READING: Lamentations 1-2, Hebrews 10:1-18
“Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn.”
Lamentations 1:8
How I wish that we could see the repercussions of our sins before we commit them. I’ve known church leaders who have fallen into sin, but I’ve never met anyone who first analyzed the possible results of sin and chose to sin anyway. Instead, I’ve met folks who either did not think at all about the repercussions or minimized them when temptation became most attractive to them. “This isn’t so bad,” they thought. I’ve met no one who assumed the consequences of his sinful choices would be as heavy as they actually became.
I thought about this reality as I read Lamentations 1:1 today. Under God’s blessing, Jerusalem had been “crowded with people”—but now she sat alone under God’s judgment. Her people wept aloud, abandoned by all their allies (Lam. 1:2). She had been “great among the nations” (Lam. 1:1), but now she was exiled among them. She had once carried the nobility of a princess, but now she had become like a lonely and grieving widow. Her “many transgressions” (Lam. 1:5) had cost her more than she likely ever considered.
That’s what sin does – it cost us much. The healthiest homes struggle to survive under the influence of wrong. Faithful church leaders wander into ditches that cost them their ministry. Young people make decisions that haunt them the rest of their lives. Congregations that were once gospel-centered sometimes aim arrows at each other when egos take control. Nobody ever planned such repercussions, but that’s precisely the point: the subtle seduction of sin is that its destructive fire may spread slowly, but it eventually leaves a scorched land behind apart from our repentance.
ACTION STEPS:
- Be aware of the potential consequences of any sinful choices today.
- Confess and repent of any sin as soon as you recognize it today.
PRAYER: “Father, help me not to ignore the potential repercussions if I sin against You today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Lamentations 3-5, Hebrews 10:19-39