In the Old Testament, Moses proclaimed:

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.” 

(Deuteronomy 29:29, NLT)

When we put our minds to it, we can usually find a few sins we've committed each day. But this verse means that there are more sins than we can possibly wrap our heads around—ones that God hasn't revealed to us. God (in His mercy) will not hold us accountable for those sins.

If you're like me, you might find this humbling and sobering. We don’t know everything. The Bible does not list out the entirety of what sin is. It only gives a sample. 

It does bear consideration that we are sinning, perhaps even right now, without even realizing it. We cannot afford to assume that God has only revealed the "big" sins to us. Perhaps He has only revealed the "little" ones, because they are the only ones we can understand. If we are wise, we do not underestimate the mercy and grace of God.

There have been times in my life where I've tried to be holy—really holy. I've tried not to sin, I've put all my strength and focus into it. In the end, those efforts have always ended in misery. I've gotten so obsessed with "not sinning" that I've forgotten about depending on Jesus. I've focussed on my sin instead of my Saviour. In a way, our quest for holiness can become a form of idolatry. We idolize our own efforts, and spend more time with our holiness than with the One who is holy.

This is not the way that Jesus beckons us to. 

The Bible says:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

(Philippians 4:8)

It also urges us to "[fix] our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:2)

When we focus on following and emulating Him, that's where true holiness lies. [1]

This doesn't mean that we give in and don't struggle against sinning. It does mean that when we struggle, we don't focus on our sin, but on our Saviour. We look at Jesus and not the waves. [2] We focus on allowing His holiness to flow through us, on submitting our thoughts to His lordship, on obeying Him.

The irony is that when we become obsessed with “not sinning” instead of with following Jesus, chances are we are only stepping more deeply into the muck and mire of our transgression.

I will leave you with one final thought. In recent years, I've noticed a trend in Christian circles towards comments like, "I earnestly searched for God's will, I earnestly searched the Scriptures, and this is what I've found..." The person saying this often then goes on to outline how his or her beliefs have changed in some fundamental way. 

I find this sort of comment both encouraging and disturbing. I love it when people allow themselves to dive into the Word of God, and allow Him to work in their hearts through the Word's finely sharpened scalpel. 

But if we are wise, we are wary of equating our own earnestness with a guarantee of holiness. I've written before about how sincerity does not define truth. If we can only understand only a small fraction of our overall sinfulness, then we when we elevate our earnestness we are in even more peril than we might otherwise have thought.

This draws us back to the pivotal question:

Where will I put my focus today?


Lord Jesus, please draw me out of getting tangled up in the spider web of sin and not-sin. Let me not focus more on my own earnestness or on "not sinning" than I focus on You. I know that in order to be holy, I need to focus on You who are holy. Please work in my heart today. Change me from the inside out. Live Your life in and through me. Please enable me to honour you in my thoughts and deeds, and birth in me a passion for following You that holds nothing back, that doesn't secretly nurture any favourite sins, but that wholeheartedly follows You. In Jesus' strong and powerful name I pray, amen.



NOTES

[1] Holiness (like happiness) is a byproduct, unattainable as a goal in itself. Instead, we do well to replace our quest for holiness with one to draw near to Christ in full submission and obedience.

[2] See Matthew 14:28-33. When Peter focussed on Jesus, he was able to walk on water. When his focus shifted, he began to sink.