The Best Reason Not To Sin
Jack Klumpenhower
8/28/2010

I’ll admit it. The other day I was lurking on an Internet forum for Christian young people. I don’t really qualify as young anymore, but I was intrigued by a discussion there. Several forum members were trying to explain to a teenage believer why she should resist sexual sin.

What would you say to her?

The discussion could have been about any kind of sin. The larger question is: what’s our motivation to live godly lives? When we decide not to sin, what’s our reason?

As with many questions, there are several good answers, but not every good answer is the best answer. I looked at each post responding to that teenager’s question and saw many good ones. But I never saw the best answer.

Here, then, are some ways we might answer the question, “Why should we resist sinning?”

Good answer: We resist sinning for our own good.

This was by far the most popular response in the posts I read. One person after another assured the young woman that God knows what’s best for us, and that resisting sin would make her happy in the long run. Sexual purity would save her from many emotional problems and give her a stable marriage one day. I’ve heard similar arguments for resisting other sins. Lies, we say, are eventually found out. Anger only hardens you. And so on.

Well, all that is true. The Bible’s proverbs tell us as much. For example, on the topic of sexual sin, Proverbs 6:32-33 says, “The man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself. He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased” (NLT).

So this is a good answer. But it’s not the best. By itself, it reduces God to little more than a perfect dispenser of good advice. We can get something similar from an honest therapist. God must offer something more.

Another good answer: We resist sinning to keep God’s law.

God says not to sin, so don’t sin. This was the point of most of the other replies aimed at that teenager. They told her God has clearly said to keep his law. It isn’t optional. One quoted Deuteronomy 6:25: “For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us” (NLT)

Good. I like how this approach has a bigger sense of God’s hatred for sin and his authority over our lives. But still, this really isn’t so different from the what’s-good-for-me answer. If we keep God’s law in order to avoid making him mad at us, or to feel good about being godly people, we’re still self-focused. Besides, for a Christian, being good is no longer the test of righteousness. Read on and I’ll explain.

The best answer: We resist sinning out of love.

Love is the most powerful motivator, stronger than law. In fact, if you trust in Jesus, breaking God’s law has no power at all to condemn you, and keeping it doesn’t make you righteous. Love is all that’s left.

Did you get that?

The great Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones can help us understand. He once wrote on Ephesians 6:14, which says we wear “the body armor of God’s righteousness.” He pointed out that when a Christian—a person forgiven in Jesus—commits a sin, God still views that Christian as righteous. Jesus loves that Christian so much that he died for him. He loves that Christian so much that he was condemned in his place. Because Jesus took his punishment, none of the guilt for breaking God’s law can touch that Christian.

This means that when a Christian falls into sin, it is not first of all a misstep that will harm him, or even a violation of God’s law. It is chiefly a violation of love.
So here’s what I would have said to that tempted teenager if I’d had the chance:
Don’t do it. Don’t sin against the God who loves you so much. Look at 1 John 4:10: “He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sin.” (NLT) Then skip back a page and read 1 John 3:1, “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are” (NLT)! Yes, you are a daughter of the one true Father. Part of his family. Bought at the high price of blood, and worth it. You are so, so loved.

Whatever intimacy you hope to get from a sexual fling, God’s embrace fills you better. Any advantage you gain from a lie, any satisfaction from anger, his blessings have them beat. The King of the universe cradles you in his arms, and you give him great joy. Don’t violate a love like that.

Jack Klumpenhower is a writer and communications consultant living in Colorado. He has authored Bible study lessons and a family devotional guide.