OK

Immoral Sexuality.  Anger.  Drunkenness.  Physical Violence.  Things everybody in the church pretty much agrees are wrong.  We don't debate over the evil of these.  We're in unanimity.  Holding hands across the church yard banding together against a few sins.

But there are other things we seem to be OK with.  Really OK.

Gossip.
Let's just start with the zinger, shall we?
'I'm just venting.'  That's often how gossip begins.
Or it's under the guise of clarification.  'Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sure seems like so and so is . . . '
'I don't want to say too much about this, but . . . '  It's veiled as concern.

But it's sin.  One hundred percent of the time.  Kind speech is always a far better and more Godly option.


Comfort.
The church can't be missional and comfortable at the same time.  Comfort is the 'church approved OK' sin these days.  Becoming resistant to change -- making secondary issues main issues -- seeing the encroachment of outsiders as messing with personal comfort.  The biggest danger with comfort is, once it gets a foothold it's very hard to uproot and yank away.  When you try to excise this one, the 8-inch fangs quickly emerge.


Apathy.
Ugh.  Right?  Passivity.  Indifference.  Languor.  'You owe me so I'll sit here with my arms folded.  I tithe; what more do you want?'  Really foul - and really sinful.  God isn't about mediocre, normal, ordinary, status quo, or 'OK.'  He's the Creator of the stinking Universe, after all.  This sin might be the reason folks aren't lining up outside the church doors to become believers.  They're looking for what we aren't providing -- passion, zeal, ardor for Jesus.

Am I way off here?


Gluttony.
Yikes.  Did PK just include that here?
Eating ourselves sick.  Tripping back to the food bar for the fourth time.  Did I mention you can flood your house with trinkets and still call that gluttony?  There are many ways to express excess.  Gluttony isn't just about your stomach.  It's an appetite craving, but not necessarily about your stuff.  It's about your heart.  Where are the followers who will feast in excess on God?


Consumerism.
More, more, more, more, more.  This attitude is so anti-God.  God isn't a taker, He's a giver.  He's The Giver.  We're never more unlike God than when we are selfish consumers of life, home, family, relationships, stuff or church.


Patriotism.
Oh.  No.  He.  Did.  Not.  Just.  Now.
Cue the e-mails.
I stand by it.
Jesus would not be caught waving the American flag.  It doesn't mean you and I shouldn't once a year, but don't equate that with any form of spirituality or Christian maturity.  You're called to pray for government and its leaders for sure, but neither America, the President, Congress nor SCOTUS are the solution to this nation's woes.  American tenets can't shape your life to look more like Jesus.  Only the Bible can do that.  If I hear one more person tell me they need the Stars & Stripes on a church stage in order to properly worship Jesus . . . The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are woefully poor substitutes for Jesus and the Bible.  Though your passport may say United States of America, your true citizenship is in heaven.  To believe anything less is sin.
Remember that.
And save me the e-mail, OK?


There are probably more OK sins I could have added, but I figure this is enough for a healthy reader response.

And be blessed.