They have gone deep into depravity. They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God. Hosea 2:2,4 

The real tragedy is not that people sin, it’s what happens after they do.  Sin should prick our consciences and cause us to fall into repentance. Conviction should direct us toward God, not away from Him. 

One of the foundational pillars of our Christian doctrine is that we are sinners and Christ died to pay for our sins. After we come to Christ, we often forget that we are still sinners, saved by grace.  Instead, we succumb to the pressure to appear perfect.  Sins of the heart abound but they stay hidden in communities where everyone wears a mask.  There is verbal assent that Christ came to save sinners few want to admit that they are one anymore. 

There are at least two roadsigns on the way to pretension. 

. . when I excuse my behavior and deny the act. I whitewash it by making horizontal comparisons with other people. When I see my neighbor as much worse off than myself, I am already in trouble.

. . when I minimize my shortcomings so that others will think more highly of me.  I’ll accuse the person I wronged of over-exaggerating my sin.  It is my injured pride that causes me to re-shape my sin into a more manageable package. 

Any thought that is not something Jesus would have thought, or any act that Jesus would not have engaged in, is sin. Even the smallest of offenses would have been enough to condemn me to an eternity separated from God.  There is no such thing as an insignificant sin.

I want to live cross-centered, pursuing the mind of Christ, so that I won’t be self-impressed nor self-protective. 

Show me who I am, with and without Your grace.  In Jesus’ name, Amen