How does God rank sin?

When I was about seven or eight I remember I went in to Cent-Wise Drug store and shoplifted a Matchbox car because I didn't have the 99 cents.  It ate at me so much that within hours I had told my parents and had them drive me back to town so I could confess my sin to the store clerk and give back the car.  It would have been easier to just sneak it back to its display, but I needed to apologize.  I never shoplifted again.  

Now, I have not been perfect in the last 46 years or so, but am I without sin?  no way; daily I have to consider my stand before a perfect, holy God.


Ever wonder how God ranks sin?  Which sin does He think is the very worst and which one is... not so much?


Do you think God has something like felony or misdemeanor categories?

• Murder... that's a big one.  What if they deserved it.... just because?
• Adultery.... was once pretty big; punishment was being stoned (not with grass) to death, but with real rocks.
• Stealing - music, taxes, from banks, fruit at the market, pillow from the plane, phone from a car......etc. is there levels of stealing like hotels one to five stars?
• Telling a lie or bearing false witness - that has some heavy implications.
• not honoring your mom & dad... punishment was same as Adultery
• Prostitution?  Isn't that legal in the Netherlands now.
• Dishonest weights  equates to dishonest business practices.
• Homosexuality, pornography, sexual practices; these are things that are kept quiet.
• How about idol worship; not the carved wood or stone or gold images (not at these gold prices)?  No today having other gods and idol worship is anything, beyond God, that you spend your time and money on... cars, work, beauty, guns, sports, etc. etc.  Worshiping another God at times was a death sentence.
• Taking the LORD's Name in vain - Swearing.  Just because some people have a limited vocabulary doesn't mean it is right.
• Keeping the Sabbath holy, in other words, setting one day aside to rest and contemplate the God who created the universe and holds it all together.
• ooh, keeping up with the Jones....You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.  This puts a damper on "Desperate Housewives" on TV.  The ads for it are enough to make my skin crawl.
• Excesses of Drugs?  Alcohol?  Suduku?  Food? Sex?

I could go on and on, but let's start with these.  You could number them from one hundred to minus 50; worst sin is #100.  I'd leave room for the really, really bad ones at 110!  It might look like this thermometer!  Our "sin-o-meter", oh, I even found one at by Agnus of Texas!  Now, how would God rank them?????

 

First of all, I'm not God and I can't answer for Him, but this much I believe, SIN IS SIN.  SIN is missing the mark, so each of the above are sin and they are all sin.  God's word doesn't distinguish between one and another, however, one might consider that a mark missed that impacts someone else like, Rape, or Murder, are worse.  BUT God doesn't say that.  God says He can not look on any SIN.  He also sent Jesus to wipe away all our sin and He did it once and for all (all sin, all people).


Our movies, magazines, books, TVs, phones, computers, etc. all glamorize these things and that makes us feel better about our lives.  If it is "everywhere" and "everybody is doing it? does that make it less on the sin chart?


Bottom line is we are all guilty of sin and there is only one way to be freed from sin.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Rom 3:23 NKJV

Living Out Loud

I've always been impressed with Joseph; not the Joseph of Mary, the mother of Jesus, but Joseph the self-righteous shepherd boy that God gave dreams and he felt he should share them.  So what if they put his ten older brothers down and his father at the same time; that makes for a great family dinner time conversation.... "all of you are going to bow down to me".  I'm not sure if it was before this or after that his father gave him a precious cloak made with many royal colors.  Hey, in the desert, why hide your favoritism of one son over another.  Speaking of which, I don't recall daughters, but that is for another time.

Anyway, what has always impressed me is that Joseph lived OUT LOUD.  Everything we know about him was OUT LOUD.  He is hated by his brothers, cast into a pit, sold to caravaning merchants as a slave, bought by Potipher who is close to the Pharaoh (his captain of the guard) and then Joseph rebuffs the Potipher's wife's advances.  This lands him prison where he does his time.


Now, I have always wondered, after a month, then a year pass, and until he is summoned by the Pharaoh was he daily praising the Lord and worshiping and not anxious about the injustice of his imprisonment?  I mean, isn't this where the proverbial "rubber hits the road"?


OK, it says that "the Lord was with him...", I get it, but my humanity wonders if my spiritual discipline would sustain me in the long rough times.  Then to add to it Joseph interprets a pair of dreams that come true and the cup-bearer is given back his job and the Baker looses his head.  The cup-bearer forgets to tell the Pharaoh of the unjust imprisonment of Joseph and he cools his heals a "full two years".  I would be feeling pretty alone at this point if it were not my faith that God is and always has been in control.

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and companion galaxy

Even in prison he is living OUT LOUD!  Here is a shepherd boy, learns some management skills on the job, falsely accused of rape, can interpret dreams and when he gets his big break before Pharaoh, what does he say? 

"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires." Gen 41:16 NIV
 
Humble, knowing that God does not share His glory, Joseph is a tool in God's hand and acts accordingly to save a nation, his family, and a brother he has never seen?  No, though that comes later, Joseph acts as the servant of the living God; not as a puppet, but as a committed bond servant willing to give up everything.  Joseph interprets both Pharaoh's dreams like before, God gave the dream and interpretation, all things belong to God.  And who but a man surrendered to God can do as Joseph did?


Then Joseph goes on to be second in command of the greatest civilization of the time and he helps them survive.  He didn't pour over research or take classes in political science, Joseph did what God called him to do; live OUT LOUD FOR GOD!  BE SOLD OUT TO HIM AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST.

A Reflection Nebula in Orion

It isn't the last time that God uses a shepherd boy because of his heart.  You will never be rich enough, smart enough, strong enough, skilled enough, or fashionable enough to replace what God can do with raw, devoted, available, honest lives that He sees are so rare and ready to be molded.



Credit: NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI).