I think I’m almost sin-free. Oops, that’s a lie, and that’s another sin.

It’s always easiest to see sin in someone else’s life, or to make the most of “big sins” and ignore my own “little” ones.

To make up for the lie that I started with in this post, I’ll admit to a few of the many sins I currently commit. (No, I can’t tell you ALL of them, because you would be tempted to GOSSIP about my horrendous ways. I don’t need to add the sin of “tempting others” to my list of flaws.)

Some of my many current sins are “in” sins.

By that, I mean they have the letters I and N in them. Things like, intolerant, indulging, or even incredulous or disbelief.

The sin of disbelief shows when I say, “God can’t handle this chaos,” or when I hold on to skepticism towards another person and say, “There’s no way God has changed you. You’ll always be the same.”

The next “in” sin I keep committing is indecisiveness. In my defense I say, “It’s just common sense. I gotta hedge my bets.” If I cater to both sides of an issue, then I can maximize my options. Fear is my roommate here. There are several kinds of fear. If I commit to a decision then I might become unpopular, or the results of the decision might have difficult consequences.

Then there is my proneness to insincerity. This causes me to say, “I’m sorry” when I’m not. Or maybe, “I’ll pray for you,” when I don’t really plan to focus on your need, because mine is so huge. Or maybe I say, “Good luck,” when secretly I hope you’ll fall flat on your fancy face. (Ouch! This confession blog hurts.)

If I fill my time with useless pursuits and spend my money on pointless passions, then I can guarantee my wallowing in the sin of ineffectiveness for a long time. “Yes, I KNOW God, this path is the one I am supposed to take, but I just don’t have enough motivation yet to do it.” This sin pairs well with procrastination.

“Sinifying” is the final sin I will confess to you today. To “sinify” is my made up word for a sin I commit that is the opposite of deify.

Here’s what I mean.

When I deify something, I make it into an idol. When I “sinify,” I give IN to my tendency to categorize something quickly as a sinful behavior before I really know God’s point of view for me. Usually it’s something I see others do, and I cast judgment on their action instead of saying, “I don’t know.”

One recent and silly example of my “sinifying” something was when I reacted to our Christian writing teacher’s instruction about how writers need to participate in social media—Facebook.

I said…“What? Don’t you know there’s a lot of bad stuff on Facebook? I can’t be a witness to other people’s crude talk and poor living. Besides, I don’t want everyone to know my private life.”

I also repeated other Christian’s remarks about how Facebook contributes to people feeling a “false sense of community, and friendship.”

In short, I “sinified” the concept Facebook participation before I even consulted God. The truth was this. All the while my mouth was flapping, God was tugging at my heart. He was reminding me that Facebook, was simply like the invention of the telephone—which could be used for good or evil.

Through His words (bible) , God reminded me that He’s the ruler over all things. He IS the great and able communicator. As the Great Communicator and Mediator of our life, God might be interested in seeing Facebook used for His purposes, too.

Once I took the leap, I quickly saw how Facebook participation can be like sitting in the market square, on the front porch, or at the gate of the city. If you listen and watch what others show and say, there is a daily stream of ways to connect to the hearts and minds of many people you know. It does not replace actual contact but can be added to your contact with them.

How long you spend and who and what you acknowledge in reaction to Facebook “status” statements of other’s lives is yours to define. You could use your knowledge from what you discover on Facebook about them to call them, write a card, cook a meal, or just write a comment back to them.

Here’s my conclusion….

Instead of being incredulous, indecisive, insincere, ineffective, and majoring in “sinifying,” I need to be contributing to the search for healing and joy for those who hurt. I also need to be rejoicing and praising with those who conquer.

Guess what? No need to guess. You already know. I have a long way to go to become sin-free!

Jesus said, “Why do you stare at the small particle in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye? ….first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3,5