Both girls ran to the back door with flushed anticipation. "Yes!"
"Where's the glitter?" My daughter asked, a broad smile stretched across her lips.
"Oh, it was a slip of the tongue, I meant clean the rabbit litter."
Smiles were replaced with furrowed brows and wandering gazes. "Oh, I thought rabbit glitter, like glitter. Something shiny and fun. No we can't do the litter now, we’re busy," my daughter replied before ushering her friend back to their game.
Rabbit Glitter was much more appealing than rabbit litter.
William Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet." He meant that a name doesn't determine the value of an object.
Rabbit glitter, though having allusions of fun, pretty, sparkles, didn't change the stinky reality of the litter box.
Sin is the same. You can rename pride as confidence, or covetousness as healthy ambition, or workaholism as a strong work ethic, but it doesn't make it any less obnoxious. Renaming sin doesn't make it less damaging to yourself or to others in your world.
Sin means to miss the mark, or to fall short of loving God, others and ourselves like Jesus did. Jesus healed, listened, forgave, laughed, wept, loved and gave His life for humans to be made right with God. He lived a selfless life. Jesus is not just our example, He is our ticket to heaven. By believing in Him, we not only get better lives on earth, we can have eternal life.
We live in a world that doesn't want to acknowledge that sin is bad. We prefer to normalise or embrace selfishness, but how about we don't? Let's not rename sin, but call it out in ourselves, confess it and stop doing it (repent).
Instead of dehumanising others with lust, let's see people as humans and pray for their wellbeing. Instead of fearfully hoarding money and things, let's give cheerfully and trust God's providence.
What if we reject selfishness, greed, lust, pride, hate, envy, fits of rage and other sin?
What if instead we embrace love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control?
Love for God, family, friends and even your enemies has it’s challenges, but the rewards outweigh the unpleasantness. Sin is like rabbit glitter, it sounds great, but in the end it stinks.
