Measuring Our Sins

Bible Cafe™ Founder Christine Abraham explains how we “measure” sins and need the remedy of Jesus! #biblecafe
If you have attended my Bible Cafe™ groups, then you will see me illustrating the “measure of sin.” What I have learned after leading 100 online Bible studies is this: people measure one another based on their sins. And it frustrates me. Because of this, my life work is to disciple people to be more like Jesus and less like the hypocrites.

Because I encounter this often, I wanted to share my understanding of the measurement of our sins. What does Jesus VIEW when He looks at sin? And I looked in the Bible to find the answer: is one sin worse than other?

Measuring Our Sins Video

What Does The Bible Say About Measuring Sin

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26 ESV)

People today are measuring one another by their sin rather than their love- Christine Abraham

This reminds me of the hypocrites in the Bible. Some might call them Pharisees. These are people who use legal rules to create a religious spirit over their congregations.

What Happens When Sins Are Judged?

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. (John 8:4-8 NLT)
My friends, Jesus knows YOUR sin. Stop measuring others by what you did. Let Jesus be the Judge.
Bible Copyrights For This Article
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Time I Accidentally Bought 25 Pounds of Flour

The Time I Accidentally Bought 25 Pounds of Flour is a laughable memory. Let me begin my story by sharing the backstory. During the recent pandemic, I thought I was getting a great price for a bag of flour. My same-day grocery store had flour in stock and my regular store was out of stock. Because I placed my order online, I was unaware of the physical size of the flour bag.

The price for Miller Milling All Purpose Flour seemed great at $9.35. Until the delivery arrived to my front porch. As my husband carried in the groceries, I heard a snickering laugh. And then with amusement, we both realize what I had done. In “saving money” I accidentally purchased a 25 pound bag of flour! Restaurant quality.
This became a challenging problem for two reasons. First, the 25 pound bag of flour was too large for my kitchen cabinets. What will I do with this beast? Second, we were in a quarantine and unable to entertain people at home. And so I needed to be creative with my 25 pound blunder.
Looking through my same-day bargains, I found 500 food prep gloves. It seemed they would now come in handy. Slipping my triple washed hands into the food gloves, I divided up my flour into gallon bags. Then I started asking neighbors if they need a bag of flour. Many said yes!
Wearing my protective face gear and putting food gloves on my hands, I carefully placed bags of flour on their porches. Then I sent everyone a text message and identified the white powder in the bag. Embarrassing, as I was just trying to solve a storage problem.
Two days later, I get a text from a neighbor. “We made cinnamon rolls today, do you want some?” Of course, I said yes!
One more day, another neighbor. “We made lemon scones today, can I put some in your mailbox?” Well, yes!
At this point I no longer had self-control over gluten (and inflammation). Pandemics will do this, I have since learned.
Soon I found myself baking my “pandemic bread” and delivering loaves to my neighbors. After a tree fell in a storm, I put pandemic bread on their porch. During a 2-day power outage, I delivered pandemic bread (baked in advance) to every neighbor for breakfast.
And when my college kid was driving back to her dorm, I placed three pandemic breads into her care package. According to her roomies, the home-baked bread was “fantastic!”

It was madness, this gift of bread!

When a neighbor called me “Florence Nightingale” for delivering bread to people in a storm, I knew I needed to stop. My reputation was exceeding my desire to make any more bread! And the gluten inflammation was making me swell up like a blowfish.
Finally, six months later, I used up my 25 pounds of flour. And so I humbled myself and bought a small 5 pound bag for my cupboard. Life seems to be returning to normal, again.