What Is Sin?

        I recently worshipped at First Baptist in Sevierville, Tennessee, and their pastor, Dr. Randy Davis, preached a great sermon on Jesus’ words from the cross, "I thirst."  I was amazed at how much that great preacher was able to unpack from those two words.  At one point he asked the question, "What is sin?"  The answer he gave was that sin is the attempt to fulfill a God-given desire by going outside the God-given means for fulfillment.

        It is interesting to note that human beings are creatures of desire.  Many years ago Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, described a "hierarchy of needs."  The most basic needs for air, water, food are fundamental, and without them life cannot continue.  But higher needs like sexual drives, power over others, and higher spiritual needs, Maslow thought, could only be satisfied after the more basic physiological needs were fulfilled.  Generally, this hierarchy can seen to be operating, but human beings are capable of reversing this hierarchy in the service of higher goals, especially when those goals are thought to benefit others.  For example, a person may choose to die for a political goal, or to advance the cause of a religious belief.  But we can agree that human beings are a bundle of desires; some desires are based on physiological needs, and some are based on more complex social or spiritual needs.

        Where God has given us a desire, there is a God-ordained plan for fulfilling that desire.  Given that human beings have sexual desires, God has ordained marriage as the institution in which those desires can be fulfilled.  Sexuality is a form of intimacy that within marriage can create great trust, closeness, and fulfillment.  Outside of marriage, sexuality tends to be exploitive, non-intimate, and ultimately frustrating.  Pornography produces the opposite of intimacy, by objectifying and de-humanizing the object of sexual desire.

        Hunger can be fulfilled by eating sensibly and with gratitude to God.  Over-eating, or eating what we know is unhealthy is ultimately unsatisfying and leaves us feeling gorged, and ultimately nauseated.  Attempts to satisfy an emotional need for connection with God, cannot be met by overeating, alcoholic binging or drug use.

        Our highest desire is for connection and relationship with God; counterfeit gods such as success, power over others, or narcissistic self-focus are all substitutes for the real thing.  As such, they are all sinful.

        I find this way of looking at sin in our lives to be instructive and illuminating.  Let us examine our desires today.  Does the desire have a God-given way of fulfilling it? Suppose I desire to be in control, and to have power?  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as I remember that the way to lead is to serve.  If I want to have power, I must learn to be a servant.  That is what God intended for us to do with that desire.  If I want a new car or some other possession, God has given a path to that goal.   We must work, save, and do God’s work, and understand that all material blessings come from Him.  I cannot decide to short-circuit the God-given path by stealing the car, or by engaging in an unGodly business to get the money.