What Makes Your Life Inefficient?

 

Mechanic repairing the puncture while behind my two kids playing on the sand.

Today morning, after sharing God’s word with the church, I was in a hurry to attend the memorial service of my relative. When I got on my bike, having my youngest son sit in the front and the eldest one on the back, I realized there was something wrong with the back tire. To my disappointment, the tire went flat because of puncture.

Since there was no repair center nearby, I had to push my bike to some distance. My kids too helped me in pushing the bike. After burning many calories in my body, I was exhausted and so were my kids.

With great difficulty, we finally arrived at the repair center. As I was already late, I requested the mechanic to fix the tire as soon as possible. Thankfully, he promptly attended my problem. He pulled the tube outside the tire, filled it with air and pushed it into the water tub to check from where the air was leaking out.  

Within a moment, I saw bubbles coming out of a very small hole. You know, the hole was so small that it could not be seen with my naked eyes. It was as if it was poked with a needle.

As the mechanic was fixing the puncture, I thought looking at the bike—the bike is strong, the engine is in good condition, the tank is with sufficient fuel, yet this very small hole in the tube had brought this big bike to a halt. How a small hole can create a big problem!

What makes our life inefficient? What causes big problems in life? What ruins the serenity of heart? What wastes our life?

This is what I have generally observed—it is not necessarily big sins that make our life inefficient; it is mostly those small sins that paralyze the efficiency of life.

Many of us see murder, robbery, drunkenness and adultery as big sins. We judge ourselves as nice folks based on not committing these so-called monstrous sins.

But what about sins like temper, bitterness, envy, lustful thoughts, greed, white lies, loose talk, negligence and laziness? The tragedy about these sins is that they are not seriously considered as terribly wicked.

How easily we ignore such sins! How casual our attitude is toward these evils! O, these are the vices that brings the efficiency of life to a halt!

Interestingly, most of the sins about which the Holy Bible speaks are such sins that appear quite little to our perspective. But it is these small sins that ruin the peace in our heart. It is these little vices that spoil our day. It is these minute evils which bring enormous troubles in interpersonal relationships. It is these small sins that make our life weak, inefficient and unproductive for the glory of God.

Let us, therefore, not ignore any sin. May we be even more careful with these little sins which blind our heart to belittle God’s holiness. Let us grieve and repent over such small sins, for the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin (1Jn. 1:7). Let us cry out to God to deliver us from these little vices. Let us discipline ourselves, by God's grace, in not permitting these sins to thrive, making our life inefficient.

Be careful not to let “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” (Song 2:15).

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Insights from Genesis 3 - Part 6

6. Sin is Sin

Genesis 3:6, "She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

Whether you throw a pebble or a rock both will sink into the water, right? It is our tendency to quickly justify ourselves, saying, “What great sin did I commit! It was just a little thing!” Remember, whether small or great, sin is sin. Read these words carefully: "She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Genesis 3:6). And when God asked Adam, "What have you done?" he replied, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it" (3:12).

Eve did not eat the complete fruit. She ate only some and so did Adam. However, her actions were not belittled just because she ate little. There was no way for Eve to justify herself before God, “Lord, I didn’t eat the complete fruit. It was only little that I ate. Don’t take it too serious!” Doesn’t this attitude sound familiar? How often do we consider some sins with ‘take it easy attitude’ simply because we view them as something “small” or “little.” 

O, by the way, do you remember Saul’s mission? God told him to completely destroy the wicked Amalekites. Saul did destroy Amalekites but he spared Agag king of Amalekites and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-- everything that was good.

When Samuel rebuked Saul of his disobedience are you aware of how he responded? Saul justified himself saying, “But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal" (1 Samuel 15:20-21). Saul didn’t yet understand his sin. He still was under the impression that he obeyed God. He didn’t realize that “half obedience (little obedience) is no obedience at all.” He didn't grasp that little sin is still sin in the sight of God.

Furthermore, when we study the life of King Saul and King David, whose sin appears greater to us? Of course, David’s. He committed an immoral act by sleeping with another man’s wife and worse still, killing that man to take his wife. Saul’s sin seems to be smaller compared to David’s. Yet, Saul received a greater judgment than David. Why is it so? When prophet Samuel rebuked Saul he justified himself before others but when prophet Nathan rebuked David he humbly repented before God. No matter how great or small our sins are, when we honestly admit our sins and repent, God is gracious enough to forgive us.

How often do we take sin lightly or consider sin “little”, only to continue living in sin! The Holy Bible doesn’t weigh sin in terms of great or small; it just addressed sin as sin. May we dare not take sin lightly, saying, “It was just a lie, not a plunder; just a lustful thought or look, not an adulterous action; just an anger, not a violent fight; just hatred, not murder; just an unkind word, not an abominable speech; just unforgiveness, not vengeance; just premarital sex, not prostitution…etc.” Jesus’ exhortations in His Sermon on the Mount are related to what humans consider trivial. May we educate our conscience to see sin from God’s point of view, not from the world’s perspective!

James was straightforward in letting us know, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (Jas 2:10; cf. 1Jn 3:4). Can we live our entire life without stumbling at one law? For this reason, however holy we may seek to live we can never claim of being perfect in this sinful world. We may not commit sins which appear mountainous before people but are we not prone to commit sins which are like anthill? Anyways, sin is sin. We are saved by grace from the penalty of sin and live by grace on earth and enter in heaven by grace alone. Our life on earth is a journey towards perfection. Paul urged the Corinthians, “Aim for perfection” (2 Corinthians 13:11). Therefore, we must constantly seek God’s holiness, always examine ourselves in the light of the Holy Spirit, honestly repent of our sins (great or small) and keep growing in the likeness of Christ.

Well, I am not arguing here that all sins are equal in the intensity of offense or damage and that all sins have the same consequences. My point is—let us stop weighing sin (so to justify our actions) and take responsibility to confess and repent of any sin we commit, whether small or great. One of the great signs of a holy person—he is not flippant in his attitude towards sin. May we understand that sin, whether great or small, is still sin in God’s sight. Therefore, may we humble ourselves and “let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete purity because we fear God” (2 Corinthians 7:1, NLT).

(To be continued.....)

(Previous reading - Part 5)

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