Collateral damage 1

Here at the start of Lent it seems appropriate to give some thought to the nature of sin, that condition of being human from which Christ came to redeem us.

Among its many other bad qualities, sin is an agent of infection. It has the ability to pass from person to person. Sin changes families, friendship groups, neighborhoods, countries and regions of the world.

When we sin, we harm not only themselves and those whom we influence. We also cause collateral damage to people we may not even know.

Within the context of the local church, sin damages not only the immediate players, but also the rest of the congregation, families and friends outside the congregation, and the cause of Christ. In the church setting, the collateral damage effect of sin spreads out far and wide, multiplying, and eclipsing the original people and situations that brought it forth in the first place.

In the coming days, a series of posts will explore some of the effects of sin within the church, in particular the way it causes collateral damage to the body of Christ.