Why do they do it?

The revelations last week that Ted Haggard had sinned were disheartening although unsurprising.

The revelation this week that NSW minister for Aboriginal Affairs Milton Orkopolous has been charged with drugs and underage sex with boys is equally disheartening.

I read today that at the heart of all sin is pride.

We think we "deserve" some pleasure.

We think we can do things and not get caught.

We think that God's standards are wrong or outdated or just irrelevant.

All of those things are manifestations of the underlying sin called pride.

I'm aware of these things in my life. Perhaps I don't sin as publicly or as "shockingly" as some of these public figures. But still I sin and I know that often I can justify things to myself in those same terms.

Even when the sins are just in my head I have to remind myself that "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart." Yes even my heart.

I'm not sure that He is always terribly happy with what goes on in my heart. But I love what it says in John 3:17 "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

That's a comforting thought!