Jul

26

Susanna Wesley Defines Sin

Filed Under God, Faith & Spirituality 

Driving to work today, I was listening - for the second time - to a sermon by Ravi Zacharias. I have begun listening to sermons more than once because it is frustrating how much you forget! Ravi quoted from a letter Susanna Wesley wrote to her son John, on June 8, 1725. In it, Susanna gives a definition for sin:

Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.

This has got to be one of the best definitions I have heard. It goes along the lines of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial.”

I want to be a man who has strong reasoning, a tender conscience, a clear sense of God, and a relish for spiritual things. In short, I want my mind to have authority and strength over my body.

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