If we believe that Jesus died for us, then our sins are washed away and forgiven.

But still, we continue to sin.

Sometimes I think that I treat sin like an ostrich would.  I earnestly plant my head in the sand with the hopes that maybe – just maybe – if I don’t see it, it may not actually be there.

But it is.  All around us.  All the time.

Why are we so afraid to call sin what it is?  To hold eachother accountable?  To actually deal with it?

I think it’s because “conviction” (a strong persuasion of beliefs) is so closely related in our minds with “condemnation” (severe reproof); and when we find ourselves being convicted by the words of another sinner, we reject them and that misinterpreted condemnation that we feel.

Likewise, I think that I’ve been afraid of being the messenger of accountability  that gets shot – or worse, unfriended on Facebook.

Then there’s the guilt that comes with calling someone else’s cards when I know all too well which ones I’ve been holding.  I am bothered by the speck in their eye as I happily ignore the 4×4 hanging out of my own.

So maybe it all starts with the honest evaluation of ourselves.  And yet, that still doesn’t explain why culturally we turn a blind eye to the sin that’s all around us.

I think that too often we dismiss and explain away our own and eachother’s sin with the excuse, “if that works for you and makes you happy, it’s no big deal…”

Right?

But it IS a big deal.  When we make it okay for us Christians to sin, we make it okay for everyone else.  We claim “political correctness” and “tolerance” to justify our positions toward sin.

This is wrong.  And cowardly.

The Bible is very clear on what sin is.  We can’t pick and chose and pretend that it doesn’t.

Instead, we need to speak the truth, in love – Just like the Bible says.

The key is owning up to it, calling it what it is, and inviting everyone back in.

That’s what Jesus did.  He called it sin.  He died for us BECAUSE of our sin.  And then He invited us to to come home.