Sin Is Often Fun

 

Hebrews 11:24-25 (AMP)

24 [Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and [a]become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

25 Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.

I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out the window, which gives a clear view into my backyard; engrossed in the beauty of the white snow- that blanketed the ground covering all the ugly, dead grass. It is amazing how freshly fallen snow, makes everything look perfectly clean! I love the view from this window, and it always makes doing dishes feel more delightful!  There are often scenes of tiny squirrels scampering up the big maple trees out back. Also from time to time you may sight a deer or two meandering across the yard -in -route to the nearby forest. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and bright sunshine peeking through my light blue curtains .The warmth of the sun felt good on my face, as I pondered the beauty of God’s creation. These moments never seem to last long enough! The squalling sound that filled the kitchen brought me back to reality. It was my 5 year old son skating across the floor on top of his tiny, toy police car. I was horrified, as I caught pictures in my mind of him losing his balance and falling backward injuring his head or possibly breaking a limb. I quickly intervened and demanded that he discontinue the misuse of that toy or it would be taken away. He stopped and looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face, “Mom I don’t want too!” he said.  “I like doing this, it is fun!” He continued. I proceeded to explain to him my concerns; however for some reason it didn’t seem to faze him. He continued to argue, “I have not fallen or gotten hurt doing it before.” How could he not see the danger in what he was doing! Was having fun so appealing that it blinded him from all the possible things that could go wrong! I finally took the toy away and ended the discussion.

It was not until a week later, while I was preparing to go out and do some errands; that this scene came back into my mind. I then heard a gentle voice inside of me say, “Don’t teach your kids that sin is not fun”. I was perplexed by this statement. “Huh…!” was the response in my mind. Then the statement was repeated. I stopped what I was doing, and began to purposefully listen, as I sensed that a lesson was about to be taught by the sweet Holy Spirit. He said, “So often you desperately want to steer your children away from sin, that you try your best to convince them how miserable the act of sin is. However, most sinful acts are fun, it is the consequences that brings the pain, discomfort, and in some cases even physical death.”  I really began to digest what was being said to me.

Then I recalled the creation story in the book of Genesis 3:6 (NIV)6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. In this scripture it clearly shows that the fruit on the tree was appealing to the eyes; it was a beautiful tree. It states that it’s fruit was good for food.  To top it off, eating from this tree would cause you to gain wisdom. Why wouldn’t you want to eat from it! I am almost certain the fruit tasted delicious, they were not puckering, gagging and spitting it out. So the actual act of disobeying by eating the fruit was not miserable, it was quite enjoyable. It was the consequence that came later, that brought misery and sorrow.

Most times while we are sinning it is so gratifying that we allow our pleasure to blind us from the truth of God’s word. We do not permit ourselves to look past our immediate satisfaction, and realize that our actions eventually will be rewarded with not so good results. More often the ill consequences are not immediate. Like my son skating around on his toy car; he was so entrenched in the fun that he was experiencing in that moment, that he refused to believe that anything bad could possibly happen to him. In that very span of time, all that mattered was his self-gratification and happiness. As his parent, I recognized his inability to discern his situation and make a wise choice to keep himself safe. This is why I intervened; however he decided to put aside his trust in me, in return for pleasure and wanted to continue on the path of danger- refusing to heed my warning. How often do we do this concerning the cautions that we find in God’s word?

 Let us not try so hard to convince our children of the misery of sin. However, let us teach them that God has set rules in place for our benefit. It is because God is love and all knowing, that we can trust him- even when we don’t understand why he is asking us to refrain from actions that bring us pleasure. In spite of the enjoyment we may be experiencing during our disobedience that satisfaction is temporary and will come to an end, and the consequences will not be worth the enjoyment of the sin.