THE SERIOUSNESS OF SIN

Something to consider

      

Our pastor was teaching from the book of Acts chapter 5 concerning the beginning of the forming of the foundation of the church and that sin was taken very seriously at that time (such as the taking of the life of Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit) among other things (which is a discussion for another time.)

He also stated that he believes that many of the leaders of the churches do not take sin very seriously therefore it is not taught very much and it is not a strong subject of conversation and you can guess as to why. I totally agree with his comment! However, I would like to add that I think, from what I see going on in our society, many people who call themselves Christ-followers do not take sin very seriously either.

I speak from experience and I was included in that group in the past. For many years, even decades, I did not take sin seriously as a Christ-follower. And as an atheist, I had a cloudy vision of what was right or wrong, good or bad depending on how bad I wanted to do whatever I was contemplating.

In my Christian youth, and Christian immaturity, I knew what sin was but I also knew that I could ask for forgiveness and I would be forgiven when I sinned. I was taught that on Sundays, but I was not taught, as Paul Harvey would say, “The rest of the story.” I believe not being taught the rest of the story is one of the many problems we face in the teachings of the Christian faith in many churches today.  

Jesus is love, repent and you will be forgiven, ask and you shall receive and a host of other ‘feel good’ scriptures repeated over and over without telling us the rest of the story. To someone like me, who was new to the church, and not very old in age, and was not told to read and study the scriptures on my own it was easy to listen and follow blindly the easy truths of scripture.

Yes, Jesus is love, forgives us when we repent, and will answer our prayers, but the people that are being told just that and not the rest of the story are being sold a false bill of goods. I won’t go into specific details with scriptures because I am preaching to the choir and you know what they are.

What I want to stress is the seriousness of sin that Christians and non-Christians alike commit and while we are in our sin do not stop to consider the ramifications of the sin we are committing or the damage it can (does) cause in the future to many others.  

Yes, we are forgiven when we sin if we are honest in our heart, repent to the Lord and strive to be more obedient to His Word. We are forgiven as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12) and He knows them no more (Isaiah 43:25). In short, we are off the hook so to speak. However, that is not the rest of the story.

In reality it took decades of my being a Christ-follower for me to realize the seriousness of sin and even then, I did not take it too seriously. Until the day I go to be with Jesus I pray that I will continue to learn more of who I am to be as a child of His, learn from my mistakes and sins, learn from others and rely more and more on the Holy Spirit for wisdom that eludes me so often.

Why am I pondering this subject now, what is the purpose and what do I hope to gain from this study and the sharing of what I discovered? It is because my pastor mentioned that many pastors are not teaching the seriousness of sin and that comment made me look back at my past sins and I was bluntly confronted of the seriousness of my sins that I casually used to ignore. If I was not strong in my faith and did not understand the grace God has given me I would most likely be depressed, angry at myself, full of self-loathing and have a sincere feeling of worthlessness when realizing the seriousness of my sins. By the grace of God I am saddened, repentant (again), and committed to striving not to allow my sins to have a lasting effect on others. 

What hit me so hard when I heard “the seriousness of sin?” I was forced to look back at the sins that I did that did not just affect me but untold others and the fact that that one sin became compounded and, sadly, probably has an everlasting effect on who-knows how many.

To help you understand I will present cliff notes on my past and one, of many, sin that sadden my heart. In 1970 I joined the Detroit Police Department. The day of my graduation from police academy my wife moved out, filed for divorce, and allowed me to raise our 2-year-old son. She wanted to be single! I was baptized at age 14 but did not know what it meant and rarely went to church. But I prayed to God to make her return to our marriage. He said. “No” and when she did not return after a year I was crushed. I hated God; He was responsible for my heartache and pain. I gave up on Him entirely. A downward sinful spiral ensued and my morals (this lack of morality did not affect the duties of a police officer – just my social life) toward marriage and sexual activity tanked.

The most serious and dramatic instance of self gratification, rebellion, and lack of (and ignoring) caring about the circumstances of my activities was with a married woman I met and dated. In my mid twenties (she was 7 years older) we were both interested in fun, excitement, and taking advantage of the party atmosphere of the 70’s. After a while she got a divorce and I settled down and became sort of a family man. I had a son who was 7, she had a son 11, a daughter 10 and another daughter 8. We had a volatile relationship that went from being very good to explosive arguments. All the while we did not consider what our relationship was doing to our children and how it would affect them in the future. It was all about us! I had no concept of sin.

The truth was and is, is that our sins and the ramifications of them did not affect just us, they affected our children, possibly helped form their future beliefs – morals – views on lifestyles and a variety of other negative traits. As I looked back on my life, it was a scary thing to realize my sins could be reproduced for generations to come and continue to bring sadness and hardship if left unchecked. I realize now sin and the ramifications do not just stop if left unchecked. It’s like bacteria, if not curtailed it continues to grow and infect others. Unless we accept Jesus and allow Him to intercede and break the cycle it will know no boundaries.  

Not realizing it at the time, our sins caused untold problems in the relationship between our two families. My son did not like my girlfriend or her son, her son did not like my son or me, and my girlfriend did not like my son. The two girls seem to be the least dysfunctional. My girlfriend was extremely jealous and constantly said I was flirting with other women (insecure because I dated her while she was still married?) which caused many hardships. Eventually we parted ways and by the grace of God I started to mature mentally and morally. Then I met a wonderful Christ- following woman who showed me a different life that was rewarding, blessed, full of happiness and a variety of other things I never knew existed and she said her blessed life was because of Jesus. Because of that encounter I found her, discovered who Jesus really was and stood for and I wanted both of them in my life, and I have them. It was not an easy transformation and it took time, patience, mistakes, repenting, and forgiveness to get to the point where I totally trust in Him, believe in His words and strive to learn from my mistakes. From His words I know I can’t undo or fix the past, or ease the pain that I have cost to many (the above is just one of many sinful situations in my past) that is His responsibility. What He has taught me is that sin is SERIOUS, not just in the moment but it carries on into the future and affects many that we never know about. Through Jesus I have found peace that is beyond understanding, joy in times of hardship, and the knowledge that I am forgiven. Jesus has given me countless gifts even when I rejected Him and there is no way I can ever repay Him for the grace poured out on me. What I can do is to honestly obey the first commandment and strive to be the child He wants me to be.

I encourage all of you to please take sin and its’ painful consequences seriously because they can haunt you for life. I know because I am still experiencing the life long effects of my sins. My son was hit hard by all the dysfunction in my (our) life. The divorce, his mother abandoning him, my neglect of him as I partied, and the years of being in a family relationship he wanted no party of weighed heavy on him. Years of counseling did no good; he still blamed me for the divorce and all his problems. Over the decades we did have some good times but they were intermittent. I tried to apologize to him and told him the blessings, grace, and forgiveness I found in accepting Jesus but he wanted no part of it and he said Jesus would not forgive him for all the bad things he has done. He experiences bouts of depression and on the last occurrence, seven years ago, he ended our relationship and I have not talked to him since. My wife and I have tried to repair the damage that was done, we have no idea what set him off, but he has refused and insisted that I stop bothering him. So I granted his wish. I still pray every day that he finds Jesus and then our relationship will be restored and all will be forgiven.

So if you get bit of wisdom from this article I pray that it will be to take sin, the consequences of sin and the possible lasting effects on others your sin will have seriously. As for my sins I have no one to blame but me.