Sin – you’ve probably heard the word before, but what is your definition of it?
According to Oxford dictionary, sin is “an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.”
If you go to Church, sin is typically defined as “disappointing God,” or “disobeying God,” or “breaking his rules.”
This is what Soren Kierkegaard in Sickness onto Death says,
“Sin is building your identity on anything but God.”
But what exactly does that mean? In short, we all have people, things, reputations, etc. that we feel like we need to have. For example, a certain job, a specific title, a specific type of girlfriend/boyfriend, etc.
We all have things that we feel like we need to have.
However what happens when we actually get those things? Timothy Keller says that “you’ll be[come] enslaved to it.” Furthermore, “when you actually get it, it won’t actually satisfy the hole in your heart, and if in anyway you fail it, it’ll curse you for the rest of your life.”
Consequently, rather than considering sin as breaking a set of rules, what if we began viewing sin in the same way Soren Kierkegaard does? “Sin is building your identity on anything but God.”
What would change?
Here’s another question – How do you view sin
