payment] of sin is death.” Our reward for unrepentant sin is death. Death can be actual death, or it can be divorce, drugs/alcohol problems, gambling debts… The good news however, is stated in Romans 6:21: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefits you reap [receive] lead to holiness, and the result is eternal life [heaven].” Getting free from sin brings us into God’s plan.

Craving luxuries causes sin, because we can get tempted to use unethical means to get what we want: namely stealing, cheating, lying, misleading and/or not paying taxes. Craving also causes sin, because it clouds our judgment and brings temptation. The less we want; the less we’ll be tempted.

Wanting luxuries also makes people sin, because they treat the luxury product as a “god” and worship it. They plan and talk about their vacations and cars as if these things were God. In the Ten Commandments (not suggestions), specifically Exodus 20:3, God states: “You shall have no gods before me [God].” Wealth causes us to sin when we put it and anything else something above God.

We also sin when we want luxuries and status, because these things make us look down on others. In God’s eyes we are all equal; therefore, being proud is a great sin.

Jesus taught that wealth was wrong, so a good way to keep away from sin is to keep away from wealth.

Those with wealth have greater opportunity to sin, because they have more leisure time and the money to buy sin. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Real fun and accomplishment happen when you worship God and take care of the poor. Money has nothing to do with it. Money is mentioned more than 2300 times in the Bible, and more than 10% of Jesus’ talk is about money. Loving money is a sin.

Lust is one of the worst of all sins, and it starts with something as simple as looking at a young girl as she walks by. This seems harmless to many -- but it isn’t; because to look at her body is to steal from her. The reason: her body is hers, and not ours. To desire to look at a young girl is to deceive her. James 1:15 says, “Desire…gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” Psalms 101:3 says, “I will not set before my eyes any vile [disgusting] thing.” The young girl is not disgusting, but looking at her is. Mathew 5:28 says, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.” Psalms 119:37 says, “[God, please] Turn my eyes from worthless things.”

Sin happens when we don’t appreciate and trust God. The Jews were slaves in Egypt for many centuries, and then God rescued them. He took them out of Egypt and set them on their way to the “Promised land.” However along the way, they complained and turned from God, and He punished them. They had to walk through the desert for 40 years, and at the end – that generation didn’t get to the Promised Land.

When we don’t pray to God and tell him how much we appreciate what He gives us, we sin. God is our loving Father, and He wants to hear our appreciation.

The Bible says much on the relationship between the mouth and sin. Ecclesiastes 5:6 says: “Do not let your mouth lead you to sin,” and Mathew 16:18 says, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man ‘unclean.’” With our mouth, we can lie, slander, gossip, insult, swear and talk foolishness – which are all sins.

Slander is where we say something wrong and untrue about somebody. This is cowardly. Psalms 101:5 says, “Whoever slanders his neighbor [neighbor means anybody] in secret, him will I [God] put to silence [punish].” And 1 Peter 3:10 says, “Whoever would love life…must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.” If we want to keep out of trouble, we must not slander. Proverbs 10:18 states: “Whoever spreads slander is a fool.” And since nobody wants to be a fool, then don’t slander.

From our mouth also comes the sin of gossip. Like slander, gossip is cowardly, because the victims are not there to defend themselves. The gossiper is of low self-esteem, which causes him to feel important by bringing others down; moreover, the gossiper is worthy of little respect, because he only brings dissention. Anyone who listens to a gossip is a fool himself. Proverbs 16:28 states: “A gossip separates close friends.” Gossip is a sin, because we are all created by God and in his image; therefore, when we speak badly about one of God’s creations, we sin.

It seems obvious to state it, but lying is a sin. Exodus 20:16: “You shall not give false witness [lie] against your neighbor [anyone].” Lying isn’t just what you say, but what you don’t say. You can lie by keeping keep quite, when you should be defending the truth or a fellow Christian.

Foolish talk is also a sin; and this can be politics, coarse jokes and ridicule, and the rest. Ephesians 5:3 states, “But among you there should be no…obscenity [swearing], foolish talk or coarse joking.” When we do these things we dishonor God, because God created everything; so to mock or insult His creations, is a sin. Further, when we speak foolish things, we usually speak them while we are standing and sitting amongst other fools, which can lead to other sins.

Anger is a great sin. Psalms 37:8 states, “Refrain [resist] from anger…it only leads to evil,” and Ecclesiastes 7:9 states: “Anger resides [lives] in the lap of fools.” Mathew 5:22: “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” If we get angry, God says it leads to evil, makes us fools, and makes us receive God’s judgment. The opposite of this however, is love. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit [love, live peaceably] to one another out of reverence [love] for Christ.” Anger brings sin, but love kills it.

Selfishness is a sin. Philippians 2:34 says, “Do nothing out of selfishness ambition…but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” The selfish person thinks of himself; however, God designed us to think of others. To be selfish insults God because we don’t own anything. Everything belongs to God. And with this in mind, we must understand that God gave us things to be shared – so we must not keep more than God allows us. This is a sin.

Debauchery, is wild parties drinking, drugs and any indecent behavior; and these hurt us, because 1 Corinthians 6:19 states, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…Therefore honor God with your body.” God created our bodies to do His will and to conform to his plan; therefore, when we abuse our bodies, we sin against God. And, when our bodies rebel against us because we have abused them – we cannot blame God for our ill-health. We must blame our sin.

In Exodus 20:8 God tells us to remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens…[and]He rested on the seventh.” We are to obey God and rest. If we work on the Sabbath (Sunday) we sin; which means God will not bless the work we do on that day. If on Sunday morning we are at the arena (unless it’s after church), working or shopping – we’re sinning.

The list of sins is almost endless, with only a few being touched upon here. Sin is where we fight against God. The writer of Psalms 51:4 states: “Against You [God], You only, have I sinned.” We fight with God when we doubt or disbelieve in him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; and we sin when we hurt our bodies, hurt others, and don’t look after those in need. So what can we do about sin?

Our sin is erased by the blood of Jesus, as He died for our sins. John 3:16 says:” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have life eternal.” So, to kill sin: we have to believe Jesus died for us.

Next, we have to keep away from places, people and situations that encourage us to sin. To join a church (a good church), a youth group and to volunteer, is a good start. We have to read the Scriptures and do what they say; and we must live for others and worship God. We need to keep Jesus in our thoughts constantly. If we are in any situation where we would feel shame if Jesus suddenly arrived, this is sin. We must realize that the pull of sin is very strong and is sneaky, and without God we cannot fight it.

We need to pray for courage, guidance, wisdom, self-control and the ability to resist sin. We must be alert at all times.

The world tells us that sin isn’t a big deal, or it is subjective. This is false. Sin is rebellion against God. We see others sin and it seems to be O.K., and we feel comfortable and secure knowing we are not alone in our sin. Beware! Each person stands alone on Judgment day and answers for his individual sin. Every though and every deed we ever had or did will be brought to our attention, and we will have to answer for them all.

To clear us of sin, we must go to God and tell him we have sinned and are sinners from birth. We must then tell Him we are sorry, and that we will do better. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and return to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” How beautiful. When we apologize to God for our sins, they are “wiped out,” and we receive “times of refreshing.” God doesn’t want to punish us; He wants to love us. If we approach Him with a heart full of sorrow for our sins, He will happily forgive us.

God bless you.