Scars

While trying to cut the top off of a pop bottle, my 9 year-old nephew recently cut one of his fingers nearly to the bone with a utility knife. He had been repeatedly told to put the knife away and to leave it alone. Ignoring the instructions of his father, he reaped the consequence of disobedience. He will most likely carry a scar on his finger as a result of his willful and deliberate act of rebellion.

A couple of weeks ago my 4 year-old son suffered second-degree burns to the back of his legs and to three fingers on one of his hands after falling into a campfire. Fortunately, and by the grace of God, the actual fire had burned down and only hot coals remained. Otherwise, he would have suffered more serious and more numerous burns.

My son's mishap was not the result of rebellion or disobedience, but was simply an accident. He had his shoes on the wrong feet and got tripped up and backed into the fire ring and landed in the hot coals. He, too, will most likely carry the scars of this event for the remainder of his earthly life.

Reflecting on these two incidents, I was reminded how sin will leave scars in a person's life. It does not matter if the sin was a willful, intentional, and deliberate rebellion against God just like the behavior of my nephew. It also does not matter if the devil causes us to stumble and we commit an act of sin out of ignorance or in a moment of weakness. Sin leaves scars no matter the reason we sinned in the first place. We must keep in mind that our adversary the devil "walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Satan is not out to play cat-and-mouse games with us. He is compared to a "roaring lion" who is out to devour and destroy us. Anyone who thinks they can play around with sin and not pay the price is only fooling themselves. Yes, the pleasures of sin are for a season, but the consequences will last a lifetime. It only takes one "mistake" of sin to destroy a person's future. Even though we have been promised that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," does not mean that we are free from the physical consequences of sin. Webster defines a 'consequence' as "a condition or occurrence traceable to a cause."

Hopefully, my nephew will learn not to play with knives and to obey the instruction of his parents. Likewise, I hope my son will realize the dangers of fire and will be more cautious when he is near one. If not, then the scars these two young boys bear will be all for nought. They will have endured tremendous pain simply for the sake of suffering. Likewise, if we suffer from the effects of our sin and we do not take heed and learn from our mistakes we are the Bible's description of a fool. "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."