Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:12-21 ESV
Earlier this week we looked at the word sin and how it can mean “to miss the mark.” It is less than perfection. We also see another word in these verses: “trespass,” which has more of a crossing-the-line connotation. We use the same idea with the word trespassing. If we cross over into someone else’s property uninvited, that is trespassing.
When it comes to sin, many of us tend to operate like an “Evel Knievel” stuntman. Instead of running far away from the good and right boundaries God has placed on our lives, we test the limits and try to get away with as much as we can without crossing the line into disaster. Yet the reality of our hearts is that more likely than not, if we’ve already taken so many steps toward the property of sin, once we are there at the line, it will be incredibly hard to stop that forward progression.
Do you run from temptation and sin or do you tend to creep up as close as you can to it?