Jane became a Christian at the age of 12. She participated in all the “Christian” activities such as going to church, youth group, going on a mission trip, and keeping “sin” at bay. She felt strong in her beliefs until she turned sixteen. Two years of high school caused her to see behaviors she wanted to participate in, even though she knew it was against God’s word.

Many of her peers sinned freely and seemingly without any consequences. Jane was constantly reminded of the “fun” they were having every time she scrolled through her social media feed. “What’s the big deal?” she began to think. “I mean is there really anything wrong with what they’re doing? These acts and behaviors plastered everywhere, so it can’t be that bad, can it?”

Our Modern Culture

Countless Christian teenagers can relate to Jane’s struggle. With sin plastered everywhere and an accepting culture, it is becoming more difficult for Christians to stick true to their beliefs. The American culture is definitely in moral and spiritual decline and the writings of Paul in Romans 1 that described culture thousands of years ago describe our culture today:

Romans 1:29-32– . ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Satan wants us to go along with our culture because it pulls us farther from God and His guidelines. 

Satan wants us to go along with culture because it pulls us farther from God. Click To Tweet

The Reality of Sin

Culture tends to twist our view of sin. It causes us to think, “If everyone is doing it, especially if it looks enjoyable and exciting, then it must be OK. After all, it isn’t killing them and it’s not hurting anyone else…”. These thoughts come easily, but the reality of sin is reiterated all throughout the Bible, most strongly perhaps in the following verses from Matthew.

Matthew 5:29-30:  ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

These verses are directly from Jesus. Can you grasp how severe sin is to Him? A modern version may say, “If social media causes you to sin by being angry and saying vile things, cut off your fingers so you can’t scroll.”

“GASP. What?! You’ve gone too far Sarah.”

Not really. Jesus states that if anything is causing you to sin to get it out immediately, even if you have to take off a body part; better that than spend eternity in hell. There is no room for misinterpretation here: all sin is serious.

Two Powerful Truths to Remember

1. Jesus DIED ON A CROSS for our sins

• If you read the gospels and the account of the events leading to Jesus’ crucifixion you can see that God takes sin seriously. He sent his only son to DIE so we could be cleansed of our sin. Jesus was beaten, ridiculed, falsely accused, denied, and hung on a cross FOR HOURS while people mocked and insulted him. Any time you begin to think sin is no big deal, remember the price that was paid to keep us out of it.

Any time you think sin is no big deal, remember the price Jesus paid on the cross. Click To Tweet

2. SIN ONLY DESTROYS

• Hopefully the all caps relays how strongly I want you to understand this concept ;). In my 30 years of life, I’ve learned through my own actions and watching others, that sin only destroys and if it’s not gotten a hold of, brings death (Romans 6:23).
• As, a teenager I struggled with lust and wanting to drink alcohol. What good comes from lust? Nothing, just premarital sex, STD’s, and emotional baggage. Underage drinking? Arrest, learning an ineffective coping mechanism, and possible bad decisions made while drinking.
• Think about the sin that entices you. What good could possibly come from it?

In Closing

I guess you could call this more of a “tough love” post. Please know that I sympathize with you and I understand the struggle. Satan continues to use culture and sin to pull at me even in my adult life. When facing temptation and sin, remember these two truths and be encouraged by them.

Thank you so much for reading. I pray that these truths resonate with you and help you realize you have everything to gain when you trust God and stay on the path with Him :).

Here are a few other posts we have about sin:

• Two reasons it’s OK for Christians to call each other out for sin
• How to keep other Christians accountable for sin
• Vlog: Three thoughts that make it easy to justify sin

Before I close, I wrote a book about the topic of sin, salvation, and more. Click below to learn more! Go on…click it ;).

In Christ,

-Sarah

More about our Ministry

At Transformed4More, our goal is to help those who want to grow in their relationship with God, and we do this in two main ways:

• The first is by providing resources. We have our own and ones we recommend. Click here or the graphic below to see them.

• Another way is through social media. We are most active on Instagram, but we update and connect on Twitter,  Facebook,  Pinterest, and YouTube as well!

• We also have a newsletter we send out every few months with updates as well! You can join it by clicking here.