(Proverbs 11:21)
Consequences of sin. The destructive nature of sin is that it does not
happen in a vacuum. I hear many say that it is my sin, my problem.
Unfortunately, that is not true. When you sin, it is like throwing a pebble
into a still pond. There is the initial ring it produces, but slowly, the
ring spreads out and it gets bigger and bigger and produces more rings inside
it. The initial pebble may not have been that much, and the initial ring may
have started small, but in the end it had grown to encompass a very large
area. The point I am trying to make is that sin is not just your problem.
At the very least, your sin is against God first and yourself second. Almost
always though, it involves other people that you are either sinning with or
sinning against.
I do not have to tell any of you about the pain, heartache, and problems that
evolve from our sin. The lives we injure, the lost trust from those we care
about. The damages are great. On top of everything else though, we end up
missing the blessings of God. God has blessings beyond our ability to
imagine for each one of us. He loves to bless His children. But God cannot
and will not bless disobedience. On top of everything else, your sin is
keeping you from enjoying the blessings of God. We are so stubborn, so full
of ourselves, that we usually try to do things our way, ignoring what God has
to say. We accept at best some very little, temporary pleasure from our sin,
and miss the greater blessings God has for us if we had been obedient. The
Bible tells us that "to obey is better than sacrifice."
I want to encourage you to pray about whatever sin there may be in your
life today. I want to pray for you as well, for God to strengthen you and
give you the courage to walk away from your sins and into obedience to His
word. I want to encourage you to leave behind the temporary pleasures of sin
for the eternal joy of obeying our Lord. There is no greater joy than when
you are in obedience to what God has asked, knowing that He is as proud of you
as a father or mother is of a child who is obedient. Being obedient is the
ultimate act of a child of God saying "not my will Father, but thy will be
done." As a believer, our ultimate objective should be to enter heaven one
day and hear God proclaim, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
