Does (My) Sin Matter?

Does (My) Sin Matter?

Intriguing question, no doubt. And of COURSE, the answer is “yes”.

Today, let’s dig a little deeper to understand more of the significance of that question.

Also, read to the end where I’ll be sharing a link to another one of my songs from the day I broke my wrist.

And, if you would prefer to LISTEN TO/WATCH the associated podcast related to this article, the video version premiers on YouTube at 3:00 PM Eastern time on 11/20/2025 here:

https://youtu.be/DHEdEfdOh5c

Body of Christ

If you’ve been following along with my recent article/podcast series, you will likely recall, when I first broke my wrist after my concert in Ocean grove, NJ this past summer, I had been pondering our part in the “body of Christ’, having posted episode 43–”What are You Offering?” just the day prior to the concert.

So this was all fresh in my mind when the stunning fall and wrist fracture first occurred.

Since that time, many word pictures have become clear in my mind, and I’ve shared them in earlier episodes. (If you haven’t been following along, check the footer where I’ll link to those podcast episodes.)

Profound and Timely Word

One of the FIRST word pictures that arose at that time is probably one of the most profound but likely also the most difficult to hear. That’s the one I’m sharing today.

In a secularized “love is love” kind of culture, the prevailing attitude seems to be, “What does my sin have to do with you? Who are you to judge me?”

And yes, our Master Jesus said “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” in Matthew 7:1.

That subject of judgment is WAY too big to discuss here.

Immaturity

I can think of moments in my early Christian walk, where I felt judged by other Christians (for things that were foolish on my part, but I didn’t think so at the time).

My attitude was very immature, tending to think that they were the ones in the wrong for judging (all the while when I SHOULD have been looking at how my actions could have hurt others).

I bring it up not to condemn myself or anyone else, but to encourage a more mature and Biblical outlook in our interactions.

Mercy and Judgment

There IS One who has the right to judge us ALL, of course, having lived a sinless, spotless life. And we’d all do well to entrust our sin to Him for judgment, since He sees most clearly and knows most fully all things.

Sometimes, since Jesus’ sacrifice, mercy, grace and love are SO deep and expansive, it is easy to overlook the PRICE that He paid on our behalf. We begin to discount our sin or think it is just a trivial personal matter that doesn’t impact others. We begin to forget what our sin would do to us if Jesus hadn’t paid for it.

Obviously, this is from the perspective of a Christian…. We know that His gracious blood is enough to cover and atone for our gravest sins.

We also know that, as it says in Romans 8:1-4,

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

A Picture that Spoke a Thousand Words

So here’s where the word picture kicked in for me (pretty literally I suppose).

Here’s a snapshot of the moment I broke my wrist.

I was heading into town, following after my hubby once my concert was over, walking across the street to head for a restaurant on the other side. I was likely walking too fast, crossing where there was not a crosswalk and ramp. Whatever the actual reason, my foot didn’t clear the curb and my body went sprawling onto the sidewalk.

It all happened so quickly. With my face about to plant itself into the concrete, my arms thankfully reached out in time to try to break my fall. Both hands were hurt (along with my knee, back of my head as I turned over, and I found out later that m shoulder was scraped too). My left hand hurt the worst, because the bone at the base of my wrist had broken in the process.

That little moment in time, as the “body of Christ” had been so fresh in my memory, illustrated a truth that jumped into clarity and is difficult to absorb in many respects.

It highlighted an attitude that has been prevalent in our culture (in the US), and has even crept into the church at times over the years. We treat our sin so lightly, and sometimes it might be better for us to be a little more sober-minded about it.

Again, I’m not trying to condemn or shame myself or anyone else. Jesus’ grace is sufficient for whatever would challenge us. I simply want to express the picture that came to mind in the moments following my fall, and let the Lord minister to our hearts in whatever way He would choose. Whether He points out areas where you or I need to take our shortcomings more seriously and seek His healing and forgiveness; or whether He points out OUR need to forgive those who have hurt us.

I pray that He will pour out healing upon His body even as we ponder these things.

Think of my physical body representing the Church (His body). Of course, the illustration will break down if taken too far, so don’t take it too literally, and simply bear with me…

I’m focusing on the fact that I STUMBLED.

One member of my body “missed the mark” or “sinned” if you will. My foot didn’t clear the curb and hit it instead. Because of that, it threw the rest of my body into the air, plummeting down to the sidewalk. Wanting to protect my face/head, the other members of my body tried to jump into action to prevent me from face-planting. It was an honorable endeavor, protecting what is arguably the most important part of my body. In doing so, one of my members (my left wrist) bore the brunt of the fall.

