Why do Christians sin?

Most people when they answer this question they say something to the affect of we are still living in a fallen world and we will not be without sin until we are in Heaven. While this is true, I think there is more to this question and its answer. I believe that while we would still sin the amount of sin that we would see within the church would be less if we all had a proper fear of God.

God Himself tells us this in Jeremiah 32:40 when He says that He will place the fear of Himself in the hearts of His people so that they will not turn away from Him. A healthy fear of God is one of the keys to living a life that is pleasing to Him. This fear is meant to serve as a motivator for not doing those things which make God sad or angry. It should be one of those things that prevents us from willful disobedience. To have this fear we need to have a deeper grasp of exactly who God is and who we are in comparison to that.

God is in absolute control of everything and He is absolutely perfect. He is our creator and our master. In His infinite wisdom He created us and then allowed us to have free will. Why He did this is up fro debate but the fact remains that He did/does allow free will today. This free will has lead many people to believe that they are some how above God or that God does even exist and that humanity is at the top of all of things created. Yet it is clear that there are many things beyond our control such as the weather, the earth's rotation and the tides. We are not masters of all that is around despite our attempts to be so. We will never fully be masters of all things and there will always be some "chance" in this world. We are under God and his authority.

As a part of being under His authority we become subject to His rules and standards for morality and choices. His standard is that of perfection since He Himself is perfect and His original creation was also perfect. We are obviously not perfect and thus we fail to meet His standard and as a result we are to be subject to His penalties. The Bible clearly lays out in both the New and Old Testaments how these penalties are to be enforced. It shows us that there are both eternal and current punishments for those of us who fall short of God perfection. It also clearly shows us that God has the right under the system of perfection He has created to destroy as because of our sins. His infinite amount of mercy and love for His creation allows us to continue living. He withholds His wrath because of His great love for us. For those of us who are Christians and have accept the incredible sacrifice of Jesus have a permanent and unshakable exemption from the eternal punishment of death (spiritual death, Hell). This does not mean we are exempt from the consequences of our sin while here on earth. When we sin there are consequences. These consequences carry from person to person and issue to issue but they are nonetheless still there.

I believe that if we had a better understanding of how bad those consequences could be then we would be far less likely to commit many of the sins we commit.

What do you think?