Big Sins and Little Sins

 

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:8-13 ESV).

 

Charles Spurgeon is responsible for the quote in the meme I have chosen to accompany the devotional today, though it is based on the Scripture found in the Song of Solomon: “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom” (Song of Solomon 2:15 ESV). The context of the quote comes in the explanation of the grace of God forgiving all sin. In the 19^th Century there was a pronounced effort to separate sin into two categories within the Protestant Church. Spurgeon recalled the verse and went on to preach a lengthy exhortation that there was no difference between sins. While consequences may be different, the act of sin was simply a manifestation of the human nature. The only answer was the work of grace through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

 

Our reading today is clear in explaining the destructive nature of sin. We cannot trivialize our wrongdoing. James wrote about showing favoritism to certain people while ignoring or putting down others. It’s easy to think that favoritism is no big deal and that many other sins are more serious or offensive to God. But James pointed out that even one sin makes us guilty. I once heard this memorable saying from an old preacher: “No sin is too heavy for Christ to bear, and no sin is too light for Christ to spare.” Committing one sin is already too many.

 

Naturally that causes us to wonder if anyone can be saved. Like the disciples we can easily lose hope. However, we must recall that our salvation is secured by the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 John 2:1-2). He shed his blood to pay the price for all of our sins, whether they are big or small in our human eyes. That is GREAT news! None of us can say we have not sinned. And anyone whose heart has been touched by the Holy Spirit can say every sin has been forgiven. Isn’t it time to get the foxes out of your vineyard?