The Pain of Sin

I am sickened to the core of my soul when I hear someone claim their choices don’t hurt anyone.

• The office friendship that becomes the after hours relationship.
• The uncontrolled passion that becomes an unwanted pregnancy.
• The temporary high that becomes a lifelong prison.
• The alternate life style that becomes a death sentence.
• The casual gossip or careless lie that becomes impossible for it’s victim to defend.
• The……………………… that becomes…………. (fill in the blanks)

Read Isaiah 59

These events are often referred to as victimless crimes if indeed they are seen as wrong at all. After all, these things are all personal acts that don’t involve outside the situation. Nobody gets hurt. Really? What about the families that are torn apart, the babies that are murdered, the children abandoned and abused, the mothers and fathers whose hearts are broken, the reputations that are destroyed?

Points to Ponder

• What are the consequences of sin identified in the Isaiah passage?
• How does the LORD respond to these sins?
• What is the promise the Lord we have?

Something to Think About

The attitude toward these types of “choices” sadden me and the cavalier attitude of our society disgusts me. If I, sinful woman that I am can be so affected, I can not begin to imagine how a holy God must feel. It’s impossible to fathom the sorrow Jesus must feel each time those he suffered and died for, through their acts of defiance and wickedness, laugh at the ridiculousness of the cross on which he died.

© 2012 Sandra Bivens Smith