“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NKJV…………..
Once upon a time an old lady lived with her boyfriend. But wait, this is a true story! And it’s not just true for the old lady and her boyfriend. It’s true for many. When it comes to sin. Please read on!
The 80-something woman lived with her 90-something boyfriend. She professed to believe in Christ, but when I talked with her in some depth, it appeared she did not understand the Gospel message nor had she apparently devoted her life to Christ from what I could tell anyway. So I explained the Gospel to her, talked to her about the life of a Christ follower, and what it really means to believe in Him as Lord and to forever follow Him. At some point in the conversation, I shared with her that the Lord does not want a man and woman in a relationship with each other living together outside marriage. Sadly, at the time anyway, she didn’t seem interested in committing her life to Christ as Lord, nor did she seem to think anything was wrong with having lived with her boyfriend. When I shared this story with a loved one who also had not given her life to Christ, my loved one essentially in her own words said, “why don’t you just leave the woman alone?” Why did my loved one say that? My loved one figured the woman was an old lady, and with probably not too many years left on this earth, why should the woman be bothered with whether or not she was living with her boyfriend? In other words, what did her sin matter given her age?
If you don’t see the tragedy in this, please let me explain. Sin is sin is sin. No matter our age. No matter the circumstances of our lives. No matter what. We can try to justify and excuse our sin any way we want, but it still all boils down to sin. And sin has consequences. The pleasures of sin are temporary; the consequences of sin are eternal. The end result of sin is the curse of death, hell, and the lake of fire forever apart from God. The only way to a forever relationship with God is to repent of our sins, believe Christ is the Son of God and Lord and died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead, truly placing our faith in Him as Lord and living our lives accordingly. This is called being born again. Our slates are wiped clean, our sin is washed away, we are forgiven and given eternal life.
Will we never sin again on this earth? We will sin, but a true Christ follower learns to live free from sin. Learns to turn away from it. Learns to repent when he or she falls again. Learns to practice a lifestyle of righteousness and obedience. Learns to not make sin a way of life. Learns to follow Jesus as a way of life. Learns to live a life pleasing and honoring to God. As a Christ follower, he or she is promised everlasting life, but his or her relationship with God can be deeply impaired, harmed, hurt, when he or she is not vigilant about living according to God’s ways rather than staying stuck in sin. And the Lord has rewards for His followers when we will live with Him in eternity. Those who do in fact believe in Him and follow Him but still cling to certain sins will pay the price of not having some of the rewards from Christ they could have had.
My loved one who figured an old lady might as well just enjoy living with her boyfriend in sin given her age was dead wrong. Earthly pleasures will one day be gone. Nothing compares with the splendor and beauty of being in Christ’s fellowship – both here and forever!
If you are holding on for dear life to what you are clear the Lord has told you to let go, let go, friend! Let go! Repent and turn to God with your faith in Christ as Lord and Savior who will not only forgive you if you are truly sorry for your sin, but who will give you the strength to learn to walk free from it!