The seriousness of sin

As I look through these laws, they seem to be a running commentary on the ten commandments, namely, “Do not murder,” and “Do not steal,” and “Honor your father and mother.” 

You get the idea from reading through these laws, that they came from actual cases that Moses (along with the other judges that Moses appointed) ran into on a daily basis. 

And so while all this may seem a bit dry to us, it was very practical for them.

One thing that strikes me is how seriously God takes sin. 

The sin of dishonoring your mother and father, for example, was taken a lot more seriously then, than it is now. 

Nowadays, you have kids striking or cursing their parents, I wouldn’t say all the time, but often enough.   And in Moses’ day, that meant death. 

I kind of think age was taken into consideration here.  I can’t see a 5-year old kid being put to death for this. 

In the Jewish culture, you were (and still are) considered an adult at age 13, and it is at that time that you are held responsible for your actions. 

It was probably from that age that people would be punished for striking or cursing their parents. 

Even so, the penalty is still very harsh, and it shows how seriously God takes the command to honor your father and mother.

Murder also was a capital crime. 

And while the punishment for theft was not death, it still was pretty strong, with apparent punitive penalties to go along with paying restitution for the crime.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do we take sin as seriously as God does?” 

Many times we don’t. 

Sometimes people make excuses for their sins. 

Or they say, “It was really that bad.  It was just a small thing.”

But to God, sin was so serious, that he sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for the penalty of our sin. 

Since he did that, how can we look at our sin and treat it lightly?