Consequences

Today’s devotional makes me think about consequences, cause and effect, and the spiritual laws that God has created. As the Bible says, we reap what we sow.

But how does that work? I know people who do whatever they please and never seem to face consequences. Morally, their lives mock God but He has not struck them with lightning. The best biblical responses are that God is being merciful, or that they are piling up wrath. People can fill their shopping cart with whatever junk they find, but someday they will go through the check-out. Consequences will happen later.

The psalms have several sections about this. Most of them say something like this:

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” (Psalm 37:1–2)

The idea is that those who do evil without repentance will eventually pay the price. The NT calls this the law of sin and death.

For Christians, Jesus eliminated that eternal consequence. That is, for every sin I commit Jesus suffered the price at the check-out. He wrote “It is finished” on the debt I owe by taking my place and paying it.

But what about the consequences in this life? If I robbed a bank, does the death and resurrection of my Savior keep me out of jail? Hardly. If I cheat and lie, will I prosper? Not so. The Scriptures are clear; God rebukes and corrects His children when we violate His will:

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:6–11)

Consequences, and the quicker the better, are one of God’s ways to bring my life into obedience. Like any child, if I’m allowed to get away with my rebellion, then what? These verses suggest that without discipline I cannot claim to be in God’s family. Getting away with sin is the mark of those who do not believe or belong to Him!

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:4–5)

No immediate consequence for sin is merciful in that God can use this to lead sinful people to Him, but anyone who keeps at their ungodly behavior is not thinking about eternal consequences. They are taking mercy for granted, and that is dangerous.

Tozer uses this verse: “Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.” (Proverbs 13:15) The Holy Spirit tells me that I need to work with the spiritual laws of God. I cannot change them by presumption. If I want His favor in my life, then I cannot mess around. Knowing Christ died for my sin is not going to avoid repercussions in this life. If I presume so, I will suffer losses of some kind, losses that rob me of the full joy of my salvation. Would I want this to be any other way? I don’t think so. I want God to be serious about sin.

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Lord Jesus, I hate this awareness of ‘gloom and doom’ but need to think about it lest I step off the path of righteousness into unprofitable paths. In You, I am free from the law of sin and death, but not free from the effects of deliberate sin. Thank You for grace and mercy. Thank You also for being serious about my sin.