Sin Never Stays Small

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” — James 1:14–15 (KJV)

One of Owen’s most important insights is that sin never wants to stay small. He puts it like this:

“Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind.”

Then he gives examples. Every unclean thought or glance would become adultery if it could. Every greedy desire would become stealing and oppression. Every little doubt about God would grow into total unbelief, if it were allowed to grow.

That doesn’t mean every small sin is as bad as the biggest one. It means that small sins are seeds. A bit of jealousy, if you feed it, grows into bitterness and hatred. A small lie grows into a habit of lying. A look grows into a secret. A flash of irritation, fed every day, grows into a temper that hurts people.

Owen also explains how sin tricks us. It starts off looking modest. In its “first motions and proposals”, it doesn’t ask for much. It just wants a little bit of room. But once it has a foothold in the heart, it keeps the ground it has gained and pushes for more.

And here is the sneaky part. Each time sin goes a bit further, we compare ourselves only with where we were last week, not with where we started. So we think, “I’m not that bad.” Meanwhile, Owen says, the heart is slowly getting harder.

James describes the same process in the verse at the top of this chapter: desire, then sin, then death. It is like a snowball rolling downhill, small at the top and huge at the bottom.

This is why Owen takes small sins seriously. Not to make you paranoid, but because the best time to stop a snowball is before it starts rolling.

One thing to do this week: think about one “small” sin in your life: a habit of exaggerating, a bit of envy, a type of joke, an app or game you know isn’t good for you. Ask God to show you where it could lead if it grew, and decide on one step to stop feeding it.