Hello Dear Friends. I feel the need to talk about sin this morning. An imperfect man is going to speak about perfecting. Firstly, I want to establish who our God is, Holy and righteous,  full of Light and Love. When someone thinks of light, the first thing that comes to mind is the Sun. An object that is millions of miles away but can give natural light to the earth and planets. Now let’s go one level up. Can you imagine how much light is found in the one who created the sun? The Majestic God!

1 John 1:5 – This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Light,  is the true character and composition of our God. The one who is true light, aims to dispel all dark things from our lives, and there is no better darkness to dispel than sin. For sin draws us to the darkness and away from the light. For this reason, we must have a great understanding, awareness, and sensitivity of/to sin. 

When we think of sin, most persons automatically consider things like adultery, murder, stealing and such like. We consider the so called “big sins” that are obvious and glaring. These are the ones that are more observable and dramatic and are also the ones we love to point out within others, (Matthew 7:3-5) without doing self reflection. These are the Sins of Commission! But the Father of Light does not expect our obedience to reside nor remain in this category only. 

For there is another category of sin that is ever present and just as real, and this is Sins of Omission. The grouping that makes up this category is real and subtle and can often go unnoticed. As I was told once, “Beware of the deception of the subtle!”. This category of sin comes from the following scripture.

James 4:17–“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

These sins of omission are the ones which appear when we neglect to do what is right. These are good works and acts of service which are left undone. Things like not praying, not being merciful and forgiving, forsaking the assembling of ourselves (Hebrews 10:24-25), not sharing Christ. If we look at these through the lens of James 4:17, we can clearly see how God regards these actions.

Omitting all these have consequences. For example, not doing good by forgiving someone who offended you, causes God to not forgive you for your trespasses (Matthew 6:15). Not doing good by acknowledging Christ to others, will cause Jesus to disown you (Matthew 10:32-33) and also have others remaining in their sin (James 5:19-20). Omitting not sharing Christ as noted in James 5:19 has dire consequences. Because omitting this sharing of the gospel directly contributes to keeping others in sin, who might have otherwise been freed. Our sins of ommission helps keeping others in their sins of commission. Wow, now that is fightening!

We often consider these types of omissions minor when compared to sins of commission. It is this insignificant viewing of these requirements that causes us to overlook its importance. Omission of things can be just as deadly as the commission. Case in point, if you are in a relationship with someone and you omit doing key and essential things, then the relationship will inevitably decay. This is the reality of life and it is also the reality of our spiritual lives. 

That’s right, sins of omission silently and slowly affect and erode our relationship with God in a subtle way. Not doing the good things like praying & fasting, reading His word, helping others and exercising our faith (James 2:17-22), causes us to become lukewarm. Now, what does being lukewarm cause? Being lukewarm causes us to be at risk; at risk of being kicked out the kingdom. It is one of the most dangerous states to be in. Therefore, today we are presented with an opportunity to conduct a Risk Assessment of our lives in order to secure our salavation.

Revelation 3:16–“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth,”

My friends, I have come to realize that, “The sins we often omit, feeds into the sins we commit”.  Even if you don’t want to go as far as classifying it as sin, life clearly shows us that the things we omitted earlier on, affect us in our latter days. Omitting things like getting a better education, saving more, working harder, eating healthier and exercising, all come back to bite us in the end. Again I say, “Beware of the deception of the subtle”,  or phrased another way, “Beware of the deception of what you consider simple”.

While I have crafted this blog from the angle that God is light and what He intends to do is bring us to His light by removing all the sin in our lives- I don’t want us to just look at the things we do as, “Am I sinning or not sinning?” My preference would be for us to relate to it this way, “Am I being faithful, or not being faithful?” To me this is the million dollar question to ask, “Am I being faithful to God in all that He requires of me?”

Faithfulness is demonstrated by active obedience to all of God’s word. It does not entail only being appalled about sins of commission because we see them as more sinful, while casting aside other areas deemed less important. Its about being faithful to God and His word in all aspects, so that when all is said and done, we can receive eternal life at our journey’s end.

God’s mercies are new every morning and if you want to restore your relationship with Him, all you have to do is repent and ask for forgiveness, for He is faithful and just to forgive.

1 John 1:9- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

I conclude by saying, walk into the light my friends, keep walking into God’s light.

PS: Dane Miller was last seen with a box of pens and plenty of writing paper, listing down the areas in his life that he needs to be more faithful .

Reference Scriptures for those who want to do some additional research/reading in this area:

  1. What is a sin of commission?
  2. Sins of Omission – By Mark E. Larson

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller | Author

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