Consequences...

If we were honest with ourselves I think we'd all say that consequences scare us.

I thought I had escaped the consequences of my sins. I was smart. I had a pride about me that erred on the side of arrogance. I was good at thinking I was better than most. When I say "I thought I had escaped the consequences", I don't mean completely. Sure there were bad days every now and then...traffic jams, stress with work, conflicts in relationships, maybe even losing money in a bad bet or investment...hey, these were small prices to pay. These were tolerable consequences and well worth getting to sin on occasion. After all, my bank account grew; I received promotion after promotion, and got to marry the woman of my dreams. I had no STD, no unwanted children, no prison term, no physical or mental handicap that I inflicted on myself...I was getting off easy!

I read something the other day that stopped me completely. It scared me. Not like a “BOO!” kind of scared, not even like a going to die kind of scared...worse...I was paralyzed with fear. This was the kind of fear that could cause a grown man to cry. When is the last time that you cried because you were scared? Now that's fear!

It was a story of a man who struggled with a sin that he did not acknowledge. The type of sin we've all done. He knew it was there, but he would not talk about it and often questioned if it was really sin. He would rationalize his sin. He always thought the consequence was the guilt of not "dealing" with the sin. He probably didn’t call it sin...In his mind he'd say it was a struggle or a challenge. It is a temptation or a vice...not a sin, that's too religious of a word.

Every year he would take a vacation and drive down a beautiful mountainside. It was amazing countryside decorated with fall foliage, orange, yellow, and reds reflecting off of natural waterfalls and lakes. It was painted with flowers of all sorts and had a road that winded through it all, mixing all of God's creation into perfect moving paintings framed in the windows of his car.

He did this every year until one year...he no longer appreciated it. How had this happened? He was num to beauty. The aesthetics were no longer alive, they were only there. The trees and flowers and mountains and waters were no longer pretty, they just were. Not that scary? Keep reading….

Sin robs you of the meaning of life and fools you into thinking that life exists in sin. You can acknowledge that your sin doesn't make since but you still know that you are going to do it. “I don't want to think about it, I'm just going to do it”.

I didn’t realize it before, but now I believe it with all my heart, sin truly does rob us of life and fools us into thinking we are living it to the “fullest”. Sin, any sin, turns family into an obligation, it turns our relationship into a burdensome commitment, and sin turns friendships into strategic conversations and empty laughter often targeted at one another. Sin turns your career into work; it turns memories into blurry visions, and all things beautiful into just ordinary things. Too often we exchange sin for a memory. I challenge you to buy something good with any memory of sin…they are worthless. I have found that most people don’t even care to hear my stories of sin in spite of what I might think. (They probably don’t want to hear your’s either) The only exceptions being authentic confessions of present day sin in the context of seeking true accountability.

When you think that you truly have escaped consequences look at your life deeply. Think about what used to bring you so much joy and now just seems boring. And don’t be fooled into thinking it is experience that changed that. Sin leaves you cold and won’t allow you to realize it until you’re too comfortable being cold to change.

Pornography
Excessive drinking
Pre-marital Sex
Gambling
Cheating
Lust
Pride
Arrogance
Greed
Poor Stewardship (Pointless Spending)
...or any other "could be" sin that comes to mind.

***Pick your sin and reread all the paragraphs above replacing the word sin with your specific “could be” sin.

Know that sin is robbing you of a good relationship with your family, it is making your job feel like work, and it is stealing from you the relationship that God intended you to have, one that is filled with trust and laughter. Know that your sin is costing you the relationships with those you should absolutely care about most, and often as they disappear, it is keeping you from realizing it. Sin is very expensive and it manipulates you into thinking that it is not. It will cost you all things beautiful in this world, leaving you as someone who just goes through the motions. Someone who lives and then dies, with just a little coldness and a few rushes of adrenalin in-between.

God does not want you to only stop sinning; He wants you to want Him more than your sin. Sin separates us from God. I would rather be in a wheelchair with an STD in prison, while being visited by my illegitimate children than not know God.

So why do I write an email like this? Most of us won't do something unless it affects us for the better. More over, we won't stop doing something unless we know it is going to hurt who we are. We are selfish and about us. We seek religion because we think it will make us better. We go to church because it makes us feel good or we need to "check that box". Think about this…We go to church for the same reason we don't go to church...us. The most important person to most of us is ourselves. And if you think back, it probably wasn't always this way, or at least not to the extent it is now. Our sin has slowly removed us from caring and we don't even realize it. We will do something good and think we are redeemed, when at one time it was a daily practice to not only do good, but be good. For many of us, those days are long gone.


Oh that we would never get what we deserve. Some of us are fooled into thinking we are good people not realizing that any one of us is capable of all things evil in any given moment. It is ironic, that as I study life and people, those who say they are a “good person” typically live lives filled with sin and those who say I am a sinner, are the “best” people I know. If you think you are a good person, start auditing your thoughts. I am certain you will give up after a short attempt and get tired of reprimanding yourself.

Hey, I am here to say there is hope. There is freedom from your sin which will provide you with a better, more abundant life. If you don’t believe me, let’s talk. Struggle well…

Genesis 4:7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Romans 5:17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

John 14:21
21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."


James 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Ezekiel 16:58You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD.

Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Proverbs 3:4-6
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.