“Paul knew he was a sinner. He wasn’t perfect. He says so in Phil 3:12. He needed the grace of God as much in his sixties as when he was first saved. In fact, over time it appears he recognized how much more he needed it than he ever first believed.”
(Harry Anderson – The Cripplegate) There are twin dangers that we face as believers. The first danger is in viewing sin too highly. The second danger is in seeing sin too lowly. I have seen both errors within Christ’s church… and I have seen them both within myself. There is a fine line that we walk in this life, and it’s easy to fall on one side or the other.
When someone views sin too highly and too regularly… sin, not Christ, becomes the focus. The consequences of such can be devastating. At that moment a person’s gaze isn’t fixed on Jesus in line with Heb 12:2, and whenever our primary gaze is on introspection that will lead to depression, anxiety, concern, and all sorts of doubt. Why? We were never made to hope in or meditate upon ourselves. We are to, as Paul says in Col 3:2, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”