Scope of Our Own Sin

We have stiff necks (pride) and resist understanding and admitting the immensity of our own sins. We like to tell ourselves, "Yeah, I sin, but most of what I do is right." or "Yeah, that was sin, but they sinned too." We try to excuse away (justify) our own sins while magnifying the sins of others. We do this so we don't have to deal with our sins.

We are to commanded to love each other a great deal. Instead, we disregard others feelings and frequently say things like, "I don't care..." in regards to other people...the very people we are told to care about as if they were ourselves! "Love thy neighbor as thyself." "I don't care." "Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, thy soul, and thy mind." "But, they sinned too! They started it!" We sound like Eve in the garden. "It's not my fault!"

If we were to sincerely admit our own faults and request forgiveness to restore our relationships with each other, how much better may the world see Christ in us? Instead, what the world sees is people protecting (serving) their pride while they claim to be serving Christ, but are really serving themselves, all while pointing out the sins of others through the thick forest of their own. God's grace in redeeming us is a bigger gift, a larger miracle, a more incredible mercy when we realize the enormous scope of our own sins and grant others forgiveness for theirs against us.

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” ― Brennan Manning