Why not holding open a door for someone is sin

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Why not holding open a door for someone is sin

Posted by Rhiannon MacFie on 2000-04-02
It was a dark and stormy night, and as the people of uk.religion.christian 
huddled around the fire, Michael Gaskell told them this story:

> Do you think that not sinning makes a person perfect, I don't. Because I
> don't steal, it doesn't mean that I always hold doors open for people, I
> assume that not holding a door open isn't a sin, but a perfect person no
> doubt would, hold that door open.

I think that anything less than total compassion,
thoughtfulness, love and concern for the people around you
is a sin, in that it falls short of what God asks of us.  I
think that anything less than total singlehearted devotion
to and love for God is a sin, in that it falls short of what
God asks of us.  So yes, not holding a door open for someone
is a sin, because it shows a lack of thought, respect, and
concern for the person walking behind you.

You see, not sinning isn`t simply a matter of not doing
those things that the Bible forbids.  It`s a matter of
living up to God`s perfection, thought and word and deed: of
being aware of his holiness every second of every day; of
having a compassion as deep as his for the people around us,
all the time; of never putting our own desires above the
needs of others; of always, to everyone, being patient and
kind and considerate and forgiving and forgiving and
forgiving, never losing our temper or thinking hatred of
someone for a moment or thinking that we`re more spiritual
than the people around us..

None of us can hope to live up to anything like that
standard.  By God`s grace, we don`t have to, because he
forgives our sins, because we belong to him.  God gives us
the Holy Spirit, not to magic away all our selfish desires
and behaviour instantly, but to begin to teach us how to
think and act and speak rightly.  I read your testimony and
was moved by it.  But God doesn`t do that with everyone.  He
treats us all differently because we are different.  If
that`s what he did for you, it`s because that`s what you
needed; just as what he does for each one of us is what we
need.  But in every case the end result will be the same.
God wants us to embrace holiness and goodness, and himself,
not out of fear of hellfire or in hope of heaven, but for
its (his) own sake.  And to do that he needs to help us to
learn how to be good and holy without him forcing us to do
it.  And that`s a long and difficult road that won`t be
finished until we meet him face to face.  But it`s the road
we`re all engaged on.  Some of us are further along than
others.  But we`re all going in the same direction: towards
God.  And one day we`ll be with him; and one day we`ll be
made perfect.