Sin lies.
It offers you connection, acceptance, and fulfillment.
It offers pleasure, prestige, and strength.
It offers you to “be all that,” and a bag of chips, too.
It offers a better life.
But what it really gives you is an illusion.
And when the pressures of life weigh in on you—and they will—you may be surprised to find how hollow the space is that sin offered to fill, but could not.
The void sin leaves toggles between:
· a restless grasping… and a vapor of discontentment
· addiction… and shame
· anxiety… and anger
· desperation… and hopelessness
Yes, sin will offer you the ends of the earth, but all it will give you is the pit of hell.
Before you get sucked into sin’s lure—in whatever form it offers you, do your due diligence.
Just like if you were buying a vehicle, you would look at what you’d get, versus what it would cost you. What price would you pay for it? What would the benefits be?
You’d look under the surface. You’d look at the engine, and the overall function of the vehicle. You’d look at the miles per gallon, the price of repair costs, and perhaps its crash record.
Hopefully you wouldn’t just look at the shiny paint and hope that it was a good car.
With the temptation of sin, it’s even more important to look under the surface.
If you do “this thing” that offers you the goods, what will you really get?
Don’t just look at the superficial shiny clothes, model home, party, or beautiful body...
Look at what you’d really get if you bought in without doing your research.
Buyer’s remorse. Anytime you buy in, you will regret it the next morning.
At some point sin always leads to buyers remorse.
Sin lies. Sin offers you the world, but the illusion is:
It leaves you empty, but longing for more.
What’s the answer when we’re offered something that promises us the goods?
Look and see what’s behind the surface.
Look and see what’s in the inner life of someone who’s been there… and done that. Do you see sustaining peace and joy in the still places of their life?
Look and see.
What is the result of partaking?
What does God say about it?
What does He offer?
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
…those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
…The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
sections from Psalm 34: 8-14, 17