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It is uncomfortable to admit that we sin.  It is much easier to admit that we make mistakes, or are weak, or do not live up to our expectations of ourselves.  It is easy to carry around feelings of guilt.  We try to avoid confronting ourselves with the fact that we willfully and deliberately sin, that we do things that are wrong in the eyes of God.  We find it very hard to admit that some of the things we want to do and actually do are against God’s commands to us and therefore are sins.

One of the insidious results of sin is that it blinds us to itself: to the extent we sin, we are less capable of realizing that we sin.  We become like a nearsighted man who has lost glasses: if only he were wearing them, he would easily be able to see where he left them.  But because he has lost them, he can’t see to find them.  When we are in a state of sin, we need outside help to clearly see our sin.  We need God’s word as a standard by which to judge ourselves; his word in scripture, his word in the grace of his sacraments, his word living in a supportive community of believers.

When we first turn our lives over to Jesus, it is easy to acknowledge the sin we want to leave behind.  But it is sometimes more difficult for us to admit our sinfulness in later years, when we have been consciously trying to live the Christian life for some time.

Sin is a serious enough matter in God’s eyes for him to send his Son to die that sins might be forgiven.  Sin is not a minor affliction that we can live with and ignore.  Sin is a cancer, that will end in our death if it is left untreated.  The measure of the seriousness of sin is the length to which God went to redeem us from sin: the cross of Christ.

If we accept God’s word of judgment and admit our sin, forgiveness is available to us through Jesus.  And not only forgiveness, but new life, eternal life, union with God.  We need have no fear in coming before God as sinners; He knows our state and yet welcomes us anyway.  In God’s eyes, the only incurable illness is the illness of refusing to admit that we are sick and need healing.