Sensitive to Sin

Maybe one of the most important things that we can do to mature Christians in the Gospel is to help them to learn to be sensitive to sin.  

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” Hebrews 5:14

“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

1 Corinthians 14:20

Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 

2 Timothy 4:18

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16

For we who have been baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, sin does not condemn us to separation from God. That judicial standing has been dealt with for all eternity. 

But our daily relationship to our Heavenly Father is impacted by our sinful disobediences. Our joy can be stripped away for a time. Our peace can be temporarily assaulted. Our sense of intimacy with God can be strained.  And, equally important, the attacks of Satan are felt more deeply than they ought to be. 

To be sensitive to sin is not equivalent to being bound up in legalism or fearful that God will punish me. Instead, sensitivity in the biblical sense is relational. 

I know that my Father has freed me from the condemnation of sin, and, has designed me in Jesus to walk in joy and growing victory before and with Him. 

In this sense, I can never be too sensitive!