My foot caused the fall, but really wasn’t hurt at all. My toe could have been stubbed in that kind of mishap, but it wasn’t even effected. My wrist on the other hand was deeply injured.

My foot may have had no problem with the fact that it stumbled. My wrist’s perspective was and is far more of an ongoing challenge.

Stumbling Blocks

In Romans 14:13, as Paul discusses us not judging each other over “disputable matters” (in this case dietary issues, and the fact that some believers felt free in Christ to eat foods that had been sacrificed to idols, essentially because idols are not real, and others did not think that was correct), he turns our focus on OURSELVES when he says,

“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.”

The deeper love for each other should guide our actions, and he says later in Romans 14:19-21,

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.”

He speaks in a similar way in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 when he says,

“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”

Of course, these passages specifically addressed dietary standards. The greater point is that our love for our brothers should be MORE of a motivation for us than for us to be free from any guardrails in OUR lives since Christ has set us free from the “law of sin and death” as we are His forgiven and beloved children.

Actually, in some ways, this hearkens back to a prior discussion from episode 45—“Brace Yourselves” about not trying to remove braces or guardrails in our brothers’/sisters’ lives when those are designed to bring them healing, direction and growth.

Keeping in Step with Jesus

That attitude I mentioned earlier can all too easily creep into our society, and even the church if we lose our focus on Jesus and start veering off toward worldly things and concerns. Somehow we give ourselves a “pass” on our actual sin, and think it only effects our own lives.

Our culture says, “You do you” and “Love is love”…. Such trite sayings seem to comfortably dismiss our responsibility toward one another. Attitudes flowing from those types of thoughts can even creep into teachings about love and acceptance in the body of Christ. And even leaders can discount the effects of their own sins on those in the “flock” under their care.

But that flock is precious to Jesus. His words about the seriousness of sin resound in Mark 9:42-48:

“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”

Interesting that in the Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible, instead of those phrases above saying “causes you to sin” it says “causes you to stumble”.

James (most likely, the literal half-brother of Jesus), admonished the early believers in this way:

“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

(James 3:1-2)

Feet of Those Who Bring Good News

Those of us who are in leadership positions in the body of Christ have a great responsibility indeed. Those leading His Body serve in many ways as the feet who bring the good news (moving the body forward and following Jesus to accomplish His will).

As Paul expressed so aptly in 2 Corinthians after using his own word-picture to describe our roles as God’s ambassadors, communicating His desire to be reconciled with them, he says:

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

(2 Corinthians 6:1-10)

Wow, talk about living a sober-minded life.

Snap-Shots that Speak

Here’s the application of that word picture to our lives, and let the Lord minister however He desires with this. I pray that we all might have ears to hear what His Spirit would say.

Thinking of the snap-shot of me taking my physical tumble…. My foot caused the fall (and of course, my own distraction played a part in it). But the OTHER parts of my body, in an attempt to protect the HEAD (or face, the image of Christ facing the world), took the BRUNT of the fall and were seriously wounded in the process.

I have seen it happen several times over the years (at times with those whom I love dearly, and other times with those in the public eye), where a person in a leadership role stumbles in their personal life. That “fall” of sorts is bad enough in their own life of course. And we ALL stumble in many ways for sure. They may or may not consider it something that wounds the trajectory of their own life or of those closest to them.

My heart has broken when seeing the “fall-out” of such leadership-sin within the church, resulting in heartbreak, church splits, or people even leaving the Church completely. The resulting long-term pain of being disillusioned with Christ can linger for years, because a leader sinned flagrantly in their own lives or worse yet actively sinned against the innocent sheep in the flock.

Now and then I run across people who would probably LOVE to have a close and vibrant relationship with Jesus, but they will mention having been hurt too much in church relationships in their past, so they shy away from even trying.

It’s truly heartbreaking. And surely it’s even more heartbreaking to Jesus. For His attitude IS one of reconciliation, not only person to person, but most importantly between each person and our Father in Heaven. Jesus is the One who can make THAT relationship right again.

Feet or Wrists?

As far as our relationships here … Well let’s look a little longer at this word picture. Where do you fit into this word picture?

Maybe you or someone you love has been represented by my foot in this picture. You (or they) tripped up over something, and may or may not have felt direct pain, chagrin or injury. Perhaps there has been a tendency to cover, discount, ignore, overlook or excuse the misstep or sin and say it really doesn’t matter. Jesus will forgive, and has forgiven us, so why dwell on it? Yet, sometimes the only way to true healing is to face the pain squarely, head on.

