Q:
What's the most serious sin we can commit? Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but I wonder sometimes if I've committed it, whatever it is. I know I haven't lived the kind of life God probably wants me to live.
A:
In our eyes, some sins are admittedly more serious than others, usually because they hurt someone or cause greater heartache than a so-called lesser sin. This is why our courts punish crime — and the more serious the crime, the greater the punishment.
But in God’s eyes, all sin is serious, and even one sin — just one — will cut us off from God and make us subject to His judgment. I realize this may be hard to understand, since it’s very different from the way we normally look at sin. But God is pure and holy, and even one sin is an offense to Him. The Bible says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
This is why we need God’s forgiveness, no matter who we are or what we’ve done. And God has provided the way for our sins to be forgiven by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for us. We deserve to be judged for our sins — but on the cross Christ took our judgment upon Himself. All we need to do is turn from our sins and trust Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The greatest sin we can ever commit is to turn our backs on God, and reject the gift of salvation He offers us in Christ. I pray this won’t be true of you any longer, but that you will give yourself to Jesus Christ — beginning today.