“Mike, what would you say is my most precious, cherished sin?”
It took him a moment. Not to think of the sin, but to be sure I was serious about asking for that level of honesty.
The answer didn’t surprise me, but it still produced an ‘Ouch!’ because it rolled so easily off his tongue:
- Your obsessive routines of eating, exercise, sleep and reading!
Let me set the scene, so you can see WHY this is such a squirm-producing topic.
My friend Regina gifted me with a weighty tome by puritan William Gurnall – Here’s the link on Amazon
Gurnall wastes no time in getting down to business. He reminds his readers of Abraham’s ‘Let’s get real about whom and what you love most’ test administered by God as recorded in Genesis 22:2 –
- Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Gurnall modified it to fit us!
- Then God said, “Take your favorite sin, your most cherished sin, which you love – X – and sacrifice it on the altar”
I’m aware of how often I sin, but to identify my FAVORITE sin, my go-to sin was hard. So I asked the person who knows me best.
So there I was, face to face with THE QUESTION:
- Do I WANT to give up my routines that bring me such comfort?
Immediately the voice offered some reasonable words…
- “Eating healthy, sleeping enough, exercising daily, READING….those are all good things! Don’t be extreme”
The problem was, that wasn’t God’s voice.
I read on in Gurnall. In the very next paragraph he warned me that unlike Isaac who did NOT resist his dad’s securing him to the altar, OUR sacrifices will tend to crawl off the altar.
Satan facilitates the escape of the victim with a one-two soft punch:
- What you do is not THAT bad…!
and the 2nd blow is….
- Don’t rush or be too hasty. Wait awhile. Maybe you heard wrong. Maybe your husband is just jealous of your self-discipline!
I talked this subject of idols over with one of my sons and his wife who is a true Christian sister to me. What we came away with was that prioritization is key.
- Yes, it so happens that my habits of choice are healthy ones
- But they can also become cherished control mechanisms for my ‘happy’ life now
- It’s not an either/or situation that requires me to jettison them, but something easier to see but challenging to implement.
Jesus boiled down the Law to the 2-dimensional Law of Love
When my food, exercise, sleep and reading habits DON’T take away from concretely loving God and loving others, I can pursue them. But loving God comes first and loving people is a way of loving God.
Practically it looks like this (I think!):
Priorities:
#1 – first part of my day I spend in Bible reading, prayer and medication on God’s truth – to get myself happy in God, which is my duty
- Ps 32:11 – Be glad in the Lord and rejoice….
- 1 Thess 5:16 – Rejoice always…
- Phil 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!
#2 – whenever a person comes into my presence or NEEDS to be in my presence, spend time with her or him as appropriate (yes, we all have work to do, but work can become an idol as well!) For me…..
- that means remembering that my husband is my covenant partner AND BEST FRIEND
- that means phone calls to family and close friends are more important than reading
- that means that neighbors, students, colleagues and people along my daily path at the grocery store, in line at the PO at coffee hour at church are more important than reading something on my iPhone
The leftover time is what I get to invest in God-honoring ways. If I choose to spend that time cooking or reading or walking or browsing Twitter and Instagram, I am free to do so.
Question: Whom would you ask to help you see your most cherished sin? And how painful would it be to keep sacrificing it in order to make room for more of God? If this Gurnall book blasts away within the first 5 pages, I wonder what else is in store for me!
I’ll keep you posted.
Reflections on God's Word 
Oct 12, 2014 @ 20:01:56
Thought provoking as always, Maria. American culture emphasizes the opposite of what you posit here. That is, narcissistic endeavors, asking “What’s in it for me?” and pounding “ME time” into our heads. I’m scared to death to ask Joe that question of what he thinks is my most precious sin. I’d rather ask someone who doesn’t know me well who will say, “Oh, Mary! Who would ever think of changing one single thing about you!”
Methinks you should compile all these writings of yours into a book.
Oct 12, 2014 @ 20:40:02
Mary – I always appreciate your thoughts. You are REAL!!! If you do get up the courage to ask Joe, do let me know (ha!)….And I know what you mean about someone saying, “Oh M – you’re just swell the way you are!”
I can see that about my mother-in-law – everyone loves her and thinks well of her. But we know the REAL her!
Just like Mike knows the REAL me.
Oct 14, 2014 @ 15:13:56
New to your blog, Maria. I appreciate the way you think and express yourself. It occurs to me that “good” things are not necessarily “God” things. When we let good things make us feel that we are good people, and we just need to do more good things to be even better people, and we let what WE do mean more than what Jesus did, and what God is doing, we are missing the point and lose our purpose. At first, I didn’t like the phrase “favorite sin,” because, after all, Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s sin, but God’s promise. But it’s easy to take the things God gives us and turn them into the main thing because we love them so much…even our family members, or a ministry. And when they keep us from living daily in God’s presence and purpose, they do become the sin. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Oct 14, 2014 @ 16:42:52
Roberta – thanks for your thoughts! You’re right about Isaac being a gift and promised…but he was probably Abraham’s most cherished possession, if you can call a child something to possess. I totally agree with you about good v. God-directed things. We SO crave applause and approval, that we will maneuver to get it ourselves!
Maria