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At its core, Lust is treating another human being as though they were merely objects available to satisfy our physical passions. Our culture makes a virtue out of almost unfettered sexual desire, yet we are still loathe to talk about (or admit personally) the damage it does to both personal and community relationships.
The deadly sin of anger is unusual in that it is the only one of the Seven that is also an attribute of God. But while God’s anger is always driven by love, our anger is nearly always driven by selfish desire. This Sunday, Corey Widmer continues the series Seven: Finding Freedom from the Darkness Within.
The great medieval poet, Dante, observed, "Envy is the love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs." Paul's stirring words to the Philippians points us to the hope that in Christ we can learn to move from envy to contentment.
Gluttony could be defined as an excessive appetite for food, drink or pleasure in order to keep God at bay. Therefore, the ancients condemned gluttony and included it on the list of Seven not because of what it does to the body, but what it does to the soul.
When most of us think about the 7 Deadly Sins, sloth is the one that doesn't seem so bad. The reality is that sloth is much more than being lazy, and is in fact one of the most deadly.
It is hard to deny the power of money over our lives. But Jesus invites us to experience freedom from the control money exerts and be liberated from greed: to rightly order our relationship to our possessions. Then can we become like him, generously using what we have and are for the sake of love.
The sermon series Seven | Finding Freedom from the Evil Within begins this week with an examination of pride, often considered the root of all other sins. Perhaps the oldest form of evil within us.
The astounding news of Easter is that God has thrown our death spiral into reverse through the resurrection of Jesus.