Two types

According to James (he of Biblical authoring fame), there are two types of sin. (I know, I know - sin is not a popular topic of conversation. Hear me out though.) The first type is the one that most people think of. It's the stuff we're used to pointing out - murder, adultery, theft, lust, abuse, etc. These are sins of commission.

But there is another type, a far more insidious type - a type of sin in which we try to fool ourselves into thinking we haven't committed any sin at all. It's called the sin of omission. According to James, the sin of omission is when we know there is something we ought to do, and we don't do it.

Tolstoy put into the mouth of the narrator in 'War and Peace' words that have been variously translated along the lines of: all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. These words try to express the same sentiment.

I've been thinking a lot about the sins of omission. I'm getting better at dealing with my sins of commission, but as I've been reflecting on this other type, it struck me that I'm really, REALLY awful at this area. I've been so wrapped up in my own life, that there is plenty of stuff I've failed to do - good stuff that I know I ought to have done.

Now I'm not getting down on myself, or about to beat myself up, or about to lay upon myself a burden of things I 'ought' to have done or 'should' have done. I'm merely reflecting on the fact that I know, in my heart of hearts, that with everything going on in my life, I've become far too absorbed with me, my family and my work. I've lost focus on the world around me.

Now I know that I can't save the world. I know that I can't help every person who crosses my path in need (or can I?). However, my personal aim is that when I die, my epitaph will tell that I lived my life in such a way that I made a difference in this world for the people around me. I want to be able to meet my Maker and have him smile and tell me I've done well.

For weeks now - no, probably more like months, God has been nudging me to do something. I talked myself out of it on the basis that we couldn't afford it. And we couldn't. But that's only if you look at it through the eyes of unbelief. After thinking about these two types of sin, it struck me last night that if I believe God has told me to do this thing, and I don't, then that is a sin of omission.

I chatted to G last night, and (wonderful man that he is) he agreed that even though we can't afford it, we're going to live by faith and do what we both know to be right.

So - it's up to God now. Starting the end of this month, if we're going to get by, then God is going to have to make ends meet for us. I've finally done the right thing, and while I know it's going to hurt us financially, I have such a sense of relief to have finally got on and done what God has asked me to do.