“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
How serious is sin?
The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23a
“For the wages of sin is death.”
I would say that is pretty serious. Would you agree?
Why then do we treat sin as if it is harmless?
And why do we categorize sin as if one is worse than the others?
This verse tells us that the wages of SIN is death. It does not say that the wages of some sin is death.
I fear today that we as a people have forgotten the seriousness of sin, and what it does to our lives.
Sin causes a lot of trouble in our lives.
First, Sin saturates.
Sin is not just something that we do. We sometimes look at sin and think to ourselves, “I’m not hurting anyone,” but is that true? Can we really harmlessly sin? I do not believe that we can. I believe that unforgiven sin is like a disease, like cancer; it may start out as something small and harmless, but left untreated it grows, it saturates into every part of us.
Second, sin separates.
Sin is one of those things that looks fun at the time, but as it progresses we find ourselves separated and alone.
Do you remember when Jesus was on the cross? Do you know why he was in so much anguish? Yes, it was from physical pain, but I believe that it was also because of the separation he felt from His Heavenly Father. You see, when Jesus took on the sins of the world (those would be my sins and your sins) they caused separation between Jesus and His father. We read in Matthew 27:46: ” And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” God is a Holy God, he can not dwell where sin abides. When we sin we not only separate ourselves from those we love, but more importantly we separate ourselves from God.
Finally, sin destroys.
We read in Romans 6:23a: “For the wages of sin is death.” That does not leave much room for discussion. In God’s word, He is very clear about sin and what it brings. So many times in life we see this play out. Someone decides to dabble in sin and before they know it their life has been turned upside down. How many times has one drink turned into a life of drunkenness and broken families, one pill turned into hundreds of dollars wasted on drugs that do not satisfy any longer, or one dirty picture turned into a downward spiral of pornography addiction and broken relationships?
God has not given us His word to bind us, to control us, or to keep us from having fun. God has given us His word so that we can be safe, so that we can live, and so that we can be free. The second part of Romans 6:23 tells us, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Praise God that He did not just leave us in our sin. He loved us so much that He gave His only Son to come to this earth and to die for you and for me.
I know this post today has not been the normal encouraging, uplifting, motivating words that you normally find here, but I believe that it is what God has placed on my heart to share today. I pray that you will take what you have read today and think about it. Sin is not something that we should take lightly. It is serious business.
Along with the title for today’s entry I feel that God has also given me a second part. Monday we will discuss: The freedom of Forgiveness. Thank God that he did not just leave us where we were, but He looked ahead in time and saw where we were going, and He has made a way.
God bless you today. I look forward to discussing this further on Monday.
Encouragement For Every Day 