We had author Ian Cron on campus this week.

In his chapel address he gave a description of sin unlike most I’ve heard before — and I liked it.

He said,

Sin is attempting to steal from God something that can only be given.

Read that again.

Read it one more time.

Sin

is attempting

to steal

from God

something

that can only be given.

And it can only be given by God.

In other words, we cannot take it.

Anything we can “take” is only a cheap imitation or imposter of what it is we really desire.

Take love for example. God offers us unconditional love in abundance.

And yet, out of a desire to “be loved” or “feel loved,” we might opt for hooking up or attempting to “steal” love through casual sexual encounters because we don’t know how to experience that with God — or it seems easier to attain through our own pursuits.

We have an idea about what we want — but go looking for it in the wrong place.

Or consider joy and peace. Two more of life’s essentials that can best (and only truly) found in a faithful relationship with God.

Cron suggested how this same joy and peace is often what gets people experimenting with things like drugs and alcohol — because we often lack one or both of these elements that we were designed to thrive in — and don’t understand (or believe) that God wants to gift these things to us.

Ian ultimately suggested that all sin — yes, ALL SIN — can be traced back to this act of stealing that which only God can provide.

Do you believe that?

Can you see it in your life?

If you trace your own sin back to its root or origin, what is it you are really looking for? And do you struggle to believe that God cares about your desires, or that he’s capable of meeting whatever need is associated with that desire?

The shift that Cron suggests we need to make is in our posture — from being “takers” to “receivers.”

Can we move from aggressively taking (typically from those around us) that which can only truly be given to us by God?

Are we willing to trust God to provide what will truly satisfy our needs?

Are we willing to trust that God’s timing is not just best, but perfect?

Are we willing to give up our idea(s) about what will create the best life possible?

If so, this shift from being a taker to a receiver is essential.

And so is the source to which we look to fulfill our deep needs.