The Gravity of Sin

Every day we wake up and struggle against this ever-present giant.  We strain and groan under the weight produced by this invisible force, yet most days we never give a second thought to this. It literally is dragging us away from heaven, but we continue to fight and counteract this tortuous law of life.  This is really about the gravitational pull of our planet, but couldn’t this also signify sin? Certainly gravity is not sinful, but sin has a gravitational pull of its own accord. Our concupiscence is the driving force that impels us toward the destructive ends that can consume us if we do not exercise our spiritual muscles.  Just as the gravity of a fall can kill, so can the gravity of sin be just as deadly to our eternal souls.

Daily exercise keeps us healthy enough to counteract the effects of planetary gravity, and so should our soul and conscience be exercised just as much, if not more, vigorously to counteract the pull of sin. To speak about sin in such terms is all well and good, but the practical application of this is where we can quickly fall into the trap of paralysis. We know something must be done in order to struggle against our own inordinate desires, but the task seems so daunting that we may put off taking it on. I’ve found some practical ways to keep this monster at bay, and I hope you’ll find them useful.

First and foremost is prayer.

This is certainly an obvious one, but I think the challenge at times is the move from scripted prayer to spontaneous prayer. I’m not talking about putting down our rosaries or stopping our daily Divine Mercy Chaplet (which happens to be a favorite of mine). There should always be time for those prayers, but when I say spontaneous, I mean in situations we wouldn’t normally pray.

For example, thanking God for the red light, because He may have prevented an accident and thereby kept us from harm. Another example is thanking God for the wrong order at our favorite restaurant, because He was teaching us to be gracious as the recipient of an error, as well as a small dose of humility granted to those who have created the error. We can give thanks for the nosey neighbor who is typically an annoyance but keeps an eye on your house while you are away. There are a multitude of situations that call for thanksgiving. It is up to us to find these throughout the day and pray a prayer of thanksgiving. Just as we work against the gravity of sin in small matters, we shall gain strength when we are called upon to resist much graver matters.

Rely upon His word daily for strength and inspiration.

Without the word of God we would disintegrate into nothingness. Carving out time in the morning to read the daily scriptures has become second nature to me, and I’m positive it can be the same for you. All we have to do is make the time, and God will speak to us through His word. Just as the word of God created the heavens and the earth, so, too, can He remake our hearts.

God also made gravity so that we would always feel the pull of this world through our earthly bodies, but in seeking out His Word, we find a greater pull of our souls towards heaven. Certainly the words of Christ in the New Testament are the cornerstone of our faith, but if you feel a draw to the Psalms or Old Testament, by all means, read them daily.

Seek to be humble.

I do not mean that all of our actions or thoughts should be regarded as false or of a sinister origin, but we should always question the underlying motive for each decision we make. Are we going to the store to truly help out our wife by picking up a few needed items, or is it just handy to do, because we are out of beer? Do we send our kids to bed early, because we’re just tired and don’t want to deal with them anymore, or do they really need the extra sleep? Do we want to put off that report that is due at work, because we’re still waiting on the information we need, or is it just easier to forget it, because it’s a pain to do? Once again, these are small things to be questioned. We will certainly be pulled into the lowest common denominator if we do not struggle against these inklings, no matter how small. The purity of our actions will ultimately increase the purity of our thoughts, which, in turn, greatly strengthens our ability to resist the gravity of sin.

Resistance is not futile! Just as we can overcome the gravitational pull of the earth, so, too, can we overcome the constant lure of sin with God’s grace acting in our lives. Through prayer, reading scripture, and questioning the motives in our hearts, we can be strengthened in our souls through cooperation with God and seeking His Will. There is hope, so we should not let the world of darkness slowly entangle us in a sense of despair. Just as surely as we are pulled toward this world, God pulls that much harder in our souls towards heaven.

 

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Ben Ewing is a husband and father of two girls. He works as a Technical Director for a local iron castings company during the day and as Prince Charming from Cinderella or Kristoff from Frozen in the evenings. When he is not wearing feather boas and glittery crowns or getting his hands dirty in a foundry, he can be found roasting his own coffee blends or creating new recipes for home-brewed beer. Though he is a Coloradoan, he currently lives in northern Indiana with his wife, Jeannie Ewing, daughters, and dog (who is also female).

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