Pride
Read: Luke 18:9-14 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (v. 14) According to St. Augustine, pride is the sin that led Satan to rebel against God. The medieval church believed that pride was the root of all sins and was therefore the most dangerous. In […]
Envy
Read: Psalm 73 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (v. 25) Shakespeare famously described jealousy as “the green-eyed monster.” The sin of envy warps our ability to see clearly, blinding us to the blessings with which God has filled our lives. Envy is not […]
Wrath
Read: Ephesians 4:25-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger . . . be put away from you. (v. 31) We often think of wrath as a fiery emotion—being red in the face, shouting at the top of our lungs, threatening violence. But wrath can also be served ice-cold. Think of the stony heart of the servant in […]
Sloth
Read: Psalm 90 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (v. 14) Sloth is a tricky word to define. Medieval monks called it acedia. To them, it was “the noonday demon” that often visited in the afternoon during their times of work and study. […]
Greed
Read: Matthew 6:19-24 You cannot serve God and money. (v. 24) I was sitting in church, and the head pastor announced that the church might have to cut $70,000 from the missions budget due to a drop in congregational giving. To prevent this, he exhorted us to give sacrificially. As I sat listening, I felt a […]
Gluttony
Read: Philippians 3:17-21 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly. (v. 19) It is rare for someone in the West to go more than a few hours without eating, although occasionally our busy lifestyles will cause us to skip a meal. Whenever I do, and I feel my stomach grumble, I complain, “I’m starving!” […]
Lust
Read: Matthew 5:27-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out. (v. 29) A student of mine approached me as she faced a difficult decision. Her father had recently left his family of four, and his marriage of twenty years, to marry his co-worker. Now dad wanted my student and her sisters to […]
The Seven Deadly Sins
Read: Galatians 5:16-24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (v. 16) The seven deadly sins are a famous shorthand for the worst of humanity, but few people take them all that seriously today. In fact, I usually see them used frivolously in pop culture that […]
Belonging to the Lord
Read: Romans 14:7-9 Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (v. 8 NIV) After seeing my mother alive for the last time, the Spirit reminded me of this truth: “whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (v. 8 NIV). It brought me such comfort. As the first Heidelberg Catechism question and […]