The aftermath of sin

More truth has been revealed about the evangelist in the news. I want us to look at how our lives parallel this. It is so easy to stand in judgement, call him a hypocrite and tell ourselves "yup, they're all a bunch of hypocrites. But let's ask God to reveal his heart to us about the whole thing, shall we? This sin had this man imprisoned (ask any addict trying to break free and they will tell you). No matter what he tried he couldn't seem to find the way out. In my last post we looked at King David. Here was a guy who since he was little did what pleased God. Remember the story of David and Goliath? This is the same David all grown up. So how does one start out on the right track and than end up on the wrong side. It starts out slowly. David got lazy and stayed home when he should have been at work. One day after his afternoon nap, he took a walk on the rooftop and glanced at a hot woman taking a bath. Instead of turning away from that first look, he allowed lust to enter his mind. Instead of being out on the battlefield with his men, he had now entered the battlefield of his mind. Any guy reading this knows what I am talking about. You are wired so that you can't help but notice that beautiful woman when she walks into the room. Or if you are checking your emails you can't help but notice that hot chick in the top corner of the screen while signing into hotmail. It takes discipline to not act on that first tempation. It's much easier to deal with a temptation in the start than after it takes on a life of it's own. Anyway, back to David on the roof, he gets one of his messengers to bring this Bathsheba fox to him and has sex. With what seems to be typical with a one night stand, she gets pregnant. So now this man of God has gotten himself in a real pickle. So out of pride (which is totally not the character of God but sure is of the evil one) he comes up with this plan to have her husband sleep with her so it looks like it's his baby. But this scheme blows up in David's face. He gets the guy back from the battlefield but the guy is so faithful to David he sleeps outside the palace entrance. David even tries to wine and dine the guy to no avail. So now he resorts to having the poor guy set up to be on the front lines where the battle is fiercest, where he is killed. (making David now a murderer) This true account of David makes todays' news sound tame, doesn't it? Word comes back about his buddy and David appears insensitive. David had become callous to his own sin. The only way he could cover up his first sin (adultery) was to sin again, and soon he no longer felt guilty for what he had done. Feelings are not reliable guides for determining right and wrong. Deliberate, repeated sinning had dulled David's sensitivity to God's laws and others' rights. Don't you find, the more you try to cover up a sin, the more insensitive you become toward it and it just becomes this vicious cycle of lies to cover up the whole mess. Don't become hardened to sin as David (and the evangelist today) did. God in his amazing love for each one of us, doesn't leave us in our imprisonment. It's out of his love for us that he arranges for our secret lives to be brought out of hiding and into the light of forgiveness and the place where we can receive help. With that comes a sense of relief because now we don't have to live with the guilt of knowing we are a phony. David's heart had become so hardened that God had to use the prophet Nathan to open his understanding of the severity of the sins. Nathan told David a story about two men. One was rich and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one lamb he had bought. It was his favourite pet. The rich dude had a friend come over for a meal. Instead of killing one of his own animals he put the poor man's pet on the barbie. David was furious. "As surely as the Lord lives," he vowed, "any man who would do such a thing deserves to die!" Nathan turns to David and says, "You are that man!" David finally gets it and feels the pain God felt about the whole thing. We need to get to the place where we see the heartache our sin causes God and others. As long as it stays secret it will eat us up but when it comes to the light, that is where God can begin the healing process. I really believe that the evangelist will finally come to the place where true healing can begin now. Yes, there was serious consequences to David's sin. Murder was a constant threat in his family, his household rebelled against him, his wives were given to another in public view, his first child by Bathsheba died. When God forgives us and restores our relationship with him, he doesn't eliminate all the consequences of our wrongdoing. We may be tempted to say, "If this is wrong, I can always apologize to God," but we must remember that we may set into motion events with irreversible consequences. Like David, the evangelist lost alot and in the process hurt alot of people. But I believe the freedom this man will now come into and the personal revelation of really experiencing God's love will be worth it all. God does not want us to be slaves to our sins cuz than Jesus' death would have no meaning. Jesus died for all our past, present and future sins. So, don't let pride hinder you from being set free!