Our Sin

The Bible says we are all born with a built in double standard – the one we apply to those around us and the other we apply to ourselves. We are innately proficient in detecting the sins and transgressions of others, but we are inept in perceiving our own. Consider the freeway foibles we encounter from time to time. When someone abruptly cuts into our lane, we are quick to assign a slew of incompetencies to the character and intelligence of the careless driver, but when we are the one edging into someone else’s lane we are quick to rationalize and defend our “mistake”. Note how quick we are to assign blame when we are wronged, and how rarely we apply the same standard to ourselves when we wrong others.

God draws some sobering conclusions about our keen sense of discernment regarding the sins of others. He tells us in the book of Romans that “at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things” (2:1). God’s Spirit has been sent to fix this double standard. His job is to get us to see our sin the same way we tend to see the sins of others – as utterly sinful!

This is a critical step in understanding the gospel. We cannot be cleansed of our sin until we clearly see it. Don’t miss this critical step. It is foundational to salvation.