Disclaimer: This is an opinion post…not a doctrinal statement.
In my experience, many believers have one sin that causes the majority of problems in their life…
It could be:
- Pride
- Selfishness
- Lust
- Worry
- Fear
- Greed
- Stubbornness
- An unforgiving spirit
It’s not that they don’t struggle with other sins, but this one appears dominant in their life. I realize that ultimately our greatest sin is following our will over God’s will, but that one sin is at the center of many of the person’s problems. It keeps him or her from fully surrendering to God’s will for their life and from developing complete intimacy with others. It impacts their marriage and parenting, their work life, and their general attitude towards life.
Discovering that sin and dealing with it through discipline, repentance, and dependence on God, often helps a person move through much of the junk in their life.
Being totally transparent…I realized in my twenties, through some painful experiences, that my “one sin” was pride. I have MANY others, but if I’m not careful, pride can cause a multitude of problems in my life.
What’s yours?
(Keep in mind, I’m talking about believers in this post…for unbelievers the only sin to be concerned about is the sin of denying Christ in your life. If you need help working through that, please let me know.)
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Definitely pride here… Which, for me at least, can actually lead to most of the other sins on your list.
And in my experience, pride can be so insidious, so pervasive… we can fall into it when we're not even aware of it, and we can fall into precisely because we are aware of it. (False humility is just as much about pride as egotism…)
And it's contagious.
And (left unchecked) it's fatal… to ministries, to relationships, and to our own spiritual growth.
Twitter: bryankr
says:
I would have to say, with reluctance, it is an unforgiving spirit. I know where I came from (I have been given forgivness and need it everyday), yet I still have this strange thing about other people's mistakes! I work on this on a daily basis; it stays right in front of me, I know I need to work on it, I know it tends to get between myself and others on more than one occaison keeping me from good relationships! It tends to make me come off more harsh than I really am; Judgmental. I am convinced that is why it stays in front of me all the time: making me face this ugly part of me, making me more like Him. Glad it is Him doing it! If it were a man doing it, I would probably rebel more than I do now; His patience is far greater than any man's could be, and I would never get past it.
I think I have an Israelite type of faith which is no bueno! God brought them out time and time again, but they would continue to forget what he had done and would turn their backs on him.
I know what God has done in my life, but there are so many times when I feel like he has left the building and I'm left to my own devices to figure things out.