“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” — James 4:17
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In sports, the actions players and coaches don’t take when they should are often more damaging to their chances to win than when they do the wrong thing entirely. A shot-clock violation (not shooting) is worse than missing a shot, a balk (not pitching) is worse than throwing a ball, and a delay-of-game penalty (not snapping the ball) is worse than an incomplete pass.
As followers of Christ, the actions we don’t take are very damaging as well. We too often think of a sin as something we do that directly contradicts God’s will for our lives. It is a transgression of the law of God, like cursing or lusting or seeking revenge. This is certainly one true definition of sin, called a sin of commission. But it’s not the whole story.
Less common in 21st-century society is a Biblical understanding of a sin of omission. A sin of omission is failing to do something God has explicitly called us to do. A sin of omission disregards God and His will for our lives. Never telling your best friend about the good news of the Gospel, when the Bible commands us to, is a sin of omission.
Sins of omission are just as grievous to God as sins of commission because neither lead us to a Godly life filled with deep, intimate, joyful communion with our Heavenly Father. God doesn’t distinguish between them, and both “types” of sins separate us from God. We are called to hate sins of commission and sins of omission just like He does, repent of all of them, and trust anew in the grace of God.
A right understanding of our sinful state makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ so incredibly beautiful. It’s only when we recognize we sin every hour of every day — in what we do and also what we don’t do — that the immensity of the sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the cross becomes clear to us. Because of His great love for us, Jesus took our sins of commission and sins of omission upon Himself and paid the penalty of death for them on the cross. And not only that, He rose from the grave and gave us His perfect righteousness so that we would be reconciled once and for all to the Father.
We are very sinful. But the grace in God is bigger than the sin in us. Trust in that today, and turn to Him in faith.
— Kevin Mercer
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