Romans 7:13

Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they offend God. But alas! Very soon the fine bloom on these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in later life, too pliant, too easily yielding.

It is sadly true that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees, people get familiar with sin. The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds. At first, a little sin startles us; but soon we say, “Is it not a little one?” Then comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as only a minor evil; and then follows an unholy presumption:

“We have not fallen into open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but for the most part, our conversation has been consistent.” So we minimize sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names. Christian, beware how you think lightly of sin.

Take heed lest you fall by little and little. Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Does not the tiny coral insect build a rock that wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks?

Will not continual droppings wear away stones? Sin, a little thing? It bound the Redeemer’s head with thorns and pierced his heart! It made him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be “exceeding sinful.”