Minimizing Sin

It can ‘be cute’ when a little child looks straight at his mother who is holding a broken lamp, “Nope! It wasn’t me.” Forgetting there is nobody else in the house, and that his mother watched the whole episode on the baby-cam, the little child insists he did nothing wrong. It may be cute to watch on TV, but we all know how dangerous it can be to deny responsibility for our actions.

Brethren, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected.  By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1^st John 1:8-10;2:1-6

Unfortunately many of us never outgrow the denial, and like the little child we forget that God watched the whole thing take place. Parents of little children struggle to find a way to help the child confess. Joy fills our hearts when our children ‘come clean’ not because it fixes the lamp, but because it fixes their soul. The same is true for God.

When we confess our sins, we don’t change the past. We change our future. God is always delighted when we ‘come clean’ for the sins we have committed. And we do commit sins, lots of them despite our childish denial. So, instead we learn to minimize our sin. I hear it all the time. “I don’t have any big sins to confess.”

Keeping with our little child analogy. “It was just holding it, and it broke.” We think by pretending our actions were not serious, even though the lamp is broken, we are not culpable. We learn to minimize early on in life. As adults it becomes, “It’s not like I stole something big.” Just turn on the evening news and you can watch gangs smashing windows taking ‘just enough’ to not be a felon.

When it comes to sin, minimizing leads to greater sin. We keep minimizing to comfort our conscience, and we end up like the prodigal son, alone and spiritually hungry. God is watching and hoping our heart will turn toward Him. As we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into sin, God waits. Thankfully, there is a way out.

If only our parents had taught us to ‘come clean’ earlier in the battle of the lamp. Once we learn that it is easier to stand up and ‘come clean’ rather than digging ourselves out a pit, we learn that God has always been loving us. He has always been our advocate, rooting for our victory.

He helps us repair the broken lamp. He helps us change our behavior to avoid the sin the next time. Most importantly, He helps us understand that even when we fall short and sin, it is better to ‘come clean’ and confess. It is always better to confess.

The little child walks around the house always seeing the broken lamp, and his heart fills with guilt. If it goes on too long, he begins to think he ‘got away with it’ and one broken lamp becomes a broken window, etc. All this is because he minimized his sin. No sin is too small to confess. Saint John Chrysostom warns the little sins build and accumulate into large sins. Better to confess and move on than to dig a deeper hole.