A Worse Sin?

  All my life, I have heard that a sin is a sin is a sin.  That basically all sin is the same.  Now technical speaking that isn’t quite accurate. All sin bears the same punishment (Romans 6:23). We can’t afford to pay for any sin.  It doesn’t matter what sin we commit, when we break one law of God we stand condemned.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. James 2:10 

  That doesn’t mean however that all sin is the same.  Sins vary by consequences, scope and judgement.  Jesus himself said that there are greater sins (John 19:11). While any sin will bring you into judgment there are some sins that are weightier than others.

  Considering this, what would you think is a worse sin? Murder? Homosexuality? Sexual Immorality? Unbelief? All these sins we see are condemned to a high degree in Scripture but I want you to consider one passage of scripture where we are told a sin comparably worse that another sin.

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1^st Timothy 5:8

  To be an unbeliever is to deny God and turn away from what is true and right.  If we refuse to take of our responsibility towards family and children we can be worse than that! 

  In a world today that has put a lot of stock into the ‘let someone else take care of it’ approach to our responsibilities, this verse should be a shocking wake up call.  Dead beat dads and missing mothers need to beware!  People that abandoned their parents in old age or expect the church to care for what they should care for are denying the faith!

  We often make the mistake of thinking of sin in terms of what we do wrong. The truth however is that not doing the things we should be doing is a sin as well (James 4:17).  You can be sinning if you are not providing for those you have a responsibility for.

  Not only is it a sin, it is a worse sin!