Shortly after Cole was born, we got concerned. He was always crying and could never seem to get comfortable.

No matter what we did, he would not be consoled. My mother noticed one day that Cole had a tendency to arch his back, especially after eating.

We took him to the doctor, who gave Cole a thorough going-over. When he'd completed his examination, the doctor told us that Cole had acid reflux and "a touch of colic." He put Cole on medicine that would help the reflux, but said Cole would just have to outgrow the colic.

For the next six months, we lost our minds.

For the next six months, I kept thinking about the doctor's choice of words: "A touch of colic." Let me tell you something, folks: there's no such thing as "a touch of colic." Saying a child has "a touch of colic" is like saying a woman is "kind of pregnant." She either is or she isn't.

It's the same with a person who says, "I have a little sin problem." No they don't. You can't quantify sin with words like "little," "small" or "teensy." A sin problem is a sin problem - period.

In John 8:34, Jesus said it this way: "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." He didn't say they're a 10 percent slave to sin, a 25 percent slave to sin or even a 50 percent slave to sin. He said they are a slave to sin - without quantification.

We're the ones who try to quantify it, though, aren't we? We want to minimize our sin. We want to make it look less serious or less dangerous than it actually is.

We do this by comparing our sin to other sins: "At least I didn't do this ..." Or, we compare our sin to the sins of someone else: "At least I'm not like so-and-so ..."

It doesn't matter what we compare our sin to, nor does it matter whose sin we compare our sins to. The fact of the matter is that all sin is serious. All sin is dangerous.

Yet Jesus died for all sin.

Aren't you glad Jesus didn't die for 10 percent of sin or 25 percent of sin or even 50 percent of sin? Jesus died once for all sin (1 Peter 3:18). Mine, yours and everyone else's.

Cole finally outgrew the colic. One thing none of us will outgrow this side of heaven, however, is sin. But the blood of Jesus Christ covers our sins and provides the way for us to be forgiven of them.

Parrish Myers is pastor of Pine Crest Baptist Church in Gainesville. His column runs every other week in Sunday Life.