Just A Little Sin

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14

In the world there is a hierarchy of morally wrong (or sinful) activities. Many are considered ok while there are many that are worse than others. For instance, murder is a no-no; lying is not good, but accepted; telling a “white lie” is absolutely alright.

It is a dangerous idea. This hierarchy can lead to thinking “this is alright - it’s just a little sin”. We of course try to walk that straight and narrow path, but the idea of “just a little sin” leaves a little wiggle room. Perhaps with just a little sin we can straddle the edge of that path. We may go over the edge a bit but it’s not like we aren’t close to that path.

We likely picture that narrow way as a dirt path with, perhaps, grass around it. So being a little off the path doesn’t seem so bad, but remember being off that path leads to destruction. In Romans 6:23 we read that “the wages of sin is death”. That isn’t something to take lightly.

Perhaps we should try picturing the narrow path as a narrow bridge with no railings, hanging hundreds of feet over a rocky bottom! Going over the edge “just a little” would still lead to death. And I’m sure that no one would like to walk along the edge of that bridge. Everyone would try to remain as close to the middle of that path as we can. So why should our spiritual walk be any different. We shouldn’t walk along the edge!

Also, in Romans 6:23 we read simply that “the wages of sin is death”. This includes all sin, as we did not read that only the wages of some sin is death. All sin - “big” and “small” - is something that we need to avoid.

So “just a little sin” has no meaning. We wouldn’t want to jump over the edge of that narrow bridge by a dozen feet, nor would we want to go over the edge by an inch, as both would lead to a frightening fall followed by death. As Christians we want to try and remove all sin from our lives. A little sin is a little too much.

                -- John Thrower Jr.