The weight of Sin

    With Thanksgiving just past and the Lord's Day tomorrow when we participate in the Lord's Supper, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, I thought this would be a great time to consider the weight of sin.

     How does one calculate the weight of sin? Hebrews 12:1 compares sin with weight. In Isaiah 43:24, God says that Israel had burdened him with the weight of their sins. So what does sin weigh?

     Spiritually, each sin is the weight of the executioner's axe, poised above our necks. Emotionally, it can vary from a nearly unnoticeable burden, the feather's weight in our hair, to the weight of the world on our shoulders, leaving us like Atlas, struggling under it's weight, unable to accomplish anything else.

     Physically though, how do we weigh sin? I am not aware of any recorded answer to this question. Consider this. If we were to assign sins a very minute weight, say the equivalent of one drop of water, what would the weight of the sins that Christ bore on the cross be equal to?

     There are 15 drops in 1 milliliter of water. 1000 milliliters is equal to 1 liter. There are about 3.79 liters in a gallon of water. A gallon of water weighs 8.333 pounds. Using these facts, we can extrapolate the theoretical physical weight of sin that Christ bore on the cross.

    There are currently nearly 7 Billion people living on earth. Since the dawn of man, estimates range from 10 Billion and up for the total number of people who have populated the earth. Not knowing when Christ will return, we can take this number as a starting point, and know that the burden will only increase for each additional person. For this calculation, let us use an extremely conservative number of 1000 sins per person. 1000 sins per person times 10 Billion equals 10 Trillion sins. If we divide that by 3.79 we come up with a volume of sins equal to 264 Billion, then we multiply that by our 8.33 pounds per gallon, we come up with 2.2 Trillion pounds!

    That weight is physically impossible for any man to bear. The world record weight lifted by an individual in the clean and jerk is a measly 263 kilograms or 578.6 pounds. Men and women have snapped there tibias, broken their backs and died trying to lift such heavy weights. If sin had any physical weight, the burden on Christ was so overwhelming we cannot comprehend it.

    If we have anything at all to be thankful for, it was that Christ was willing to take on the weight of the sins of you, I, and every person who has ever or will ever live. When you participate in the Lord's supper Sunday, remember this post, please.

    Thank God our Father for his plan, and Jesus Christ for being willing to bear that burden and be our sacrifice. God is so good. Were He only just, we would all die for our sins. He is just, but He is also gracious, because he is willing to accept the blood of Jesus for our sins. Praise Jehovah! Praise Christ!

A Letter To My Girls!

I didn't write this. I borrowed it from a friend of mine who had posted it on FB. It says some very wonderful things in a way that I don't think I could. Enjoy!

A Letter To My Girls!

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 Yesterday at 7:20pm

To my girls:

A lesson about money and giving and “happiness”. We could ALL be more generous with the money the Lord has given us. Just one of the many reasons people list of why they can't help those in need or give to the church, etc... .we need to save for your future. If we give too generously, we would not be able to pay for your college education.

It's true.

You all have small college funds - college funds which recently took a terrible hit - but "they" say that by the time you're 18, college will cost anywhere between $200,000 to half a million dollars each. You might as well know now, we won't be covering that. I'm telling you now, babies.

The people said that the day would come when you would look at us with resentment because you had to apply for school loans while many of your friends got a free ride from their parents.

Maybe you will. Maybe you'll resent us. I really hope not. But maybe I should tell you now why your dad and I have decided to live the way that we try to live. And no, we don't live it perfectly.

I know you're going to think I am going off topic (I do that a lot) but awhile back I saw a story on a TV show about how the latest trend was for parents to give their daughters plastic surgery for high school graduation (I don't know what they gave their sons.) When interviewing one of the moms, she said, "I just want my daughter to be happy." And as I tossed a throw pillow at the television, this really huge and terrible-sounding thought occurred to me: I don't want my children to be happy.

My goal as your mom is not your happiness, sugars. In fact, I spend at least half my day making you unhappy. If I had a nickle for every tear that falls in this home on a daily basis, we wouldn't need to worry about college tuition at all.

Happiness is fleeting, sweet babies. That means it doesn't last. It's a quick feeling that comes from a funny movie or a heart shaped lollipop or a really good birthday present. It's great. I love to be happy. But happiness is a reaction that is based on our surroundings. And our surroundings are so very rarely under our control. Even when - especially when - we think they are. So no, I absolutely don't want you to spend your life chasing something that has so little to do with your own abilities or true well-being. You'll just be constantly frustrated.

There are two things I desire for you, precious loves. There are two things that I spend most of my time as a mother trying to cultivate in you. Even when I fail miserably. Happiness isn't one of them. (This means, sorry, no plastic surgery for you.)

The first is, I want you to be content. Being content is so very different from being happy. Being content is not based on your surroundings. Being content comes from within. Contentment is a spirit of gratitude. It's the choice you make to either be thankful for the things you do have, or to whine about the things you don't have.

As you know, because I've told you lots of times, Paul talked about being content. Paul said that he had "learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." And Paul was in some rotten situations, kiddos, really rotten.

How could Paul be content whether he was in prison or if his life was literally a shipwreck? Because Paul was constantly seeking to be in the will of God instead of his own, was constantly sacrificing his own comfort for the sake of the gospel, and was constantly being confirmed, strengthened, and blessed by God because of his obedience. He was given a supernatural power - that means something kind of like magic, but it's God magic - to do things that most other humans could not do. And guess what? The Bible tells us (in Ephesians 1) that God will give you the exact same power! If you want it!

Which leads me to my second desire for you.

I don't want you to be happy. I want you to be holy. That means that I want you to seek that God-power to make you content. I want you to want the Kingdom of God more than your own kingdom. And that's hard, babies, that is SO hard. And that usually means passing up a lot of what the world considers happiness. But it means that you will receive blessings directly from God that most of the world never dreams of because they are too occupied with achieving the perfect birthday present!

This means you may be poor, 'in want' as Paul said, and that's okay. It will never, ever be okay with the world for you to be poor. So you'll be up against the world. But not your dad and me - because it was never our goal for you to be wealthy - at least not in the way that the world considers wealthy.

My sweet children, we love you so much. You will never even grasp how much we love you until you have children of your own, and then you'll get it, and then you'll apologize for the ways you treated us ;) But our goal is not to please you. Our goal is to please our Heavenly Father. And nowhere in the Bible does the Lord command that we save all our money to send our kids to college – or buy them a bigger house or fancier clothes.

But the Lord does command us to care for the orphan around fifty times. He does tell us to care for the poor around 300 times. He does tell us that when we care for the neediest, we are caring for Jesus Himself. And in chapter six of the book of Matthew, He tells us to seek His kingdom first, and let Him worry about the rest, like college tuition. Because it's all His anyway.

They said that one day you would resent us for using 'your' college money to support the church or help those in need.

But I know my babies. Even at your ages, I know your hearts, and I have already seen you cry for the least of these. I know the prayers I offer up to God that He and not the world would shape the desires of your hearts. I am trusting Him to answer those prayers.

So, my sweet children - I just don't believe those people.

Love-
Mommy