No Free Lunch
I am finally able to get onto this blog thing. It made me change, and then for the last week, it would not let me comment or write a new post! Oh well. Here I am.
I would like to sin with impunity. I was reflecting on that today; it just occurred to me that that was a fact. However, the other fact is that it is impossible to sin with impunity. No matter what the sin, it affects me, those around me, or worst of all, God Himself. When I sin and no one on earth knows, my Heavenly Father does, and it hurts Him terribly. There is no getting around it. I would love to eat whatever I want, for instance. Of course, gluttony shows itself in fat gain and not being attractive to my soulmate, as well as contributing to other health issues. I would love to be lazy (and oh, am I lazy!), but the house wouldn't get cleaned, the clothes wouldn't get washed, the family wouldn't be fed, the children would not be where they were supposed to, and everyone would be unhappy, including me. I would get frustrated and snap at my kids and husband, another sin--impatience and unrighteous anger. The family would go around in smelly, dirty clothes, and that would be a poor witness to a watching world. They would probably become ill, too, from the unhealthy living conditions. We could never invite people over and use the gift of hospitality, unless we wanted to turn them off from the Way. I would love to read my fiction novels and neglect God's Word, but I will fall into sin without His Word to guide me and grow the Spirit within me and teach me how to love Him more. I could go on and on with examples, but it would become tiresome, if it hasn't already. Perhaps you have some examples of your own. The point of all this? Sin affects everyone, no matter how "small" or how "private" it seems to us. The rules God gives us are not to keep us from having "fun" but to protect us, our loved ones, the world, and our posterity (think of the sins of the fathers visited upon their children and children's children.) I wish I did not want to sin at all, whether it had consequences or not. Oh, to be pure in heart! Father, create in me a clean heart; please renew a right spirit within me.
I would like to sin with impunity. I was reflecting on that today; it just occurred to me that that was a fact. However, the other fact is that it is impossible to sin with impunity. No matter what the sin, it affects me, those around me, or worst of all, God Himself. When I sin and no one on earth knows, my Heavenly Father does, and it hurts Him terribly. There is no getting around it. I would love to eat whatever I want, for instance. Of course, gluttony shows itself in fat gain and not being attractive to my soulmate, as well as contributing to other health issues. I would love to be lazy (and oh, am I lazy!), but the house wouldn't get cleaned, the clothes wouldn't get washed, the family wouldn't be fed, the children would not be where they were supposed to, and everyone would be unhappy, including me. I would get frustrated and snap at my kids and husband, another sin--impatience and unrighteous anger. The family would go around in smelly, dirty clothes, and that would be a poor witness to a watching world. They would probably become ill, too, from the unhealthy living conditions. We could never invite people over and use the gift of hospitality, unless we wanted to turn them off from the Way. I would love to read my fiction novels and neglect God's Word, but I will fall into sin without His Word to guide me and grow the Spirit within me and teach me how to love Him more. I could go on and on with examples, but it would become tiresome, if it hasn't already. Perhaps you have some examples of your own. The point of all this? Sin affects everyone, no matter how "small" or how "private" it seems to us. The rules God gives us are not to keep us from having "fun" but to protect us, our loved ones, the world, and our posterity (think of the sins of the fathers visited upon their children and children's children.) I wish I did not want to sin at all, whether it had consequences or not. Oh, to be pure in heart! Father, create in me a clean heart; please renew a right spirit within me.