Years ago I taught in-home parenting classes for families needing help. Often, these families were on the brink of major disruption and things were in shambles. Further complicating things, the kids’ behavior was often problematic, and the parents were ill-equipped to properly run their homes.
I had various tools I would use for families, depending on the specific situation. There was one video I used for parents of older kids. The teacher in the video talked about how too often, parents attempted to stand between their kids and consequences. Instead, they should stand beside them and face the consequences together. He would use the example of any kid getting in trouble with school officials or police to explain how this drew the parent & child closer, while also teaching the latter about natural consequences of their actions.
It is easy for us to see bad things happen in our lives and think it is God punishing us for our sins. However, that is not what the Bible teaches about sin and consequences. Frankly, that is an immature thinking of sin & effect. And until you can grow toward a more biblically informed understanding, you will have a hard time maturing as a Christian in the way God intends. Instead, God comes along side us and helps us face our consequences with Him by our side.
The problem is that we tend to see how God interacts with people in the Old Testament and assume that’s exactly how He interacts with us.
WE MUST REMEMBER, JESUS CHANGED EVERYTHING! His sacrifice carried the weight of all our sin for all time . . . past, present, and future. The consequence for our sin is death, and when we place faith in Jesus, we avoid that consequence.
HOWEVER . . .
When we sin, there are real world consequences. If I had done what David did, Jesus might have taken the consequence for my sin away, but the real world will arrest me and throw me in prison.
Do not mistake the real-world consequences of your use of pornography, or habits with sexualized material, for God’s punishment.
Can I be more direct and give an example that may or may not apply to you?
Do not mistake a lack of true intimacy in the bedroom with your wife for God’s punishment. Perhaps that is the real-world consequence for your trading intimacy with yourself for intimacy with her.
And your sin clouds the communication you have from God, so you miss hearing His direction on your life and tend to wander.
And this leads to another issue . . . the enemy convincing us that porn is a victimless crime. But that’s a different day’s devotional.
Thoughts to Pray/Journal:
- What do you need to do to help clean-up the real-world consequences of your sin?
- Do you fall into thinking that these consequences are instead God’s punishment? What does that look like in your life?
Reading: