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How much time do women really spend putting on their make-up? I have never watched a woman put on her make-up, but I had to wait once for a niece while she put on make-up. It took her quite some time. After a while, when she came out of her room, I had to tell her, “Is that all?” She looked as if she had not put on any make-up at all. But she seemed very pleased with her appearance when she checked on it in the mirror. She told me, “That is the whole point. When you put on make-up, people should not notice that you had put on make-up. Make-up should not appear too obvious.”
Sin is like that, too. When we commit sin, we do not want to be obvious. If possible, we want our sin to go unnoticed. We want our deed to come out like a simple natural act – so common, so normal.
The greatest mistake of our age is not sin. The greatest mistake of our age is the denial of sin. That is the worst deception we can do to ourselves. And we are all victims of this.
When are these instances when we deny sin? When we act so naturally and say, “I will just borrow money from this drawer.” However, the money is not yours. Or you might say, “I will just make a long distance call even if this phone is not mine.” Another example is when you say, “I will take home just one box of paper clips. Anyway this tiny box will not be noticed.” Or sometimes in the middle of conversations with friends, we feign innocence and say “This is not gossiping. We are simply telling stories.” We cover up for our sins and act naturally that we even convince ourselves that we are pretty and we are handsome. When the truth of the matter is that we have just become so at home with sin.
The man in the gospel has two problems. He could not forgive because he had not experienced forgiveness before He could not experience forgiveness because he was not ready to accept that he was a sinner.
If you find it so difficult to forgive, could it be because you have not realized how much God has forgiven you? If you have not realized how much God has forgiven you, could it be because you do not realize how much you have offended God?
The error of our age is the denial of sin. We put on make-up and we say that it looks so natural. It is like there is nothing on. We put on our sinful attitude and we say, “I’m at home.”
THE DENIAL OF SIN
Jn 8:1-11
Jesus In My Heart
