Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

How To Think About Sin

     We have to face the problem that our hearts may be right with God while our heads have a startling affinity with a great deal that is antagonistic to the Bible teaching. What we need, and what we get if we go on with God, is an intellectual re-birth as well as a heart re-birth.

     The trouble with the modern statements regarding sin is that they make sin far too slight. Sin according to the modern view simply means selfishness, and preachers and teachers are as dead against selfishness as the New Testament is. Immediately we come to the Bible we find that sin is much deeper than that. According to the Bible, sin in its final analysis is not a defect but a defiance, a defiance that means death to the life of God in us. …

     According to the Bible, sin is doing without God. Sin is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Sometimes I just have to read Oswald Chambers, let it soak in, read it again, and then sit back and exhale deeply. His profound insights into how a Christian should live always seem to hit me right between the eyes.

Here’s what I’m pondering: “The trouble with the modern statements regarding sin is that they make sin far too slight.” Do I make excuses for sin? Do I say, “It’s not that big of a deal”?

And this: “Sin is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God.” Am I living each and every moment totally dependent on God? It’s when I think I can do it on my own that I am the most vulnerable to sinning.