The Sin of Neglect

My momma was a single parent. She worked a lot. Therefore, we were at home alone a lot. In the beginning, she told us what we needed to do around the house. Then it became what we had to do. After that, it was clear what was expected. There were consequences if we did not do what was expected. Those consequences were not fun. We had heard what she said, countless times, but we had stopped doing them. If the consequence did not come right away, we felt as if somehow we had gotten away with it. Well let me tell you that was far from the truth! We had not gotten away with anything; the consequences were simply delayed.



James 1:22> “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”



We tend to treat God the same way. We have lost the fact that He is our heavenly Father. You would think we would treat Him different because of that. We treat Him with the same, or sometimes less, respect than we do an earthly parent. Is it because our disobedience has not been dealt with right away? How many times do we have to be told? Absolutely, God is a God of love. His mercies are new every day. He is forgiving, He is compassionate, and I am so thankful for that. However, how long am I, are we, going to sit back and “hear” what He says and yet not do it? How long are we going to pretend there are no consequences?  None of us are perfect, His Word is very clear on that. However, it does not excuse us to sit back and do nothing. It does not excuse us to continue in our own sin…knowingly.



We misuse what Jesus meant in Matthew 22:39 when He said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He did not mean the kind of love that tickles your fancy; the kind that grants yourself everything you want. Some of those are fleshly desires that we should be at war with! We can mean well with loving our neighbor as ourselves, but if we are not careful, we can actually love them into hell. We are supposed to tell them, and show them by our actions, who Jesus is and what His Word says. If we do not, we are hearers of the word only and not doers. Folks, I am guilty! If I were in a courtroom right now and tried to plead my case, I would be found guilty. The idea of telling or showing a loved one what the Bible says is truth does not always appeal to me. Quite honestly, some of them simply do not want to hear it. What if they never speak to me again? What if they dread being around me? What if…? I should be more concerned about their soul than I am about their wanting to be around me. It is hard I do not deny that. However, isn’t their soul a lot more important? It should be.



We cannot just tell people about a loving God. We have to tell them about His Sovereignty, His meaning-what-He-says. We can tell someone what we will do if they do not do what they are asked or told to do. We can easily not follow through. God is not like that. He will do what He says He will do. That should make us tremble. (Hebrews 10:31> “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”) Do we, do I, believe that? We can all tend to rely on His love being the sappy kind of love that we have at times yet do not consider His love as a tough love, also. The love He has for us is a tough love. After all, He did give His only Son to die for us (John 3:16). That sounds like tough love to me, not the sappy kind.



When we know to do good and do not do it, it is called sin (James 4:17). It does not just mean the kind that are obvious (sexual immorality, drunkenness, debauchery, homosexuality, etc.), it also means the ones we know about yet others may not see. (Example: 1- not taking care of those in need when you have the means to do so. 2- not telling someone about Jesus when the Holy Spirit is nudging you to. 3- being honest on what His Word says when directly asked.) When we neglect (ignore or disregard) to do what we know we are to do it is sin. Ignoring or disregarding the truth does not change its meaning.



People, Christians included, do not like the word sin anymore. It makes them, us, sound bad. They would rather use the words mistake or accident. No doubt, a mistake can simply be that…a mistake! Even an accident can just be an accident, things that were not intended or on purpose. However, those words are often in use to cover up a known guilt or sin. Sometimes the phrase "life-style choice" will be in use to butter-up the word sin. We often hear the phrase, “This is who I am.” The truth is we can call it whatever we want to, or use it in any way we want to, to make us feel better. Nevertheless, what God calls it is what is important. That is the only thing that matters.



Just like my momma wanted us to do what we had heard her tell us to do, so does God. So y’all, let’s “be doers of the Word and not hearers only”, the lost are depending on us … so is God.




In awe of Him,

Vonda