Christ said, as recorded in Luke 7:47, . . . her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Does that mean one who was saved by Christ from a life of what we would call hideous sins loves Him more than someone of a less despicable past?

  In Luke 7:36-50 we learn of an occasion when a woman, known by her community for her sinfulness, ventures into a Pharisees home where Jesus is the dinner guest. She stands behind Him at His feet, wetting them with the tears from her eyes, then wipes His feet with her hair. She kisses His feet and anoints them with ointment.

   The Pharisee immediately doubts the spirituality of Jesus who is seemingly insensitive to the Holy Spirit in regard to the sinfulness of that woman. Jesus immediately knows the Pharisees doubts and proceeds to tell a parable of a creditor that freely forgave two debtors, one owing ten times more than the other. He asks His host who would love the creditor more. The Pharisee selects the one that owed the most.

Jesus tells him he is correct.

   After Christ draws a contrast between the sinner lovingly devoted to Him and His host who showed little appreciation except to give Him a dinner, He states the womans sins were indeed forgiven because she loved much. He then made the statement that one will love less if they had little to be forgiven.

   What earned that rebuke was the Pharisee contrasting himself with the woman. Had he been really listening to John the Baptist and Christ he would have realized that though he was a religious man, probably a bulwark of his community, he was of the same caliber as the whore. This is because he, and all of us, are born sinners and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

   Some tend to gauge sins. I grew up hearing there are little white lies, but then there were the big nasty ones. But sin is sin (James 2:10-11), and all sins, whether we deem them big or small, sent Jesus to the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).

   Now, it is true that from certain perspectives some sins are worse than others. One aspect is where a sinful activity is more apt to spiritually bind a person. Quite often these are activities that involve the body along with the soul (the place of our affections), like sexual activity (including pornography) or drug usage.

   There are degrees of sinfulness. All of us are tempted from time to time, but as we keep on giving in, the desire for the temptation becomes stronger. Some get to the point where they are obsessed with a sin. Some even become possessed {1}.

   Despite these aspects, or any other aspects, once again it needs to be said that sin is sin. Before I came to Christ I would like to steal. To my recollection, each thing I stole was under $100 (USD). I did not rob a bank or swindle thousands of dollars from the unsuspecting. However, though the amounts were comparatively small and my victims were not many, I still stole. Stealing a dollar from my sister or a bottle of Mercurochrome from the corner store was the same if I had stolen billions.

   Any sin, all sin, small or big is rebellion against God, and we are all damned and prepared for the second death because we all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Because God is holy, no one is able to dwell with Him for eternity. And, God does not grade on the curve but requires perfection.

   But, in His loving mercy, God has provided the Way to avoid damnation as well the Way of, and to, Eternal Life. God subsisting as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, through the Son veiled Himself with our flesh. During the just over thirty years of His ministry on earth He lived the life of Spirit directed obedience and service unto the Father.

    However, the righteousness of God still required that the penalty for our sins should be fully paid. As the Holy Scriptures record, Christ took our sins (1 Peter 2:24) and was punished on our behalf while on the cross (1 Peter 3:18). No one is saved from the wrath of God by just knowing this, but they are saved when they truly repent and make Christ king of their life (Romans 10:9-10) and thus personally know Him.

   If we personally know Him we will truly love Him. In love for us, and for the love and glory of the Father, He took our penalty no matter if our sins were small" or big", and no matter if we sinned a little" or a lot". So, we ought to greatly love Him because we did hurt Him, because He redeemed us (if we are truly saved), because He freed us, because instead of death we get true life, and many other reasons.

   Christ and His agony in bearing our sin should be our focus. His torment and punishment for our tiniest sin was exactly the same for the worst sins ever committed. When we count the price He paid for our own sins, no matter their size, we too should weep. We too should humbly express our love. After all, much was done in Him in order to grant forgiveness for any sin we have committed, and no matter how many sins were committed.

   Perhaps some reading this need to enter into His forgiveness. I encourage you to surrender yourself to God, making Christ your King. When you sincerely do so, you will abundantly express your love for Christ. Begin by thanking and worshiping Him. Continue by obeying and serving Him in love.

Notes:

{1} Demon possession does not always mean that a person has no control at all. For example, the man with a legion of demons still made it a point to meet Jesus although the demons within him did not want to (Mark 5:1-15).

   This article was originally published online around 2010 by an online publisher no longer in operation, and during that time a fellow writer, Nelson Doyle, had a very touching article about loving Christ. Nelsons article, Jesus to Me (A Personal Testimony), may be found at https://www.scribd.com/document/48079843/JESUS-TO-ME .

   To learn more about appreciating the sacrifice of Christ please listen to Make The Connection by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M18 .

   Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates and adding (The Existing One) to readily express the meaning of His Name without making repeated explanations in articles. * = For other versions the spelling of some words is updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates. Usage of the NASB does not mean I condone the entire work of the NASB. I use the NASB in articles partly because its Copyright directives are less cumbersome than those of the New King James.

   Not responsible for any advertisements appearing with this article nor am I necessarily in agreement with any of them. The statements of this paragraph hold true not only for this article, but for everything I have placed on the Internet.

   For list of more articles please see Holy Bible Treasures at http://holybibletreasures.sapphirestreams.com/ .