First, it was not my fault! I don’t know whose fault it was, but surely it could not be mine. And I was only nine.
Yes, it was me who slotted the arrow on the bowstring. Yes, it was me who pulled back said string to my right cheek. I am a bit fuzzy as to what happened to cause me to lose grip on the string and send the arrow to the back of Mom’s right bicep.
I am unsure why Mom, Dad, and my older brother decided to walk in front of me up the driveway, right into the flight path of the arrow.
I don’t know which of us was more surprised. She jumped and screamed. I froze in my tracks. The arrow did not break the skin, but almost. Nor did the ensuing punishment break my skin, but almost.
That little drama came to mind as I was trying to clarify the difference between “sin” and “unrighteousness.”
This is not a sermon or even a devotional thought. It’s just me seeing something I had not seen before in a very familiar passage of Scripture, 1 John 1:7-9. It is not even the whole of the verses; it is just the last word of verses 7 and 9, “sin” and “unrighteousness.”
“7If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (CSB)
In the CSB version, each verse begins with “If.” There is a cause-and-effect line of thinking here. If I add baking soda to vinegar, I will get foam every time. It’s the law of the universe. In the same way, there is a law of relationships that God has established. If we walk, say, or confess, a brilliant reaction happens. If I don’t, it won’t! Just like vinegar and soda, it’s the law of the universe. The laws of the universe are consequential! Not some – but all, each, every. It’s the law.
If I store up energy in a bow, transfer that energy through the bowstring to the arrow, and suddenly release that energy, the arrow will absorb the energy by accelerating until the energy is expended. In my case, the energy was exhausted on my mom’s arm.
Here is my current understanding of the difference between sin and unrighteousness.
Sin is “missing the bull’s eye.” Unrighteousness is missing the whole target apparatus altogether.
There was a time when milk came by the half-gallon in cardboard containers. The empties made great bow-and-arrow targets. We would pin a bullseye on the carton and whoever got closest to the bullseye got the point. The problem was that we seldom hit the carton at all. That is what unrighteousness is: missing the whole point of life. Sin then is missing the bullseye, but at least hitting the carton.
Unrighteousness is living a life that is just not right. That is “right” as our Creator demonstrated it. To be unrighteous is essentially to be ungodly. To live a life governed by what “feels” right to me. There is a huge difference between living free to do what I want, when I want, and as it feels right to me. The other option is to live free to become all you were created to be, in six words, to be “the image of God.”
It is “right” to follow the leadership of God.
It is “Un-right” to follow my own “reasonable” desires wherever they lead me.
Sin is the individual acts of rebellion against God’s righteous love directed toward you.
Unrighteousness is a life unresponsive to the One who created it.
A righteous person grieves when they sin and moves to restore the healthy connection to God. The unrighteous person regrets their sin and seeks another way to achieve personal fulfillment.
God does not reject us because we commit a sin.
If I reject God, and He allows that rejection to stand, how much good or bad I do in life matters nothing when I have rejected His claim on my life.
Photo – It’s really, really hot this week, I thought a reminder of could would be refreshing. Taken at the pond behind my house.
Baldwin Heirlooms 