The Subtle Convenience of Sin

June, 2002

by: Dave Hintz

On a sweltering June afternoon, you decide to avoid the heat and swing by the mall to do a little shopping for your college pastor's wedding. Apparently everybody else had the same idea as battalions of cars pack the parking lot. With great patience and skill you sandwich your car between a brand new Lincoln Navigator and a Cadillac Escalade (yuppie SUV's for the rich and famous). Anxious to get out, you swing open the door to be rudely greeted by a thunderous thud. This serves as one of the moments when you wish that you could turn back time ten seconds and open the door again. Surveying the damage you see a ding. “Oh no!” you think to yourself, I just dented a brand new Lincoln Navigator. Your mind is filled with ideas and excuses. “Well, this person is obviously rich, and can afford to fix his car more than I can.” “They have insurance to cover this stuff.” “It's not that big of a ding.” “Hey, I have several dings on my door and I am not complaining.” Thus, in the moment of crises, you give yourself a dose of temporary amnesia and forget about it. Perhaps, that doesn't characterize you. How many times have you been on the phone with someone and said, “I've gotta go” when you don't really have any pressing needs, but you are just bored with the conversation. Both of these examples serve as an everyday occurrence in which Christians must determine whether they are to stand firm in their integrity at financial or social peril, or use ungodly means to escape the negative ramifications. We categorize major sin, while we sweep the subtle sin into the recesses of a hardening conscience. These actions result in a progressive slide to spiritual lethargy and deadness.

In Psalm 15, David ponders the question of who may dwell upon God's holy hill. Who is considered worthy to abide in His tent (vs. 1)? The answer comes with “He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.” There exists a three–fold criterion for those who will intimately dwell with God Most High. Walking in integrity means that you go about life in such a way that if Sixty Minutes tried to expose you, they would fail. But beyond integrity is the requirement of righteousness. Whereas integrity implies the absence of evil, righteousness implies the abundance of good. Like the Good Samaritan who gave the inn keeper more than his due to put up a dying man he actively seeks to go above and beyond the call of duty to make things right. Personal benefit, safety, and convenience seem to be the least of his concerns. Finally, we see that the one worthy of intimacy with the Lord speaks the truth from his heart. In a world of accounting scandals and political cover ups, he never takes the first step. He trusts in the Lord and says what is true, knowing that ultimate justice belongs to the Lord. So what is the reward of such a man, he has vibrant, intimate, joyful fellowship with the Lord. His life transcends all of the worries and cares of the world as He seeks to please God alone. He doesn't fudge on taxes, slack at work, take office equipment home, make long distance calls at the office, or glance at someone else's test. Such actions seem as silly as dipping his hand in a cauldron of boiling oil. Yet every day, Satan and the forces of this world seek to stifle this joy, inviting him to forsake the ways of God for the subtle convenience of sin.