"But I'm A Good Fella"

I was asked, "What must I do to be saved?"
"Repent of your sins; change your worldly life."
"What sins? Drink and drugs I have never craved;
I pay my bills; I do not beat my wife;
I'm a good fella; least as good as you!"
He stumped me there, as I was guilty, too;
So I said, "Yes, but my life's good as new;
God forgave my sins; did He forgive you?"
"But what have I done that needs forgiving?"
"You break His greatest commandment, for sure,
Which is: 'Love God most of any living';
Adam's sin, too, applies, makes you impure!"
Sadly, I watched him go, still unconvinced
That anything he had done gave God offense!

Our modern culture so engulfs and indoctrinates Christians and non-Christians alike that it becomes difficult to identify actions that the Bible says are "sinful". Television and movies are the twin monsters of evil that dominate and impregnate us from infancy with the values that govern our beliefs and actions; copying them, we commit sin pervasively and yet do not identify ourselves as sinful. Christians are as guilty as non-Christians; a recent study by Barna Research Group of California reported that only 11% of self-professed believers in Jesus had lifestyles noticeably different from non-believers!

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: Sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galations 5:19-21) (See also Colossians 3:5-9)

Paul gives a partial list of behaviors that are sinful (meaning, they are offensive to God, and must be forgiven by Him for salvation) to the Christians in the church at Galatia in the first century A.D. They are evil today; it takes intellectual analysis and the aid of the Holy Spirit to apply them to our culture in the 21st century. It will help you to meditate on each of these; scrutinize your recent activities objectively; It would take a paragon of virtue to claim innocence in all of those listed, when you consider that, in addition to these comparatively few sinful actions, there are hundreds---nay---thousands more cited in scripture, plus many invented every day by the insatiably evil minds of men---there truly is no man that is free of sin and is not in need of God's forgiveness.

Space allows me to accentuate only a few. For example, your body is the "temple" or dwelling of God; hence it is a sin to harm it with tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc. Most vows, as in marriage, resolutions, testimonies. are made to God; breaking a vow is sin. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments, God's laws engraved by Him personally in stone and given to Moses, is a sin, The sin that everyone born of woman is born guilty of is the first man Adam's sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was innocent of this sin because Mary was impregnated while a virgin by God the Holy Spirit. All other men resulted from the sperm of a descendant of Adam. Sexual lust in one's mind; envy; covetousness; jealousy; anger; lying; cheating; breaking traffic laws; discourtesy; theft from employers, even a single paper clip; nonpayment of legitimate tax or bill; and many other routine actions are offensive to God. No one is free of sin. However, God graciously forgives all our sins, but we must ask Him to. When He does, we must make a determined effort to abandon the doing of those things; not to quit doing them is a sin, too; it is breaking a vow to God; that is serious!