The Seven Deadly Sins — The Beginning

I love spooky season. I’m not talking about weird horror/slasher films or haunted houses. I’m talking about the crisp, foggy fall air, leaves blowing across the cemetery, and Greenfield-Village-at-Halloween kind of spooky. Something about it is alluring to me. The sense of mystery in the air intrigues me.

Before you come at me about witches or Halloween, that’s not what this is about — no need for a lecture. But this sense of spooky intrigue led me to the seven deadly sins. A quick Google image search of the topic shows dark colors, snakes, and bursts of bright red. It’s all, well, spooky. So, I got to thinking: What about these sins makes them so deadly? And as believers, are they something we should be focusing on?

In early Greco-Roman history, the deadly sins were known as a list of vices that one should flee from lest they lack any wisdom [words of the Roman writer, Horace]. As time went on, the list got shortened and was revised. It wasn’t until 590 A.D. that Pope Gregory I reduced the list to seven and solidified them within the Catholic Church. To this day, many Christian denominations and evangelists still utilize or reference them. They are as follows: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.

Ever since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, people have been immoral, lazy, and self-gratifying. I’m not saying this is everyone all the time, but as sinful beings, we often find ourselves in one of these categories. We may not think what we are doing is immoral, lazy, or self-gratifying, but often when we peel back the layers and uncover the motives, it becomes very apparent. And when we boil it down, these seven deadly sins encompass most of our sin struggles.

All sin is deadly. I think that is the point — a reminder of how each of these sins can lead to death and destruction. But there is hope. Over the next eight weeks, we are going to look a little deeper at each of these sins and the death and destruction they bring. But we’ll also look at the truth of the Gospel and how each of these sins has been overcome and paid for on the cross by Jesus.

Before we dive headfirst, I want to challenge each of you — myself included — to look at this list of deadly sins and answer the following question:

Which sin[s] do I struggle with?

If you are struggling to think of which sin[s] you are wrestling with, take a moment to ask God to reveal it to you because there is nothing the enemy loves more than keeping you trapped in a sin that will ultimately lead to death.

Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death…” but thankfully, the verse doesn’t end there. The verse continues: “…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Yes, this list may be called the Seven Deadly Sins, but we don’t have to live trapped in their hold — there is hope. And with each week of this blog series, our prayer is that we can find freedom from the grip these sins hold on us and experience the beauty of life found in Jesus Christ.