Leviticus 5:1
“And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.”
Your attitude towards a person, situation or agenda will determine your treatment of it. If you have a bad attitude towards a person then you will treat them adversely. If your attitude towards someone is good then you will treat them in an acceptable manner. Attitude towards a project certainly determines the energies one will give towards that project. Never underestimate the power of attitude.
Likewise, your attitude towards sin is important to your ability to live for the LORD. God clearly shows us the attitude we are to have towards sin. If we had the same attitude towards sin that God has, many of the problems we deal with in life would no longer be a problem. God clearly shows in the chapter above five attitudes we should have concerning sin.
The first attitude you should have concerning sin is no excuses. In the verse above, God gave no room for an excuse because it didn’t matter if they knew it was wrong or not, if they sinned they had to deal with it. Too many Christians think that a good excuse as to why they sinned lessens the degree of its badness. Excuses must never be accepted when it comes to sin. Sin is sin no matter why it was done.
The second attitude you should have concerning sin is no covering. You will notice in this chapter that sin was to be dealt with as soon as it was discovered. Oftentimes the covering of sin becomes worse than the sin itself. You must acquire an attitude towards sin that it cannot be covered up. When discovered, whether personal sin or anothers, it must be dealt with immediately.
The third attitude you should have concerning sin is no degrees. You will notice that God makes all sin bad. If you want victory over sin, you must consider all sin as wicked. When you start putting degrees to the wickedness of sin is when your attitude towards sin is wrong and acceptance of certain sins will be tolerated. There must be no tolerance for sin if you want to have victory over it.
The fourth attitude you should have concerning sin is no exceptions. God didn’t give exceptions to leadership or family. He expected all sin to be dealt with the same. Your attitude towards sin will be revealed when someone you dearly love commits a sin. Position and nepotism must never be an excuse for sin. If someone does wrong, you must deal with it according to God’s Word.
The fifth attitude you should have concerning sin is no harboring. This attitude is truly what will solve the first four attitudes. If you will not harbor your own sin then you will deal with everyone else’s sin properly. The attitude you must have towards sin is that you deal with it immediately. As soon as you discover sin, deal with it. This keeps it from getting worse and affecting others. This keeps sin from setting root in your life or in the life of another.
If you will have the proper attitude concerning sin, you will find it much easier to live the Christian life. These attitudes towards sin are God’s standard of dealing with sin. When we deal with sin according to God’s standard, we keep sin from destroying lives.