Of the 7 Deadly Sins, which temptation is most likely to strangle the life from you in the upcoming year?
Wait. Let’s back this up.
What if the biggest battle you’re going to face in 2016 isn’t even on the list?
Wait. Let’s back this up even further.
Can you name The 7 Deadly Sins?
Do you know where they came from?
Humbly. I can’t. I don’t.
On a good day, I might be able to name 4 or 5 of the 7. Those are long odds. And perhaps ones it’s best not to, ahem, gamble on.
The 7 Deadly Sins have a long snaking history originating with the desert fathers and took root in Catholic confessional practices. The list wove themselves into Dante’s Purgatory among many other literary works.
Though The 7 aren’t listed in the Bible, they’re often associated with Proverbs 6:16-19.
Gluttony
Lust
Greed
Pride
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Of the 7 Deadly Sins, which temptation is most likely to strangle the life from you in the upcoming year?
For me, all of the above.
That’s my natural answer. Broken. Imperfect. Messy. Conflicted. Temptation primed and prone.
But over the last few weeks, I’ve been spending time with people who are challenging my thinking about my thinking of letting go of sin.
One of those people is my precious friend, Kate, whose battling a vicious disease that’s trying to snuff out her life. An accomplished professional and new mom of a six-month-year old, she lived a vibrant, successful life. Her witty, warm disposition made me want to be her bestie forever.
A routine visit to the doctor revealed that her life will now be brief. Everyone is left breathless. A billion unanswered questions. Months. Years. Time is a mystery. We don’t know. But ordinary time has been eliminated from her life.
Every moment special.
Every day a gift.
Every interaction a treasure.
“That’s a lot of pressure for anyone,” she confesses. “Some days it’s too much. I miss ordinary time—like in the church calendar.”
I know a pinch of what it’s like to live with a death threat. When the doctors tell you, “We don’t know,” holding their breath alongside you. I enter that room on a regular basis. But I don’t know what it’s like to live with her death threat. Each death threat differs.
But here’s what she says:
“The sins—the petty jealousies, the overindulgence from accomplishment, the anger when things don’t go my way—those just slough off. They make me laugh. There’s no time, no margin, no energy for such silly behavior.
The hardest thing to give up isn’t letting go of the sin, it’s letting go of the good.”
Kate speaks of how hard it is to let go of …
one precious moment waking moment with her baby girl.
one morning in the arms of her husband.
one afternoon playing together as a family.
one unforgettable holiday party with friends.
The stark tenderness of her voice. The beauty in her eyes.
As she glows radiant with Christlikeness, she reminds me as we journey deeper with God, the challenge shifts from letting go of the bad to letting go of the good and trusting Christ with all all all.
In the upcoming year, may Jesus unshackle us from sin, but may he also pry our fingers from the good so we walk freely and wholly with Him.
