What is the Difference Between a Mistake and a Sin?

What is the Difference Between a Mistake and a Sin?

 In the 21st century church, this may be one of the most misunderstood concepts. In the blog post Is Hell Real and Who Goes There? we pointed out that most people go to Hell. And most people go to Hell because they are not following Jesus. They have unforgiven sin and have rejected His offer of loving forgiveness that leads to eternal life. But can you go to Hell because you made a mistake? Is a sin different from a mistake? Let’s find out!

We start with a verse from the disciple whom Jesus loved.

“No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
-1 John 2:23 NIV

And another passage from John.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:17-18 NIV

Both of these sections of scripture were written by John. Not just one of the 12 disciples, but one of the three in the tight inner circle of Jesus. They were Peter, James, and John. John knew Jesus very well.

The Common Thread

In the above quotes we see a common thread. Here it is. If a person acknowledges (or believes in) the Son they have the Father also and are not condemned to Hell. Whoever denies the Son (does not believe in Him) does not have the Father and is condemned.

Ok, maybe I should put make this a bit clearer. John is saying that whether or not we go to Hell is dependent upon one thing. Taking, or not taking, intentional action.

No one stumbles into Heaven. Getting into Heaven is the result of doing something. As John says, we must acknowledge (believe in) the Son of God to have a relationship with the Father. Not everyone gets into Heaven. In fact, most people do not get into Heaven. And there is only one reason why. They, or we, failed to take the action to become Jesus followers.

Ok, But what About Mistakes?

Now, this leads to the question. Can a mistake keep me out of Heaven? Or even, can a mistake make me lose the salvation I already had?

Let’s answer those questions by asking and answering a different question.

What is a mistake?

Simply defined, a mistake is an unintentional error. You thought the next turn on way to the grocery store was a right, but then soon discovered you should have turned left. You typed your password three times and it failed so you got locked out. Then you looked down and realized the caps lock was on. You meant to text “I love you” to your spouse but instead texted your boss because she was the last person who had texted you.

Now, these may all be silly examples, but it’s possible one of them has happened to you. If not, I’m sure you could easily come up with your own stories of when you did something and later found out it was not correct. You fully intended a different result, but due to faulty information, not paying attention, or some other reason you may not even know, you did something in error. Unintentionally.

That’s the key to a mistake, it was unintentional.

Are There Intentional Mistakes?

No. Not ever.

But wait a minute! What if someone cheats on their taxes by intentionally changing some numbers?

That’s not a mistake. It’s deceit.

What if someone intentionally tells a friend something that is not true?

Still deceit.

What if someone claims to follow Jesus but cheats on their spouse?

Oh, that one? That’s a sin.

Truth be told, all three of the above are sins. You see, any time we intentionally do something against God or another person, it’s a sin. Not a mistake. Any time we intentionally disobey the Word of God, it’s a sin. When I do something intentionally that hurts another person, I’m not a mistaker, I’m a sinner.

Are There Accidental Sins?

That one is a little trickier because of the emotion of guilt. Here is an example.

Let’s say you’re a sincere Jesus follower. You’re forgiven and have no doubt you are on the path to Heaven. Then one day you are driving down the road, paying attention and not at all distracted. You approach an intersection, and the light is green for you. But a pedestrian is distracted, doesn’t notice the ‘Don’t Walk’ sign, and steps in front of your car. If the person dies, and it was no fault of your own, did you commit an accidental sin?

I would say no. Here is why. Murder is a sin. Accidents are not sinful. What’s the difference?

Intention.

The person died because they made a mistake. A tragic mistake to be sure, but still a mistake. And you were innocent. Yes, you will feel guilty. Yes, you will ask forgiveness of God and from the loved ones of the person who died. Yes, you will carry that for the rest of your life. But you’re not a sinner because of what happened. You need to forgive yourself. And if in that instant, you had died of a heart attack, I fully believe you’d have still gone to Heaven.

The One Thing That Makes the Difference

So now we return to the basic question. What is the difference between a mistake and a sin? We saw it in the example above. A mistake is an unintentional error. A sin is an intentional act against God or another person.

We don’t get on the path to Hell because we made a mistake. We get on the path to Hell when we sin. And if the action is an intentional act against God or another person it is ALWAYS a sin. You don’t “mistake” your way into Hell or out of Heaven. You intentionally sin your way into Hell or out of Heaven. It’s just that simple, no matter what politicians, public figures, or fallen preachers try to tell you. Don’t ever confuse a mistake and a sin.

Love you Jesus followers!

-Troy

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What Does it Mean to Love Like Jesus?

What Does It Mean to Love Like Jesus?

Welcome back friends! After that controversial, but critical post about politics, I’m excited to answer this question. It’s our second post based on a question submitted by my friend Shell Giermann! Thanks to Shell, a few weeks ago we covered, How Can I Witness About God When He Lets Innocent People Suffer?

Remember, if you also want to submit a question like Shell did, head over to our contact page. We love getting questions from you, our readers!

Enter Jesus

Let’s go right to the Son of Man Himself.

This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.
-John 15:12-13 MEV

See, now that wasn’t hard to understand. Just lay down your life for your friends and you’re loving like Jesus. I guess I could just stop here, but perhaps Shell, and maybe you, already knew this verse.

