September 29
“’MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOME THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.’ It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons…He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:5-8, 10-11)
So here we have our 17 consequences for sin, summarized below. The list could go on, but I think you are getting the point. The consequences for sin are many indeed. Any and even many of these simultaneously will happen to us if we sin and stubbornly continue in our sin, especially sins of immorality, pornography, and lust.
- Disassociation and shunning by other Christians; castigation, stigmatization
- Sickness and death
- Removal of God’s protection around you and your loved ones; opening yourself and your family up to the attack of the evil one. Vulnerability.
- Power, zeal, strength, energy, confidence drained away.
- Discouragement, anxiety, loss of joy, faith, and peace, your fears coming upon you.
- Emptiness, loneliness, distance from the Lord, distance from others, isolation.
- Slave of sin, loss of freedom in Christ, tormented by evil thoughts, addictions and corruptions of the flesh taking hold of you and controlling you.
- Less able to control yourself and less ability to overcome sin in general; other sins sprouting up and multiplying.
- Shame, regret, remorse, guilt, disappointment, hopelessness, despair, having to start over again.
- Loss of vision, creativity, wisdom, insights, and mental abilities.
- Loss of testimony, credibility, viewed by others as less, permanent stigmatism.
- You may make others stumble, God forbid you would make a child stumble or want to imitate your bad example!
- Relationships strained or broken, trust lost, friendships lost or at least tainted; marriages damaged or broken, intimacy lost.
- Material losses, accidents happening, things breaking, problems springing up.
- Waste of time, foolishness, empty pursuit, unprofitable, disappointing, a “let down,” false advertising, bait and switch, deception
- Fruitlessness, usefulness lost, lost opportunity to bear fruit for the Kingdom, loss of eternal rewards and rewards on this earth.
- Loss of God’s fellowship, grieving the Spirit, displeasing the Lord, giving God’s enemies an opportunity to reproach Him.
Are you putting to death the deeds of the flesh, or are you feeding the evil desires of the flesh? Are you being led by the Spirit of God, or are you being led by demons? The choice is obvious. Will you choose life or death, God’s discipline or God’s pleasure?