Fun . . . at First

There can be an initial excitement when we sin. Of course, it doesn’t last long. The Bible says that Moses "chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin" (Hebrews 11:25, emphasis added). The Bible also says "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

When you get away with something and nothing happens, there is an initial euphoria. You think, They lied to me—it’s actually fun. It will be fun . . . at first. It would be exciting to jump off the Empire State Building . . . until you hit the ground. The same is true of sin. It is pleasurable for a time.

The first time you get away with whatever it is you shouldn’t have done, you think, This is pretty cool. I can be a Christian and still do all of this stuff too. You believe you are getting away with it and that you can actually have the best of both worlds. You’ve convinced yourself that you can live a double life. You might even say that you feel good about it. But your feelings can mislead you. And it will all come crashing down.

Sometimes when God doesn’t bust us straightaway for our stupidity, we think we can always get away with it. When we don’t reap the immediate consequences of a sin, we might even, in our warped thinking, rationalize what we are doing. Yet Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, "Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Don’t confuse God’s grace with His permission, and even worse, His blessing.

Sin will blind you, and then it will find you. Your sin will find you out.