Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony. Ah yes, the Seven Deadly Sins. Since early Christian times, the church, (read men), decided it would be a good idea to classify sin into two major categories. 1. Venial; relatively minor infractions, which didn’t jeopardize personal salvation, and 2. Mortal or Deadly; which were believed to destroy the life of grace and charity within a person and thus created the threat of eternal damnation. With this list in place the church was able to educate and instruct Christians concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin. Obviously, everyone sins, it comes pre-installed in our flesh uniforms. Step back for a second from the ugly term, sin, and look at the origin of each of these. Wrath, anger or rage, however you choose to label it, stems from a basic, non-sinful emotion. Someone ticks us off, we get annoyed. We get into trouble, and ultimately sin, when we allow it to control our emotions letting them become acts of violence, or self-destruction. Now think about greed, it too begins with the human need for possessions or money, items we must have to live our lives. Do you see the same trend that I see? God knows we have needs and desires, so when he sets his standards, the goal is to keep us safe, content and fulfilled. Enter Original Sin, and goodbye contentment. It amazes me that each and every sin is the result of our humanness wanting more from a basic need, overstepping the loving boundaries that God engineered for our protection and benefit. Believe it or not, He always has our best interests at heart. As a parent, I know that my kids didn’t always like my rules, but I continually explained why I had set them. God, as our loving father, wants us to know his reasons too. Ask him, then rest in His contentment. “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Psalm 16:6.
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