We all know what sin is. Sometimes we like to dress sin up as a good deed.  Sin is always costly.  Sin will cost us money, time, friends, position, respect, and promotions.  Death is always included in the price of sin.

Genesis 2:15-17 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Adam’s death was not immediate and our death often won’t be either.

Genesis 5:5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

We can experience an immediate death, the death may be physical, mental, spiritual or relational.   We can break not only an arm but the trust of someone we care about.  They may forgive us but they will never trust us again like they had.  God is not that way.  God does not trust us.  God knows us.

God knows us entirely.   Sometimes we feel we can hide our actions from God.  At least we feel our actions are hidden when we don’t talk to God about them, but He knows.  We cannot disappoint God.  God knew before we were born what we would be doing on a certain day of our life.  God knows everything.  It is surprising to ponder the fact that knowing all that He does, God still loves us.  He still loves us enough for His son to die on the cross for our sins.

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

We may be deceived to think God is disappointed in us. This may come from the fact God disciplines us.  God gives us choices and the truth is choices have consequences.  The consequence of doing a good job can be promotion.  The consequence of doing a poor job can be loss of that job.

With God we have consequences.  The consequence of sin may be not only loss, but also discipline.  We want something, then we choose to sin to achieve it, and then we lose it.  We may sin to achieve something and as a matter of discipline God may ask us to give it up.  A child knows the consequence of their actions.  If they get caught stealing they will lose the item, and also may get punished.

With God we don’t have to worry about if we will get caught, God knows our actions before we do them, but we live in a fallen world, and so at times we will choose the wrong action.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

When we make our decisions based on our understanding we are not trusting God.  We can see the picture in our imagination about how things should be.   What we want and what we think we need.  God sees reality and also the domino effect. God knows what makes us tick, He is the one who put the heart in us.  God knows the thing we seek will not make our path straight because we are basing our decision on a fallen world.

When we begin to recognize sin as wrong we begin to listen for God’s voice more to direct us and then when God says “Don’t”, we will trust God with our whole heart and let Him direct our actions.

Written and posted by Joyce E Poggensee

Verses referenced: Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 5:5, John 3:16-18, Proverbs 3:5-6