As I wander through the Christian life, I run across many people who are in some kind of sin. In fact, at least in the United States, it’s expected that you have some kind of sin in your life. This is horrible for two reasons: First, it’s hard to have John 10:10 abundant life when you’re tolerating sin, and second, sin is not the life God envisions for us. I am well aware we live in a fallen world, and despite our best efforts (maybe especially if we’re living by our best efforts?), we’ll probably sin at some point in our lives. This is why Jesus intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25). The troublesome thing is that when we all tolerate our own and others’ sins, we create a culture where sin is ok – and this makes it very difficult to determine those who are pursuing God but are also working out their salvation (Philippians 2:12) and those who love evil (John 8:44) but are also putting on a guise of holiness.
You see, there are two very general types of people: Flawed People, and People Who Love Evil. When it comes to dealing with them and with their sin, we cannot treat these two groups of people the same way. That said, it can be difficult sometimes to sift between the two, so I’d like to give some characteristics of both types of people.
Flawed People
- Genuinely love Jesus
- Genuinely dislike sin
- Treat sin like it’s critical and not to be played with
- Are genuinely broken by and/or genuinely grieve over their sin
- Desire to stop sinning
- Are willing to do what is needed to stop sinning
- Want to repent as soon as they sin
Often, the sin in a flawed person’s life comes from immaturity, pain they have experienced, or the desire to fill a perceived need in their life. For example, it’s not uncommon for people who have emotion-heavy jobs to try to either numb the pain or to extend the high – sometimes through actions that involve sin. Sin can also be perpetuated by sin. Someone who has sinned is less convicted by engaging in additional sin, and sin also opens up a person to the influence of the devil to be tempted to sin in other ways.
There is no shame here. Sin can be dealt with through repentance and loving the truth; immaturity is solved by pursuing God toward maturity; pain can be healed by God; and the recognition of the perceived need and finding healthy ways to deal with it can help avoid filling a void with sin.
People Who Love Evil
- Treat sin as trivial
- Would continue sinning even if given a way out of the sin
- May act like they love Jesus, but usually there is at least one part of their lives where they don’t act like Jesus – and they are unwilling to change
- May act like they hate sin, but they don’t grieve over their or others’ sins
- Are not willing to put too much effort into stopping their sinning
- Joke about sin
- Are fascinated by sin – usually the sins of others
- Often do not repent until they are caught – and even then, they may excuse their sin
The important thing is that they will keep sinning no matter how many times they are caught or go through healing sessions, because they desire to sin. This isn’t a cycle of sinning, repenting genuinely, and working toward health and wholeness, with a willingness to do whatever is necessary to stop sinning. This is a cycle of sinning, repenting when they are caught, and then getting back into sin again (usually the same sin, but not necessarily).
How Can We Not Be People Who Love Evil?
It’s actually fairly simple to learn to no love evil – train yourself to dislike sin intensely. Not sinners – we’re called to love them. (Yes, we’re even called to love people who love evil.) Abhor sin. When you sin, let the Holy Spirit convict you immediately, and deal with it ASAP. Then move on. There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus who have repented of our sin (Romans 8:1).
Also, love God intentionally. It’s very hard to love God and love evil at the same time. The more you love God, the more you will learn God’s ways; the more you know God’s ways, the more sin will be repulsive to you.
How to Treat Flawed People vs. People Who Love Evil
It can be hard sometimes to differentiate between the two types of Christians who sin, as both can return to the same sin over and over, and it really comes down to the heart of the individual. That said, the two and their sin cannot be treated the same way.
Flawed people are just that – flawed. God is making them righteous by the blood of Jesus, and He is able to make them stand at the day of judgment (Romans 14:4). David was a man after God’s own heart, and he certainly did things he shouldn’t have done – but he also repented. Sin was horrendous to David (Psalm 51, for example). While a flawed person’s sin must be taken seriously, repentance and working toward healing and wholeness are the right ways to go with a flawed person.
Someone who loves evil cannot be helped toward repentance or healing because they can’t receive it. They will return to evil. They have no particular desire to give up evil – and even if they do give up some evil, they’ll find some other, likely more culturally acceptable, evil to pursue.
God can take even people who love evil and transform them into people who love Him. Look at the Apostle Paul. But until then, there’s not much you can do to help them except to not get yourself under their influence – or if you are already there, to get yourself somewhere they aren’t. They are usually compromised in their faith and able to perpetuate the devil’s schemes while looking quite righteous.
