Sin...

As Biblical Christians living in a fallen world, we are constantly surrounded by sin.  As I was growing up, our family did not spend a lot of time talking about sin.  Instead, we focused more on God's love and mercy.  We knew right from wrong, yet we did not really use the word sin.

In our home, with our kids, we talk openly about most everything. Our kids are very aware that there is good and bad in the world. From reading the Bible, they have learned that there is something called sin and that sin is bad. They all understand what some forms of sin are and also understand that it is unpleasing to God. 

Just last weekend, Colton jammed his finger playing football with his brother.  We iced it for a long time initially, and then he ran off and I forgot about it.  It's a finger. The next morning we got up to go to church and Colton came out into the kitchen with little tears on his cheeks. "My finger really hurts and I can't bend it at all."

It looked terrible, swollen to twice its normal size and it was an odd purplish, reddish color - it did not look good. After church, Wade and I decided to take him for an xray.  We did this only based on one other finger injury that our daughter, Audra, experienced a few years ago. I kept saying it was only a finger, just tape it and keep going. A week later and she was in a cast up to her elbow. Lesson learned.

So, after the xray (thankfully, not broken) we took Colton and got him settled into the little room where the doctor was going to join us after a short wait. Anyone who's spent extensive time with Colton knows his passion and zest for sports.  He watches sports on TV (and in person) absolutely as much as he can get away with. He stopped watching cartoons before he was four and started in on Sports Center at the crack of dawn each morning as a toddler. So, as we sat together in the tiny room, our conversation naturally turned to NFL football and a game he had just watched where Brett Favre was quarterbacking.  

Colton turned to me and asked if I like Brett Favre. This caught me off-guard, as all I can think of when I hear his name is the other reason he's been in the news lately - his supposed interaction with women other than his wife.  I don't know if it's true or not and frankly, I don't really care.  My point is that I wasn't a fan of him in the past and I'm certainly not one now, but I wasn't sure how to verbalize that to my 8 year old son.

Sensing my dilemma, Wade jumped in to help me out. "No, Colton, he hasn't made some good choices and there's a good chance he's committed some sin recently."

Without missing a beat, Colton lit up and chimed in. "Oh, I know. He leads the NFL in fumbles and he fumbled so many times in the last game - he is a sinner!"  

My mouth fell open and I asked him if he thought that God thinks that fumbling is a sin. "Of course He does. Is it good to fumble? No, fumbling is a sin. God doesn't like fumbling."

It was really hard not to laugh and it was really interesting how serious Colton was. I immediately realized that Colton needs a little more understanding on what God actually views as sin. I'm sure when we sit down together, Colton will be searching his Bible for the word fumble.