Hidden Costs of Sin

Hidden Costs of Sin

Genesis 1:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Exodus 20:1-17 briefly outlines the Ten Commandments of which the first four relate to out regards to honoring the Lord God; the last six in regards to our fellow man.

            I like to approach these commandments in a somewhat different light than traditional thinking. Traditional thinking is a strict code of COMMANDMENTS of thou shalt and thou shalt not’s [do’s and don’ts] however, neither of these passages reveal the hidden costs of violating the sins listed. In fact it almost appears to be more of a “double dare” scenario—“I double dare you to do run across the highway backwards, blindfolded and against traffic”.  That type of mentality almost always produced negative results as kids would inevitably rise to meet the challenge to prove themselves brave or “one of the guys”.

            Instead of a staunch commandment, why not approach them as warnings [though admittedly it may seem to water down the Word, and yet I don’t think it does]. We tell our kids “don’t sit on the hot stove” and add “or you’ll burn your bleep”. Here both the warning and the negative consequence are spelled out. “Don’t play in the street”—“or you’ll get run over.” But still God gives the command without the seemingly impending negative consequences. With the exception: partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil had the effect of death. However the text is not immediately clear as to exactly what death meant in terms of physical, moral, fellowship with God etc.

            So, let’s look at a few of the hidden costs of sin.

·         Murder or killing: takes the life of another, but also deprives children of a parent; a spouse of a companion; many years of happiness are lost, as well as future generations being denied a heritage.

1.    Did Eve have the slightest idea of what the hidden costs were in terms of God’s directive to man as overseer of all His creation Gen.1:28? I think not.  Yes, man is stilled charged with maintaining God’s creation, however with clouded glasses. Before the fall, man used the clear spectacles of divine origin, afterward, his vision tainted with sin, man often makes horrific decisions which in turn produce numerous other decisions to correct the ill fated ones.

2.    Did Cain know the hidden costs of murdering his brother Abel? He soon found out.

·         Stealing, burglary, robbery: creates a tsunami of emotional experiences; that of being violated, loss, fear, unusual wariness and caution, paranoia (in some cases) and many times involve other crimes such as murder, rape and so on.

·         Sexual sins of incest, adultery, fornication; same sex relations, beastality, rape: likewise causes the same and perhaps more devastating emotional trauma, humiliation, feelings of guilt, death and murder (in the case of David and Bathsheba), divorce, child support and alimony payments, legal and court fees. Sexual diseases of HIV, Aids, herpes, genital warts, child deformities and mental illnesses and so on are also the result of sinful activities of the sexual nature.

·         Lack of honoring parents: though Eph.6:2 states that honoring one’s parents carries the promise of a long life; and yet millions of those who dishonor their parents live long and productive lives. But the text does not state the negative costs of such behavior, it implies an early demise.  Negative consequences such as raising irresponsible and rebellious children, drunkards, dope heads, school dropouts, as well as early death. Not to mention the perpetual damage to one’s reputation. I can’t imagine leaving a legacy of a murderer, or adulterer, rapist, womanizer or bank robber or liar. It must be difficult for one’s offspring to bear; for one’s reputation not only follows a person, but it has the uncanny audacity to be awaiting you wherever you go; no matter what category of sin.

·         Sins against the Lord God [remember the first four of the ten commandments are against the Lord God, while the other six are against our fellow man] have the hidden costs of a severed relationship with Him, guilt, anger, resentment, disease, emotional tsunamis, moral decay, physical death, and eternal death or eternal separation from Him without even the slightest hope of reprieve.

·         A simple letter from father to son warning of disinheritance if he refuses to divorce his wife will not only affect the immediate persons involved, but also those decedents into whose hands the letter happens to land will also be affected in a very negative sense.

All sin, regardless of category, carries perpetual hidden costs along with the attached emotional tsunamis.

Just simply the emotional toll sin takes on those directly involved as well as those indirectly involved, is cause for alarm, for example: law enforcement, judges, juries, the media, neighbors, relatives and a host of others. No one is exempt from the hidden costs of sin.

So each sin carries with it a far greater cost than the surface presents; the hidden costs of sin. And the list of costs above by falls short by a long ways. I wonder if Adam and Eve would have had such a list of negative costs—would they still have disobeyed God? Probably so, not to mention the fact that such a list would no doubt take more volumes than the contents of the Library of Congress.

Hidden costs or not, Why do we sin?

James 1:12-15 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”           

One could easily exhaust themselves beyond measure seeking for the answer to the answer of why we sin. However, Scripture is very clear and simple on the subject. It all goes back to the Garden of Eden when the woman ate of the forbidden fruit. “The serpent came to her and said…” then she became interested, pondered and considered and then decided to eat of the forbidden fruit. She was first drawn aside on her own desires/lusts; next she was enticed/tempted [sure looked good, not at all nasty] last of all she ate. Then she died.

Every sin, by necessity and design, begins with a thought. Our bodies are not designed to function normally in any other fashion. We first have a thought to ponder, then to either accept or reject the thought, whether it is an evil or good thought. As brother James puts it—temptation [the variety of temptation to sin] does not come from God. It is totally against the very nature and persona of God to tempt man with evil. As with the woman, Eve, Satan is the tempter and the enticer. As you recall in a recent study it is his nature and vocation both to tempt and to entice. And he does it with the lure of a thought…having captured your attention he then moves to entice you…that is showing how “good and succulent” the activity would be. Notice in the garden how he enticed the woman by causing her to think and ponder how good it would be to have knowledge of good and evil…I’ll be like God!

