Sin And Its Consequences
By Keith Goad October 9, 2008
When one is confronted with sin in their lives they have to make a choice between two consequences–those of repentance and the sin itself. Sin has consequences that often times are not immediately obvious to the sinner. These consequences include broken relationships with friends, family, church, and most of all God. I say they are not immediately obvious because we as sinners we are quite good at deceiving ourselves into thinking things are not that bad and simply avoid the real issues. The dilemma when wrestling with sin is God begins to feel distant from our perspective. Its easier to assume God is fine where he is things will work out with time, but we can never imagine the great gulf that has been crossed for us by Christ nor do we have the capacity to understand how our sin effects our present relationship with God.
The consequences of repentance often times seem more troublesome because if we truly set aside our old hardness, deception, and wickedness we are going to have to fess up and this makes us look bad and forces us into a seemingly awkward conversation. If God feels distant when we are living in sin, our friends feel way too close and stirring our kool-aid too much. The consequences of repentance have faces–friends, family, church members–that we have to look into and ask for forgiveness.
The beauty of choosing the consequences of repentance is an opportunity for the gospel to have a face in another brother/sister. Even more, it brings you back into a proper relationship with God. Confessing believers who choose to avoid the consequences of repentance over the consequences of sin have not truly realized the great power of sin, death, and destruction. I say confessing believers because anyone who has truly grasped, nay been gripped by the cross, understands the the power of sin and the joy of forgiveness. The fact is we must choose a set of consequences!