Think back over the past week. Have you told any “white lies”? Have you taken a quick glance at something that is off limits? Have you gossiped about a friend or slandered an enemy?
These are what we may call petty sins: impure thoughts, small twists of the truth to get your way, careless comments tossed out without a second thought. They may not seem like major issues. After all, you didn’t kill anybody or rob a bank.
However, the Bible tells us that God cares about petty sins, which is why those sins do matter.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1-17, we see a very interesting story that doesn’t seem like a life-or-death situation at first. David simply asked Joab, the head of his army, to take a census of all fighting men in Israel. Joab immediately recognized that this seemingly innocuous request was a questionable command (there were circumstances in which a census was allowed, but this didn’t fit the bill) and urged David against it. David ignored Joab’s concerns, however, and pushed forward with the tally. In doing so, he incurred God’s wrath and brought great destruction upon his nation.
What can we learn about sin from David’s tragic mistake?
Sin is evil: All sin, no matter how “insignificant,” is evil and adverse to God. In fact, verse one directly says that Satan was the driving force of David’s sin. A census seems so trivial to us. In fact, one could easily justify it as a necessary strategy in measuring the strength of David’s army. But it displeased God.
Similarly, we may justify our words, our actions, or even our inactions, but need to understand that sin is sin, and sin is evil. Whatever it is, it matters to God…
