But what DO they mean? Definitions change over the years, as anyone over the age of twenty can attest. Anyone reading this can probably think of any number of examples.
One word the bible uses is “sin,” which has much of secular society puzzled. What is sin? I’ve heard many ways to describe it. One definition kind of boils down to going against the will of God. But then we have to define the will of God.
Another I’ve heard is serving self above anyone else. That one is sort of misleading, too, unless we dig deeper about what THAT means. Why? Because even altruism can be about one’s self.
If you’re doing charitable work for underprivileged people because it makes you feel good, then it’s about you - not the people you’re helping. If it’s about you, it’s sin.
In Genesis, when Cain gave his sacrifice to God, it wasn’t accepted. Cain was ticked off and murdered his brother, Abel. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, and Cain’s wasn’t. Cain’s feelings were hurt because the sacrifice was about Cain, not God. While we can’t know what Cain was thinking at the time, it’s possible he was thinking, “Abel is giving God something so I have to do that, too.”
Regardless of Cain’s motive about the sacrifice, he ended up killing his brother. When he was confronted by God, Cain showed no remorse. God told him, “Dude! You whacked your brother! So I’m putting a curse on you that anyone will recognize.” God went on to tell Cain he’ll be a wanderer and the earth won’t give him crops.
“Oh, woe is me! I’ll never survive. People will try to kill me.” In other words, he’s not sorry for killing his brother, only that he’ll be punished for doing it. He was still self centered.
Don’t forget, God could have rubbed him out right there. He’d murdered someone made in the image of Himself. But God showed mercy by letting Cain live, and even the “mark” of the curse served to keep others from killing him. God said, “Anyone lays a finger on him will get that back seven times over.”
The number seven (back when Genesis was written) signified completion. In the context it means that anyone who tries to kill Cain will have God’s complete vengeance for all eternity.
Fast forward a few years, and one of Cain’s descendants, Lamech, said, “Anyone lays a finger on me and I’ll have my revenge seventy times seven!” Depending on who translates, it could be “seventy-seven.” Either way Lamech was saying he’d never ever forgive anyone who injured him - completion times completion.
Jesus, on the other hand, shows ultimate mercy. When Peter asked how many times to forgive, the answer was the same as what Lamech said: seventy times seven. Forgive everything, forever - completion times completion.
That’s what Jesus is offering us. All the self centered garbage we’ve done in our lives (and we all have), can be forgiven for all eternity. The only catch, and this is simple but not easy, is to live our lives for God. Stop doing things out of “selfish conceit.” Serve others because you want to please God, not to earn His acceptance. You cannot earn that - it’s already been bought by Jesus’ sacrifice.
Don’t worry what it will cost you, because God said he’d never leave or forsake you. If you’re working to please Him (by building rockets, distributing acoustical panels, or sweeping the floor at Starbucks) then you’ll be okay. He told us not to worry about what we’ll wear, because even a grassy field is clothed in more splendor than King Solomon.
SIDEBAR:
He also said that worry won’t add a bit of time to our lives, nor a penny to our 401(k), so what would worrying accomplish anyway?
Let’s say you’re backing out of a parking space at your local mall. You accidentally bump fenders with someone else backing out. Are you wondering what it will do to your insurance rates, or are you concerned about the other driver? If you’re more about what it will cost you rather than the other driver, you’re self centered.
Now let’s say you bumped another car when nobody was around, so you just drove off. An hour later the police show up at your house. If you complain about having to pay for the damage to the other car, it’s only because you were caught.
Ultimately when we do something that hurts another person it’s always God who pays. At one point King David said to God, “Against you alone I have sinned.”
How could King David hurt an infinite God? Because he committed adultery, sent a man to his death in an effort to cover it up, and the baby born from his adultery died. All for his own selfish goals. In order to forgive selfish sins, someone has to pay the price outlined in Genesis (I’ve written about it before). Jesus suffered the ultimate punishment to pay for that, so the sin was against God himself.
Repentance means you’re sorry for what you’ve done that wronged God. It’s not simply being sorry for getting caught, it’s being sorry for adding to the punishment Jesus already paid for - seventy-seven times.
Then doing what you can to stop doing it again.
