Scripture to Meditate on This Week

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

This is a familiar verse about the problem of our sin and its solution in Jesus. The power of the verse is bound up in our understanding well enough the enormity of our sin. If our understanding of our sin is limited then our understanding of what Jesus has done on the Cross will be likewise limited. We need to see clearly what our sin is.

In my own experience growing up in church, sin was pretty much defined as doing something bad, like lying. Later, I was taught that sin also included thinking something bad, like lusting. But it's important to realize that there is more to sin than simply the things that we do and the things that we think. Sin is even about the usually invisible assumptions that we bring to life. Here's one assumption that our culture has fallen into and that many Christians have also adopted. Life is about my doing what I can so that my family and I can have a good life, an enjoyable life. This assumption guides the choices that people make. It even affects the prayers that people offer to God. Life is about me. But does that assumption match what the Scriptures teach? No. Life is not about me. It's about God. So, every time we make a choice or offer a prayer based on that assumption, we are sinning. Every time. And that's why it's a big deal that 'the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all'.