Admit it or not or like it or not, we all have a “dark side”. It is the “dark side” of us that Satan approaches. It is the least fortified…the weakest link within us. In a court of law, defense attorneys often attempt to plead guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity. Which, in reality means, that one for the sake of simplicity, is not functioning with a sound and rational mind, thereby causing them to act irrationally; there is a malfunction of the mental faculties. Which most often require a mental evaluation by trained mental health experts to determine the state of their mental capacity.

But there is another side, of which is rarely heard of. Suppose a person is deemed to be of sane mind and therefore acted with “normal” rationale? What then? Given that we are all given the mental capacity to accept or reject certain thoughts wouldn’t it seem prudent that we simply have failed within ourselves to control that which we ponder? The term “ponder” is in reality considered to be “malice aforethought”, or “premeditated”. Therefore, when we act, as Eve did, she had time to “ponder”, then we are guilty not of insanity, but of not controlling ourselves in the thought process. In essence our thoughts are allowed to run wild, without constraint, to accomplish the evil temptation. That is precisely why God gave the gifts of the Spirit…of which one of those is temperance/self-control. The Spirit of God, dwelling within each of us, provides the temperance of self-control to reject to temptation and live in victory. Again, those without the indwelling Spirit are powerless against the temptations of Satan. Remember, Satan always attacks our dark side or weakest link.

2Corinthians 10:4-6 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [of the flesh], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”

            This passage explicitly states that when we submit our illicit thoughts to the obedience of Christ, then we can reject, through God, all those vain [worthless] imaginations and thoughts. We, as Christians, have the capacity to reject evil temptations and submit our minds to the authority of Christ. then and then only we will live in victory.

Contemporary Rebellion

Currently there are several on-going rebellions. The most recent I’ve read about is the worldwide Topless Feministic movement which is combined with the gay movement in some cases. Of course the gay movement itself has been around for at least 20 years and has progressed to demanding rights and benefits for those in same sex relationships or marriages. To be sure deep pocket monies from celebrities fund such rebellions as more and more of them “come out of the closet”. Mark my words: on the near horizon men will launch a total nudity campaign, to compare with the feminist movement; and then there will be a worldwide movement for total nudity of both sexes. I know it’s unpopular to predict such nastiness, but it is coming, sooner than you think.  While it is true that we are coming closer to the second coming of our Lord, it is also true that the last days are perilous times 1Tim.4:1-4; 2Tim.3:1-8; 2Pet.3:3-4.

As I pondered the rational of these protestors I realized that they are fulfilling Romans 1:16-32 in that, first of all, they are rebelling against the very God that created them, [they are taking a stand against “religion” not simply Christianity, for most all religions have a moral code by which they stand]; second they are like Eve who chose the illusion of knowledge of good and evil over obedience to God; and not as Moses who in Heb.11:24-27 who chose to obey God and suffer with his kinsmen than to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, thus sacrificing the riches of Egypt. Those who stage such protests demonstrate that they have forsaken their Creator God to give themselves over to the lusts/desires of their flesh.

            Many times the full cost of sin is not realized until sometime down the road, when the cause is irreversible. Most certainly, the ultimate cost of sin is eternal separation from a loving Creator God. But many are not willing to forsake their ungodly lifestyle to obey the God of heaven and earth. They want “to have their cake and eat it too”. As a result they create their own “religion” and god to placate themselves, thus “searing their consciences with a hot iron” 1Tim.4:2. Such attempts are necessary to quiet the conscience, which is a constant reminder of God.

So why are they rebelling against religion?

            In reality they are rebelling against religion, in general, because of the moral codes upheld by religion. The moral code is an affront to the desires and lusts of their flesh and pricks their conscience. Thus anything that challenges their conscience, challenges their choice of “freewill” to do as they please, not regarding God’s law. They are workers of iniquity [lawlessness]. Our conscience is our early warning system which sounds off whenever we are doing or about to do something wrong. That’s when we need to really decide whether or not the action we are considering is worth the effort.

            From a natural point of view, for one to be called a son of the daughter of a wealthy and prominent politician might seem to be the greatest thing since apple pie. However, Heb.11:23-27 Moses chose not to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter because he deemed it better to suffer with God’s children; because “he saw him who is invisible”. Moses saw opportunities from a divine viewpoint; that’s what we need to do.

Knowing God

A brief [not complete, add to the list] synopsis of the persona of God:

·         Love: abounds in His reaching out to mankind to restore and nurture

·         Gracious

·         Merciful

·         Righteous; He punishes evil doers as required by His character, but metes out love to those who are obedient

·         Longsuffering: even in our sinfulness He does not forsake us, but continues to call us back to Him

·         Gentle

·         Faithful

·         Compassionate

·         Forgiving

·         Friend

·         God’s anger

·         God’s jealousy

·         Restoration

       The ultimate goal of Bible study is to know God and not to merely memorize Bible trivia. As you study, identify the attributes of God. For instance: make a note when you read of God extending His forgiveness or compassion, and remember how He has done the same for you.