James 4:17 - Sin of Inaction

"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." (NLT)

This verse has been a source of great annoyance to my sinful self. I can't count the number of times that I have been about to not do something I didn't want to but then God reminds me of this verse and I am forced to do it. Although it has been annoying it has also been an amazing verse for bringing me closer to Christ.

Throughout all our lives there will be things that we should do but we don't want to. It is inevitable, nobody likes doing chores and yet they need doing. At times we will look for anyway to avoid having to do the task, often we will justify us not doing it however we can. However there are always consequences to not doing what we should. When we're younger those consequences took the form of minor things such as no dessert, or early bedtime. Once we get older those consequences become more serious. We don't fill up the car and we can't get where we need to be, we skip work and we lose our job. Yet, as bad as these consequences might seem, they don't compare with the eternal ramifications of failing to do what we know we should.

Before I continue I must emphasise: I am not here to condemn you, I seek to convict you so that you will improve; I need to improve in this area as well.

One thing which we all know we should be doing is sharing Christ with the people around us. Whether they be friends, family, or strangers. This is the great commission as shown in Matthew 28:16-20. Yet, despite it being one of the most central aspects of Christianity, many believers (myself included) fail to perform this calling to the best of our abilities.

Unfortunately, us failing to do this will have eternal consequences for both the believer and the unbeliever. For the unbeliever, it is possible that they will never hear about Christ and never become a Christian, this sadly leads to eternal separation from God. For the believer, this leads to a potential eternity of regret, knowing that we could have given the unbeliever a chance yet we didn't.

Since we know what we are suppose to do, yet we don't do it, it is sinful to not share Christ with others. Once again, I'm not here to condemn, but to convict. Every time we don't share Christ with someone we are sinning. So not only are we commanded to share Christ, if we don't then we are sinning. Allow me to take a bit off your mind. This doesn't mean that we need to preach the gospel to everyone we meet, this simply means to embody Christ to everyone around you. Love them, show God's love to them, and pray for them. However, if an opportunity does present itself to share the good news with someone, I encourage you to do it, you don't know if another opportunity will ever present itself.

Now that we know this, I pray that we will all turn from our sinful ways. I know that God forgives us of these sins which are too numerous to count, yet this doesn't remove the feeling of regret and sorrow that I feel when I think of this. Let us share Jesus whenever we can, and hopefully, they will share in this great gift he has given us.

Prayer

Father God, I'm sorry for all those times I sinned by ignoring your commands. I'm sorry for all the times I've sinned by not sharing the love and sacrifice of your Son. Yet despite all this, you choose to forgive me. Lord I don't want to continue sinning, help me to embody Christ to everyone around me, and give me the confidence to share the good news with those I meet. Amen.