Tired of sin?

An innovative church erected a large sign on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. It read, “IF YOU ARE TIRED OF SIN, CALL 438-8282.” Several months passed before someone climbed up on the billboard and embellished it with these additional words, painted in red: “IF NOT, CALL 846-7721.” What about the idea that we could be tired of sin? Do we ever get tired of sin? I’ll tell you, if you sin persistently, if sin becomes your agenda, eventually you’ll get tired of sin.

Paul came to his friends in Rome with good news. But before he shared with them his good news, he had bad news. Before the powerful impact of good news can be felt, often there is bad news. Before someone can come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and be reconciled with God, they must understand the sickness and the deadliness of sin. The amazing thing is that people who really are sick of sin still reject the way out that Christ provides. For the pagan, self-imposed ignorance keeps him from receiving the good news. For the moral person, a sense of self-righteousness numbs him to the good news. For the religious person, “relative justification” overshadows the true way out. (“I know I’m not perfect, but I’m better than a lot of other people who say they believe.”) But no matter why someone rejects the good news, their sin problem doesn’t go away. They exist on a slippery slope, and no one can predict the day they will reach the point of no return.