Why avoiding sin's consequences isn't the point.

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A family member said to me that he never wanted to find himself in the situation David got into with Bathsheba.  My relative would do all he could to avoid the consequences of sin, rather than risk falling into temptation and it's aftermath.  As we talked, I sensed this was how he lived his life:  "Avoid sin and the judgement that follows." Stay clear of sin's allure because you don't want to pay the piper. 

While there is the command to flee from sin, and to be self-controlled [Which is to say, be "Spirit-led"], I think there's a better alternative to the "stay out of trouble, avoiding the consequences" model: 

God's unhindered affection is a much better reason not to sin than the fear of consequences or judgement is.

• It's better to avoid sin because you're well-loved and have the real thing, not needing sin's false promise. 


• It's better to be obsessed with how well regarded you are by our Father, than to become preoccupied with consequences and outcomes. 

Love covers a multitude of sins.

• It's better to indulge the striking goodness of your new and noble heart; than to allow fear to overshadow your God-hearted nature.

Delight is stronger than judgement:  Affection reassures where fear accuses.

The Ghost Bear

In the movie, The Bear, a small orphaned grizzly cub finds itself lost in the Alaskan wilderness.  While scraping the ground for food, he looks up and sees an adult cougar fixed on him.  The cougar had obviously been stalking him and was sighting him in for the kill -- at only 10 yards away.

The orphaned cub does what it can do, and instinctively stands up on its hind legs to look at big as possible.  In a matter of seconds, the cougar looks startled and bounds off in the opposite direction, frightened by what it's seen. 

What the little cub did not know as it pushed itself up onto its hind legs was that a large male grizzly was standing behind the cub, towering over him; reared up on his massive hindlegs, neck hairs grizzled and bristling.  A protector had moved in behind the cub, with ghost-like stealth.  The cub didn't know what kind of force stood behind him.

But that's what the cougar saw.

I often wonder what sort of horrors I've been protected from, unbeknownst to me.  Though it often seems as if we're the abandoned and orphaned cub, it's far more likely that the Ghost Bear has come behind us more than we know.

Futility is a man's deepest fear.

Image-courtesy Kansas' "Leftoverture" album coverFutility plagues a man’s life more than anything else:

“My life is of little consequence.  My best efforts are in vain.  I will be an obscure footnote in History's appendix.  I long for significance, but suspect my efforts are a pebble's drop into a dark, hollow well.   My life will be a long testimony to failure.”

It is the lament of the writer of Ecclesiastes:

"Meaningless!  Meaningless!" says the Teacher...There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow."  - Eccl. 1:1, 11

We’ve come to expect that breakthrough comes soon and comes at a younger age.  We’ve looked to the exceptions to give us our timeline:  Citizen Kane, Orson Well’s masterpiece was written at age twenty-five.  Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 was composed when he was twenty-one.  Many of Picasso’s most celebrated paintings were done in his twenties.  [What the Dog Saw, Malcom Gladwell]

However, as David Galenson, who has studied our assumptions about creativity points out, there are many other cases in which genius peaked much later:  Robert Frost wrote 42 percent of his anthologized poems after turning fifty.  Alfred Hitchcock directed his films, “Rear Window,” “Psycho” and “Virtigo” between the ages of fifty-four and sixty-one.  Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was published when he was forty-nine, and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe at fifty-eight.  The master painter, Cezanne’s, finest work was done in his senior years.  [What the Dog Saw, Malcom Gladwell]

Malcom Gladwell calls those who peak later in life, “late bloomers.” [What the Dog Saw] For me, it offers an antidote to a man’s fear that his life won't amount to much:  breakthrough is a slow bang.  It is a long fuse that culminates in vivid splendor only after it has burned that slow, steady, coil upon tedious coil of fuse. 

But note:  the fuse still gives off spark and light at each moment leading up to the bang.

Not likely to sin.

There are some better ways to view temptation:

1.  Sin is not a foregone conclusion.  It's a lie that you're likely to give in.  You've been taught to see yourself, your heart, as weak and prone to wander.  It's no longer true.  You don't merely have the forgiveness of Jesus -- you have the noble heart of Jesus as well.

2.  The object of your sin [a woman, a guarantee of financial security, a drink] isn't what you really want.  The temptation is a false and shallow substitute for the real thing.  Underneath the tempation is a deeper [and good] desire for life and loving connection. 

So how can you walk with God and others --  to trust him for the life your heart most deeply wants and needs;  fulfilled in healthy, life-giving ways?

Feel free to post a comment below.

"Give us this day our 401K"

My family and I are learning a hard lesson.  We've moved 1,000 miles to a new town, with no job.  It's the way God asked us to do it.  But we still have money flowing out, a shrinking savings, and no sustainable income.  The pressure to give into discouragement and fear is mounting. 

Here's the lesson:  "Give us this day our daily bread."  The manna in the wilderness was for that day. 

Our culture has programmed us into thinking predominantly long-term:  make sure your insurance policies will cover your needs 40 years from now.  Get that extra coverage on the new washer and dryer, just in case.  Make sure you have a job, any job, because that's the only way that God can provide for you.  (Oops, did I just say that?)  Forget the desires of your heart, your calling, because we're in a tough economy right now and you need to think more pragmatically.

Now, it is critical that we first ask God if he wants us to live without any of the "securities" I just mentioned.  Seek his counsel first.  But you get the point:  we have not been programmed to think of the daily-ness of God's provision. 

"Give us this day our daily sustenance."

So my wife and I keep asking, "Are we alright today?"  ...and the answer is, 'yes.'  Today, we have what we need. 

"Fear is so...not helpful." New forum topic

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