Taking Sin Seriously

Taking Sin Seriously

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

2 Peter 3:9

How seriously do you take God and His statements of both promise and warning? God sets standards, but we often become slack at following them. God warns what will happen if we choose to walk away from His path, but we treat the warnings as “suggestions” instead. The Amish, on the other hand, do not treat those who fall from their standards lightly.

Although the Amish community is reluctant to use legal or political force against those who violate Amish practices, they do excommunicate or shun transgressors. Based upon religious scriptures, the Amish believe that members who openly sin against traditional church doctrines must be purged from the church as a warning and safeguard to maintain the purity of the church.

Members who are excommunicated and shunned are avoided by active members in all social and business activities. However, the offenders are always welcomed back to the community if they repent.

Shunning is considered a way of protecting faithful members. To continue in a close relationship with someone not living by Amish standards risks becoming defiled by the person’s sin. Within the Amish community if a member refuses to shun the offending individuals, he or she risks excommunication. That means friends must shun friends, and parents must shun children. Shunning doesn’t mean total avoidance but rather restricted interaction. At family gatherings a shunned individual eats at a different table.

While we might not adhere to the practice of shunning in our own lives, how we treat sin matters. God desires repentance. He is patient with us, but our time on earth will come to an end. Then we must stand before Him and answer for the story we wrote with our lives. May our stories speak most of His grace and goodness! May we be quick to repent of every offense.

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your patience. I trust in that. Thank You that I can also repent and come back to You, and You’ll never turn me away.