Anything minus one

God can forgive anything we do to him or others. Anything except one thing. Some that read this will inevitiably say, "What's up with that? You've said earlier that God forgives all sins." I did say that. He does forgive all sin...I just forgot to mention the except one thing. It's a sin that I don't think about too much. I don't think about it much maybe because from a very early age I was taught to not even go there. Jesus is the one that let's us know about it. He says:

I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin (Mark 3:28-29, NIV).

The anything minus one is blasphemy. So what exactly is blasphemy? You don't hear about that one much, right? The reason it's not mentioned much is because it's a sin directed at God alone. He's the only one that is directly hurt by this sin. That's the reason it's so grievous. It's the only sin that guarantees the punishment of eternal separation from God. No wonder my parents to me to never go there.

Here's a definition:

blasphemy: 'blas-f&-mE
1 a : the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God b : the act of claiming the attributes of deity
2 : irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable

This sin should make us shudder. Doing something that would cost us eternal separation from God? Something that is irreversible? No way. Why would we want to slander, defame, or make fun of the very name of God? Nothing comes to mind for me. How about you?

Jesus got around the "claiming the attributes of deity" part because he was God. Jesus told the Pharisees (the religious jerks of Jesus time) that you could defame him personally or his name. That's because Jesus knew they were thinking of him only as another human being who dared to claim an aspect of deity. It never crossed their minds "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father " (Philippians 2:10-11, NIV).

We jokingly say to pompous and arrogant people, "Who died and made you God?" Plenty of people, especially celebrities for some reason, claim to be God. Some religions like Mormonism claim you can be a god some day. That would mean that an imperfect creation would somehow become perfect and rule their own universe or planet. One thing is for sure: If I ever ended up in a universe like that, I would be pretty ticked that I was worshiping someone who had been human once. Total buzzkill.

All kidding aside, this is serious business. When we commit those inevitable daily sins, we can have the assurance that God will forgive us. His perfection makes up for our perfection. He has the ability to see beyond our flaws and see us for who we can be. He continues to love us while we struggle to move beyond the things currently holding us back.

Most of you that read this don't think much about blasphemy. That's good. The thought of slandering God is something you don't want to think about too much. It's best to keep God's incredible mercy and forgiveness in the front of your mind. About that blasphemy thing... just never ever go there.

Have a great day.