 In case you’re interested, I busted out my new Bible commentary, a much-appreciated Christmas gift, and here’s what it said about John 15:13-14:

“The most a person can do for his friend is to die for him; such a death is a clear demonstration of love. Jesus demonstrated His love (v. 12b) by dying for His friends, those who obey Him. Abraham was called God’s ‘friend’ (2 Chron. 20:7, Isa. 41:8) because he obeyed God. Like close friends, Abraham and God communicated well with each other (cf. Gen. 18:17).”

There ya go. It says the same thing. Go ahead and die for your friends and you’re loving like Jesus.

But then again, perhaps we should fill in some context and flesh this out.

What Was Jesus Talking About?

A great article I learned about recently applies nicely here. The article, Never Read a Bible Verse, by Greg Koukl can help Jesus followers to understand the meaning of biblical passages more accurately. The gist of the article is simple (although I highly recommend reading the whole thing as the examples are very valuable), we should never read just a single Bible verse. We should, at minimum, read the entire paragraph. Why? Because the meaning can be completely lost or misrepresented if we fail to consider the context of the verse. Now, how does this apply to our question about loving like Jesus? Well, to really get the full meaning of the words of Jesus, we should look at the verses in John just before Jesus tells us about laying down our lives for our friends.

In John 15 Jesus begins by letting us know that He is the true Vine and that the Father is the gardener. Any branch that doesn’t bear fruit is cut off, while every branch that does bear fruit is pruned to bear even more fruit. He then tells us, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me,” (John 15:4 NIV). He is the Vine; we are the branches, and we must remain in Him to bear fruit and not be thrown in the fire and burned. Without Jesus we can do nothing. And it glorifies the Father when we bear much fruit, it is in fact, proof of our discipleship.

After all this Jesus says:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
-John 15:9-12 NIV

Finally, the very next verse is the one about a love so strong that a person would lay down their life for their friends.

You may be thinking right now, “Why did Troy share all of this detail?” Here is the answer to that question. Loving like Jesus requires a How before a What.

A How Before a What? Wait, What?

Shell’s question was, “What does it mean to love like Jesus?” It’s a very important question, especially since Jesus showed us His love over and over, finally culminating in His death and resurrection. In addition, He commanded us to love like He loved.

But the problem is this, we cannot love like Jesus. We lack the capacity to show the completely selfless love that Jesus showed us. We are selfish, tired, hungry, jealous, weak people. So, what does it mean to love like Jesus? It means first having the power to love like Jesus did.

Let me ask a different question. How was Jesus able to love like Jesus? You know the answer. He was Jesus! Of course He could love like Jesus!! But now let’s return to the earlier verses…and why we need the context.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
-John 15:9-12 NIV (emphasis added).

 Jesus was able to love the way He did because of His relationship to the Father. He kept the commands of the Father and through His obedience remained in the Father’s love. How then do we acquire the capacity to love like Jesus? How? Let’s go back just a little further in the chapter.

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
-John 15:4-5 NIV

The how to loving like Jesus is that we must remain in Him! Without remaining in Him we can do nothing. Yes, He commanded us to love one another. Yes, He called us friends. But, and don’t miss this, we are only His friends if we obey Him! And remaining in Him is the first step, before anything else, of obedience.

It’s not about us mustering up the strength to squelch our selfish tendencies so we can fake the love of Jesus by doing things He would do. It’s not about begrudgingly making ourselves do acts of kindness. NO!

We can only love like Jesus when it is Jesus who is the Source of the love, and He is the Source when we remain in Him.

What Does it Mean to Love Like Jesus, Really?

Here is the answer to the question. And it may not be what you expected when you first saw the question. We love like Jesus when we are constantly filled with the love of Jesus.

I could give you a list of things you can do that from the outside look like the way Jesus loves. It would be easy to put together a nice set of bullet points. But I won’t…because you probably already know them all. Let’s not kid around here. You know exactly what people who love like Jesus do. How do you know?

Because, if you’ve been a sincere Jesus follower more than a couple of years you’ve seen many biblical examples of loving like Jesus. You’ve heard stories from pastors, missionaries, in Christian books, videos, and on podcasts. You already know what people who love like Jesus do. And you know what else? If you’re a sincere Jesus follower, you really should do those things too. You show your love by your actions, not just your words.

But actually loving like Jesus? It’s never about what you should do. It’s about what you want to do. And that doesn’t come from your actions. It comes from your heart. Or, more correctly, it comes from the heart of Jesus inside of you. It comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit is living in you. It’s not only about what we do, Jesus follower, but also about why we do it. It’s about Who empowers and encourages us to love like Jesus. Truly loving like Jesus can only come from the Holy Spirit within us.

The Final Word

Oh, the intent of the original question may have been “What are the practical things we can DO to love like Jesus?” But we don’t need a list of things to do or not do. Not at all. What do we need? We need a divine Counselor.

You see, loving like Jesus isn’t loving like Jesus if it doesn’t start with us remaining in Him. Everything we do comes from the fact that He is the vine, and we are the branches.

What then, finally, does it mean to love like Jesus? It means hearing His voice as we move throughout or daily lives. And then it means doing what He leads us to do. As friends of Jesus, by virtue of doing what He commands, we remain in His love.

Yes, there are many practical actions to show that we love like Jesus. And we learn what they are from Him. Hear me Jesus follower. Don’t worry about whether doing “this thing” or “that thing” more of an example of “loving like Jesus.”

It’s very simple. When you feel any sort of inclination to encourage or serve another person in a godly way, and you obey it, that’s loving like Jesus. Don’t overthink the urges from the Holy Spirit. If you do you risk missing many opportunities to love like Jesus. But by obeying and loving, you glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Love you all!

-Troy

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