“I cooked it, cut it and ate it.”
If I was saying that of a fillet of fish, no big deal. If I was saying that of my child, quite the opposite. One is average, the other is abhorrent.
That’s what sin is, a violation of purpose.
Sin Is A Violation Of Purpose
That’s one of the big take away points from a course* I’m doing at the moment.
Evil is unintelligent and unoriginal. It always opposes the actions and principles of God. Little wonder then that it makes the case that there is no purpose or design to your life. Not only is this insulting, it’s effective.
If there is no purpose or design to life, there is no good or evil. And with no standard of good or evil to guide you life, you’d wander into all sorts of damaging activity and attitudes without warning.
So stating that sin is a violation of purpose is not only accurate, it’s useful. Rather than sin being a “sting” whenever you trip over one of the things on a list of “Thou Shalt Not”, it points to design and something higher to strive for. It helps us all think in the positive rather than a negative. It gives us a standard to strive for rather than something to avoid. This mindset is naturally easier to comprehend and more desirable to pursue.
The meaning (purpose/design) of life – it’s more than a cliché, it’s a great talking point to reach the seeker.
*Ravi Zacharias International Ministry’s Core Module. I highly recommend it.