We pretend what we do doesn't affect God. Yet, he is holy and when we are anything less than holy, it pains him. Numbness to sin makes us deaf to this disappointment. The more we sin, the less guilty we feel. This invites sin in to make its permanent dwelling in our hearts and shoves the Holy Spirit out in the process. "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." Ephesians 4:18

Satan doesn't just want to slip one sin into the door of our heart and share the space with Jesus. No. He wants to use one selfish desire and another and another to take over our whole heart that Jesus once occupied. "But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7

Once we believe that our life choices don't matter to our savior, we create a pattern of choosing sin over God. God is telling us to come back, but we've already begun to put on the earplugs of sin. The more music we play, the less we hear his voice. Pretty soon those songs will become the soundtrack of our life. We've got to look up, see God's mouth moving, and remove our earbuds. What is he desperately trying to say?

Maybe he wants to remind us sin is determined by him and not us. And as scary as it is, we are accountable for every sin. It does not matter if everyone on the entire planet is calling a sin OK and if every preacher condones it. It doesn't matter how many preachers' kids (I can say that because that's me), Sunday school teachers, or your best friends consider it harmless. If God said it is against his commands, then it is. It's not to be argued with or questioned. He created the universe of nature, intelligence and life so he knows what is best for us. We are to trust God.

After all, his plans are far higher than ours. We think here and now. Pleasure and fun. Short-term thrills. He thinks about our well-being, our purpose for being created, and how to bring glory to his majestic name. We shrug as we sin, but he knows the destruction that will follow. We make excuses, but he has already gone before us and provided ways out. When we give in, he is ready to forgive. He encourages us with truth, gives us promises to stand upon, and administers grace over and over again so that we may know him. He does all this because our sin matters to him.

"Because the Lord disciplines the one he loves.." Hebrews 12:6a