What is sin?

Were we able to daily understand the reality of sin and its consequences, it would have far less attraction to us.

Two statements from two different writers have helped me in comprehending what sin really is.

I have heard John MacArthur say on numerous occasions, “Sin is what we do when we are disappointed with God.”  So sin is not merely some moral indiscretion or poor choice made against God, but it is in fact an attempt to replace God with something else.

Building on that idea, Tim Keller has written the following in The Reason for God:

…the essence of sin is not [primarily] the violation of laws but a wrecked relationship with God, one another, and the whole created order.  “All sins are attempts to fill voids,” wrote Simone Weil.  Because we cannot stand the God-shaped hole inside of us, we try stuffing it full of all sorts of things, but only God may fill [it]. [a quotation from Barbara Brown Taylor]…

A life not centered on God leads to emptiness.  Building our lives on something besides God not only hurts us if we don’t get the desires of our hearts, but also if we do.  Few of us get all of our wildest dreams fulfilled in life, and therefore it is easy to live in the illusion that if you were as successful, wealthy, popular, or beautiful as you wished, you’d finally be happy and at peace.  That just isn’t so.