Respectable Christian Sins

I found the title of this posting from a phrase used by Jack Frost. When I read the words ‘respectable Christian sins’ I thought, ‘what an odd choice of words’….but he is right! Church going parishioners and bible degree holding pastors equally have grown comfortable with respectable Christian sins. To an entire church an exiled leader/pastor said, “You have the reputation of being alive but in fact you are dead” (Rev. 3.2). This may be one biblical example of people who have been (PAST TENSE) known for good deeds but have allowed themselves (PRESENT TENSE) to fall into, ‘respectable Christian sins’. Pascal was right when he said, 'People never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction'. Simply defined, a respectable christian sin is:

RESPECTABLE CHRISTIAN SIN = BELIEF - ACTION

So I thought, ‘what are some of these Christian sins that we have white washed, sanctified, rationalized and justified?’ Any guesses? To borrow Jeff Foxworthy’s idea (You know you are a redneck when…); you know you have a respectable Christian sin operating when….

Exaggerating past successes is more important than being faithful to what God is calling you to in the future;

It is more important to be right in an argument rather than be reconciled in a relationship;

You provocatively dress to attract or gain attention from others instead of wanting to be attractive to God;

Failure to recognize that it is the blood of Jesus that covers sins and not excuses;

Non church going people are quicker to love the unlovely than you are;

Claiming to be a Christian while behavior says otherwise;

You hold others to a standard that you know you are not maintaining yourself;

Keeping up appearances is more important than letting down and asking for help;

You ask seemingly cleaver questions, all to hide manipulative intentions.

Just think about it, I am ................