We don’t like painful feelings.

As I’ve been recovering from my wrist fracture, there has often been pain, stiffness and achiness. I have tried to steer clear of using pain medication, so I choose to rather simply endure the pain until the healing takes place over time.

It’s so easy and preferable to simply pop a pill or otherwise dull the pain. Often, we don’t want to face our shortcomings head on and deal with them directly. As my healing progresses, it’s now becoming all the more important for me to face the pain head on as I push my wrist to recover its functioning, even though it would rather give up and remain relatively free from pain but ineffective and disabled.

When Jesus was about to be crucified, it says in Mark 15:23, “Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” I’m not sure exactly why He refused it, but perhaps because He didn’t want to numb His pain and dull His senses as He died for us. He wanted to be fully aware…

Removing What Hinders Us

Sometimes it becomes necessary to cut off things that are holding us back from His best for us and His flock. Even in looking back at the original “body of Christ” word picture in the first episode in this series, I had mentioned one of our pastors who had injured his finger. Over these months, it became necessary for him to have a portion of that finger amputated, because it was not healing correctly, and was becoming a hindrance to him. That reminds me of Jesus saying in that passage earlier to cut off parts of us that may be very dear to us, because they are causing us to stumble. It is such a hard word, yet it is best for us to take Him seriously, and prayerfully examine our attitudes and actions toward one another.

And much as it pains us to look at our own sins and shortcomings, maybe we do well to take a fully sober-minded look at them and cry out to Jesus for help, forgiveness and mercy.

If that’s you right now, I pray that Jesus and you can be reconciled as you turn to Him and sense His forgiveness for what you know you have done that hurt Him.

For perhaps your mishap caused you some pain, yet it may have caused much greater pain for others in the body of Christ. There may have been others whose lives were totally changed as they reacted to your sin.

This is so hard to consider, because even at our best, we so often inadvertently hurt those around us.

And SOME of us do need to play leadership roles in the Body of Christ. Otherwise, how would the body move forward if no feet were taking steps to move us toward Jesus’ goal?

So may we have grace upon ourselves and each other, while at the same time being clear minded, and realizing this life is so much bigger than any one of us…

Reconciliation and Restoration

And on the other side of the picture…. Maybe you can identify with my wrist.

You were strolling along, care-free in the walk of Life, and suddenly a brother or sister’s sin sent you flying and crashing to the ground. Perhaps you wanted to do what you could to protect the image of Christ to the watching world, so you put yourself in a position to prevent His reputation from being sullied, but you ended up being crushed in the process.

My word to you would also be one of reconciliation. For true health and restoration, there will likely be a healing process over time. (I’m intentionally writing and recording this series when my own physical healing process is in the beginning, so I don’t yet know the outcome. I need to trust Him for healing over time, and know that His will is best, regardless of the personal outcome for me. Of course, I’ll later be publishing it after much of the healing has taken place, by His grace.)

If you have been wounded by someone in the Church that you trusted, either directly or by being disillusioned by what you have learned about their personal life, it is probably going to take some time to heal emotionally.

There may be some pain in that process. You will do well to seek Jesus to help you forgive that person and turn their life and story over to Jesus so that He can do His work in them. By all means PRAY for them.

I don’t know your story. I don’t know their story. But Jesus does.

It’s likely that most of us can relate to my foot in some instances, and my wrist in some others.

What I do know is that we ALL need reconciliation. We ALL need grace. We ALL need forgiveness. We ALL need prayer.

We need to forgive those who have hurt us, whether they intended to do so or not. We all need to forgive ourselves for the ways that we have inadvertently or maliciously hurt those around us, whether those close to us, or those in the Body of Christ at large.

The Ultimate Wrist

Thankfully, Jesus, the One who knew no sin, has paid the ultimate price for our shortcomings. And His forgiveness flows freely from the Throne of Grace. In many ways, He is the ultimate “wrist” in this picture, having taken the brunt of OUR fall to protect us, and in the process being crushed on our behalf.

I pray that this image will illustrated His reconciliation, healing, forgiveness and grace to us as we all walk forward together, following after our Master in the Way of Life.

To accompany this blog and podcast, I’m posting another one of the songs from the concert earlier on the day I broke my wrist. It’s called “There is a Fountain”. I pray that the lyrics will wash over you like a cleansing flood, washing away your sin as He fills you with His Living Water