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1What’s worse: robbing a bank or quietly slipping a chocolate bar into your pocket in the shops? After all, who’s going to notice one missing sweet? We all rank stuff like this. All of us can say, “Well at least I never . . .” or “At least I’m not like . . .”

It seems pretty clear that some actions are worse than others. And because some sins have a bigger impact, in our eyes we think of them as worse. Murdering someone we don’t like is much worse than just avoiding them.

But Jesus says: “You have heard . . . ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgement.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgement!” Jesus isn’t saying murder and anger are equal sins. Clearly murder is worse. But he is explaining to us that sin is still sin in God’s eyes. It’s all a big problem that he will judge. Jesus doesn’t give us room to feel good about ourselves because we feel like we’re ‘better’ than someone else. Just because we may not have murdered anyone, doesn’t mean we please God more than those who have.

Jesus wants us to understand that in terms of how God views us, all our sins lead to the same result: God’s judgement. All sins, no matter how ‘small’, deserve God’s penalty. But this also means that all sins, no matter how ‘big’, have been paid for in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

So, all of our sin will either be fully judged by God or completely forgiven by Jesus. It’s up to us which it will be. The Bible tells us that the only sin that cannot be forgiven by God is our decision to reject Jesus’ offer of forgiveness. But once we choose to trust him and give him our lives, all our sin, big and small, is paid for in Jesus’ death on the cross.

— Chris, an Our Daily Bread reader

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