Friday, August 28, 2015

He's Pulled The Curtain Back


The curtain has been pulled back and the insidious and ugly nature of sin has been exposed. In the last few weeks, we have seen the unraveling of many people's lives, families, and careers. Josh Duggar was exposed for being a client on Ashley Madison. This public figure and representative for Christian family values was exposed as a fraud. There have been pastors, seminary professors, and presidents of Christian colleges exposed for affairs. 

In addition to giving a black eye to the church and staining the name of Jesus, it devastates lives. Families have been ruined. Years of labor have been tainted with scandal that it can never be disassociated with.

But in the midst of all of this, I believe something else is happening. God is giving us a gift. This may sound bizarre upon first glance, given the above devastation noted, but it is true. God has given believers a gift. 

What is that gift? Clarity

If there were any pockets of uncertainty, any shred of doubt about the heinous evil of sin, that has been blown up in the face of these sexual scandals. In the event that you had any fantasies swirling around in your mind about the excitement, freedom, enjoyment, and allure of an extra-marital affair, it should be lying in worse ruins than Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. 

We have crystal clear clarity about the darkness and devastation of sin. We see the secret sex stripped of all illusions of grandeur when we see a son confronting his father's adultery saying, "It's over dad." There's nothing to fantasize about with that, is there? There's nothing exciting about imagining Josh Duggar having to face his wife, his children, or his family, is there? The allure of sex outside your marriage, and all that comes with it, may look so appealing and so amazing, until you see the lifetime of devastation it leaves for the two minutes of physical enjoyment it gives.

Oh friends, God has graciously pulled the curtain back on the evil of sin. He has shown us sin's true colors. We should heed the warning. We should thank God for the clarity. The capacity to do evil lurks within us all. We are all five minutes away from a moral disaster in our own lives. 

Follow the words of the Hebrews writer in Hebrews 3:12-14

"12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."

Take care, Christians. You have evil and unbelief that lurks in your heart that threatens to pull you away from the Living God. So surrender daily to Jesus. Find believers to surround you who can get in your business and exhort you. The deceitfulness of sin is real. But it is a liar. God has given us the gift of clarity. Receive it.