This hit me hard recently!
“Sin is fundamentally antisocial, because sin causes me to love me more than anything else and to care for me more than anything else.”
“If sin turns me in on myself so that all I live for is me, then sin in its essence is antisocial. Living for myself and the satisfaction of my selfish desires dehumanizes the people in my life. No longer are they people to me. No longer are they objects of my affection and service. No, my loved ones and friends are reduced either to vehicles to help me get what I want or to obstacles in the way of what I want. “
Paul David Tripp
This hit me hard in relation to my own sin first and foremost.
It also helps me as I respond to the sinning of those around me or help them respond to others sinning against them.
Colossians 3:12-14 comes to mind.
My sinful pride causes me to view others as those who owe me compassion, kindness, gentleness, respect and love. If they don’t deliver… then all sorts of bad things happen inside of me toward them.
The grace which is mine in Jesus Christ causes me to view others are those to whom I am empowered and enabled to manifest compassion, kindness, gentleness and patience.