Just because we hear something – or say something – over and over again doesn’t make it true. For instance, my 3-year-old grandson refers to Hulu as “WeeHoo.” Whenever my daughter carefully pronounces it correctly for him. He says, “No, Mom. It’s ‘WeeHoo.'” Yes, the illiterate toddler thinks he knows better than the grownup.
As silly as that sounds, we sometimes do that with God and His Word. We have allowed things out of line with Scripture to become so embedded in our brains, we now accept them as fact. Or we take a truth out of context and misapply it. And unfortunately we repeat these things to others.
Although not an exhaustive list, I hear Christians make the following five statements over and over again:
1. “We are all God’s children” – All people are definitely God’s “creatures,” created by God and for God. But only those who have been spiritually born again through a saving relationship with Jesus are God’s “children.” Here’s what God’s Word says:
- Through Christ, we can be “adopted” as God’s sons and daughters. (Ephesians 1:5).
- Only those with the indwelling Holy Spirit are children of God (Romans 8:15-17).
- Only those redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ are children of God (Galatians 4:4-7).
At its best, this phrase is incorrect. At its worst, it gives people without a saving relationship with Jesus, a false sense of eternal security.
2. “Judge not” – We too often quote these words of Jesus as an excuse to ignore sin in others’ lives or as a reason for others to leave us to our own detrimental behavior. The passages we whip out are Matthew 7:1 and James 4:12. Unfortunately, we regularly fail to consider the context of the greater passage and the whole counsel of God’s Word.
Yes, both Jesus and James condemned a harsh, critical “judging” of people’s motives. This kind of “judging” is motivated by a self-righteous, hypocritical attitude. But in the whole of Scripture – including words of Jesus and James – God clearly commands Christians to lovingly point out sin and exhort each other to holiness. It is not our place to determine their motives, but it is our responsibility as a member of the body of Christ to gently identify behavior that God has already judged to be “sin.” The goal is to reconcile that person with others and with God and to keep the sin from spreading to others (Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 5:5-7, Hebrews 12:15, James 5:19-20). For more about “judging” read this post.
3. “God will never give us more than we can handle” – There is just one problem with saying this: It’s simply not what the Bible teaches. Many well-meaning people quote 1 Corinthians 10:13 to back up this understandable desire. But the context of this passage is about temptation. Here’s the good news: God does promise that He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear; He will always show us a way to stand firm.
So what does God teach about the amount of trials and difficulties He will allow into our lives? In a nutshell: He will allow far more than we can handle. Paul wrote that he had suffered extreme hardship in Asia, “far beyond his ability to endure so that he despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8-11). God allowed this so Paul and his companions “might not rely on themselves but on God.” For more on this topic, read this post.
4. “God is love” – Yes, I believe that God is love! Scripture says it over and over (1 John 4:8-10). God defines real love. He is loving by nature. He expresses this divine love in all that He does. But unfortunately, some Christians try to stand on this truth – “God is love” – to rationalize sin or to dismiss hell.
“A loving God wouldn’t send people to hell.”
“God loves me, He would want me to be happy.”
But our loving, holy God does not sweep sin under the rug. Instead His love moved Him to provide a way of salvation for all people by sending Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:11). And Christ’s love compels us to repent of our sins, accept His sacrificial death, and be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). God’s love provides a way of salvation, not a license to sin.
5. “All sin is the same” – Most assuredly, any and all sin separates us from God and brings eternal spiritual death (Romans 6:23). In that way, all sin is the same. But Scripture does show that some kinds of sins cause far greater harm to ourselves and other people or bring far greater consequences than other sins. (For more on this see this article at BillyGraham.org.)Here are a few examples:
- Sexual Immorality – Due to the intimate nature of sex, sexual immorality has unique consequences, such as tearing apart families and even directly impacting our relationship with God (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
- Pride – Scripture condemns the sin of pride over and over. In fact, the Bible says that God “opposes the proud” (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6). Pride is an underlying attitude that manifests itself in a host of other “sinful” ways.
- Hypocrisy – Jesus sternly warned the Pharisees about their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13-36). This kind of self-righteousness blinds us to our own sin and our need for God. “Woe!”
- Leading others into sin – Jesus’ language was harsh for those who would dare lead a “little one” into sin. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea. Sounds serious! (See Matthew 18:1-9.)
You may not agree with me on all these, and that’s okay. What I hope we will all do is go to God’s Word to find His truth. But, let’s not ever settle for a “truth” we’ve grown accustomed to.
Have you ever said any of these 5 things? How do you feel about it now? What are some other things you hear often from Christians that don’t line up with God’s Word? Be sure to share what God’s Word says about it!
Loved this! Years ago I would often think and say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle”. It was a comfort to think that I’d be able to handle anything that came my way. Then, I was corrected on this. If He won’t give us more than we can handle, we would have no need for Him! Now, whenever I hear this from someone else, I get irked! Uh oh…Am I judging? LOL
I was very interested to read your thoughts on “All sin is the same”. As I have thought about that before, it has never sat well will me. However, I figured that God sees all sin as sin…turning away from God and His ways. But, the different sins do have different effects upon US. So, that makes them different. It’s a bit of a paradox. Regardless, we need to obey God and not sin ;)…though we all fail from time to time. I’m so thankful for our God of Grace!
In His grip, Joan
Thanks Joan for coming by and sharing your thoughts. In thinking about the effect of sin, yes, there are some that have greater effects on us and also some that have greater and more far-reaching effects on others around us too. Of course we never sin in a total vacuum, but some simply have much more devastating consequences – physical and spiritual – than others.