“Sin” isn’t a popular word these days. When someone starts talking about sin, many are inclined to tune out and dismiss the speaker as some kind of Bible-thumping religious fanatic. But sin is serious business that we cannot make go away by denying its existence.
Lutheran Christians understand sin not just as acts of wrong-doing, but as a “power.” Sin is a state of being into which we are born, imbedded in our nature, and hence, is “original.” Put bluntly, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners — creatures who, following in the footsteps of Adam and Eve, willfully reject God to pursue our own agendas. The wage of sin is death — physical and spiritual.
Sin is so powerful a force in our lives and in the world that even our best attempts to remove it through good works will fail. By ourselves, humans are held helplessly in sin’s grip.
The good news is that God has not let things stay this way. Through Jesus Christ, God has forgiven your sin. When Jesus died on the cross, your sin was put to death with him, and when Christ was raised, eternal life to you was gifted.
When you trust and believe that through Christ your sins are forgiven, you can take blessed assurance that your sins are truly forgiven and that sin’s power has been rendered powerless. When God’s forgiveness and promise through Jesus is truly believed and trusted, a transformed life follows.
