I was talking with friends earlier this week and our conversation turned to the consequences of sin. Of course, there are all the consequences associated with getting caught in sin. There’s the shame associated with others becoming aware of your sin and the subsequent embarrassment when what was secret is “laid bare” (1 Corinthians 14:25; Hebrews 4:13), which is another way to say, “When there are no more secrets.” Sometimes, once caught, there are consequences which impact a person’s relationships, career, etc. In our conversation we talked about how much several “fallen” sports stars have lost because their private lives became public. The two which were mentioned were Tiger Woods and Michael Vick. In the case of Tiger, his “sin” ultimately cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. Amazingly, that may not be the most costly consequence, as we’ll address later in this blog.
Leonard Ravenhill is quoted as saying, “The world has lost the power to blush over its vice; the Church has lost her power to weep over it.” In our increasingly amoral culture, which is to say pretty much anything goes these days, guilt, shame and remorse are becomingly increasingly endangered. I am still perplexed that then New York Governor Eliot Spitzer went from a major prostitution scandal in 2008 to having his own show on CNN (Parker-Spitzer; Note: Kathleen Parker resigned from the show yesterday, 2.25.2011).
The consequences for sin are not limited to getting caught. Before a person is caught, and even if they are never caught, no one ever gets away without having to deal with consequences. God created each of us with a moral conscience. Even though some people have a diminished conscience, due to rationalizing their choices and/or redefining sin, I don’t believe they can fully silence the sense of right and wrong which we all possess. The consequences connected to what happens in our conscience may be more severe and disturbing than actually getting caught in sin. I can’t say with certainty, but my guess is Tiger Woods giving up hundreds of millions in a divorce settlement and unknown additional millions (hundreds of millions?) in endorsement money is the LEAST of the consequences he’s dealing with. For those of us who are golf fans, it has not escaped our notice that the former best golfer in the world has not won a tournament since 2009 and there is no indication he will return to form any time soon.
David speaks directly to this matter of consequences, and specifically those associated with his conscience, in Psalm 51 (quotations are from the New Living Translation):
V3: “For I recognize my shameful deeds -- they haunt me day and night”
V4: “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned” – I have always wondered about this statement. We know that his sin involved and impacted others, but in David’s way of thinking, his sin was ultimately an offense against God.
V8: “Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me” – People who don’t weep over the loss of the joy of salvation, probably never had it in the first place.
V9: “Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt” – David couldn’t ignore the guilt of sin and the “stain’ it had left on his conscience [heart].
V11: “Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me” – David was a worshiper. He, more than most and maybe more than anyone, understood what it was like to be in the precious presence of Almighty God. And now, because of the hidden sin in his life he wasn’t experiencing that presence he so deeply valued. And, he missed it! He…missed…it!
V12: “Restore to me again the joy of your salvation” – Notice David comes back to the theme of JOY. It’s not a stretch to suggest that the loss of joy was one of the main consequences David experienced. There is pleasure in sin (Hebrews 11:25), but it doesn’t even begin to compare with the joy which comes to those who are in right relationship to God.
When I was talking with my friends earlier this week, I reflected back on my younger years. I distinctly remember thinking that if I didn’t get caught, then I was “scot free” (“Without incurring payment; or escaping without punishment” from phrases.org). The problem was, I knew what I had done. I knew I had disobeyed my parents or my teacher or God. It didn’t matter that no one else knew, I knew! There is what others know, which is usually limited in some way. There is what we know, which is everything except what we bury in our sub-conscience. And then there is what God knows, which is everything because nothing is hidden from him (Hebrews 4:13). Therefore, even if you never get caught, there are still consequences, because you know and God knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment