We must appreciate Aaron’s response to Moses’ question of what happened. “It was the people. They made me do it. When I threw the gold into the fire, this calf just happened to pop out!” Yes, we must appreciate Aaron’s response, not because it is admirable in any way, but because we tend to respond the same way to sin.

We deflect. We minimize. We rationalize. We are just like Aaron, and just like our ancient ancestors Adam and Eve in Eden. Our sin keeps us from owning up to our sin. That is the downward cycle of our hearts and minds.

Thankfully, God has not left us in our depravity. Instead, He has given us new hearts, and He is in the process of changing our thinking, to see our sin as He sees it, not as how we prefer to see it.

As Christians, we can make the mistake of languishing in our sin and failing to grasp grace. We can forget that Christ paid for all our sins. At the same time, we are just as prone, if not more so, to view our sin too lightly. We can abuse grace. We want to avoid both extremes and instead see our sin as forgiven, yes, but it still carries consequences for us and those around us.

• What is your perspective of your sin? Do you tend to minimize it or sink into it?