Redefining Sin

I'm living in sin.

but it's different than I thought it was.

Here's my thought process that lead me to my conclusion--

If we're Christians, then we believe in grace. Grace is the opposite of shame (one of the opposites). If we live in grace, we carry no shame because of who Christ is.

So, we never need to feel any form of guilt or shame about anything. Ever. Because that's not a part of who Christ is. Even in sin, in any thought or action, we need not carry shame. Because here's the thing-- shame and guilt produce no lasting change. No one changes after feeling bad about something. Usually the only thing that comes from feeling bad...is feeling bad. But, someone WILL change when they know they're trusted enough to invoke inner change in themselves by being able to differentiate between something life giving and something that numbs, destroys, or is not beneficial.

So, "sin" is not something we should view with a shameful connotation. Sin is anything that numbs, deadens or distracts us from the abundant life (here on earth) that Christ has promised us. This is what I think Christ is referring to when he speaks of the "wide path that many take" and the "narrow path" that few find. The wide road is easy and numb (sinful, because it separates us from the abundant life of Christ). The narrow road is the one you must seek out, climb over, trudge through. One that's alive, awake, living, breathing and in tune with Christ in the here and now. The wide path is sinful. Not shameful, or even necessarily guilt ridden. Just without Christ. And the narrow path is the abundant life, without sin, with Christ. And that abundant life frees us from shame and gives us a permanent dwelling position (here on Earth) in a place of grace. Grace, in this case, means forgiveness from Christ and the guarantee that one way or another, the Spirit will show us that if we are taking the wide path, why what we're doing is not life giving and how we can begin to cease, begin to see and being to live.

I know it's well known that all sin is not necessarily considered "bad". But lately I've found myself thinking I'm not in sin simply because I'm staying away from shameful acts. But I am sinning. I'm sinning when I spend all day on facebook, spacing out the world around me and not tuning into the gifts God has given me in the present. And I don't have to feel shameful about that. I'm not bad for that. I'm thankful Christ can show me and gently touch my face, turn my head, and open my eyes to the abundant life he has for me now. Not later. Now.

It's About The Journey, Not The Destination

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."--Alfred D. Souza