Do you know one thing about the word “sin”?
It is pleasurable yet “sufferable”. That is to say, it can be fun for a sinner but has a very expensive price tag. No matter how wealthy and powerful you are, you cannot pay the bills it lays out after you have drunken from its bottle.
The Tale Of A Young Man
He probably should have been between his 20’s as he appeared very young but also cute. He was always well dressed. He loved to eat out and would do anything to eat out every other day.
Today, like as always, he went to the popular joint two streets away from his residence to eat and enjoy the laughter from other customers. He got drunk, with everything that happened before him and talked much – gave out too much information.
Eventually, it was time to close the joint. He rose to go home but on his way because he was blinded by alcohol. He saw it; it was coming straight on but he couldn’t just drag himself away and that was it! He was on the ground and was as cold as ice.
Indeed, the wages of sin is death – spiritual and even physical.
His Wisdom and Wealth were not Enough
Solomon according to the Hebrews bible is the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
He was a man of great wisdom, wealth and power but he was so foolish.
He was a prolific writer who composed 1005 songs and 3000 proverbs. Despite all this feat, sin dragged him into debt too costly to pay.
King Solomon was obsessed with women. Pharaoh’s daughter was only the first of the many foreign women he loved–Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite.
In 1 Kings11:2, we read how Solomon took them from the surrounding pagan nations and fell in love with them anyway, refusing to give them up.
Verse 3 tells us he had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines – a thousand women in all! And they seduced him away from God.
The Downward Path in Sin
It is impossible to be a follower of God and not keep to his bidding expecting to keep standing. When a man goes his own way, he gets entangled.
It was impossible for Solomon’s heart to have stayed with his God. Since his heart got drawn to strange women.
He was driven by “ego” and “hormones”. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father (1 Kings 11: 6).
The Impact Of Sin
Sin is like wildfire. It consumes everything it finds seated gallantly on its path. It doesn’t run from you. Sin may look cheap, but it’s secretly expensive than you did what to pay for.
1Kgs.11.7 – He went on to build a sacred shrine to Chemosh, the horrible god of Moab, and to Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites, on a hill just east of Jerusalem.
1Kgs.11.8 – He built similar shrines for all his foreign wives, who then polluted the countryside with the smoke and stench of their sacrifices.
You cannot forget instructions and expect to still walk on the right path. He forgot everything, and that is exactly one of the prices of sin. Sin makes you lose focus of time and makes you forgetful.
Solomon joined in the worship of the strange God’s in order to please his wives… and displease God. After all, God should understand. Isn’t that what we do when we want to satisfy “us” against His desire?
Did the price for sin end with Solomon?
No. His son Rehoboam lost 11 tribes and got just 1 tribe to rule over. If he knew this would happen, he would have thought it through before he allowed his selfish ambitions to get a rule over him.
For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23). Sin separates man from God. It brings not just physical death, but a spiritual death of anything around us.
Sin is a fire extinguisher. In the blink of an eye, it burns down everything man has gained.
Many have been swept down. They paid heavily for the sin they committed. It’s still happening.
Samson lost his eyes, his life untimely because of sin.
Amnon lost his life to sin.
Shechem and his men lost their lives because of sin. These gave all the married women in Shechem the “widow” title, and the single ladies were left in hunger for companionship.
What are you contemplating doing which you know too well that it will destroy you? Stop right now and count the cost.
I was burning hot and my hormones began to speak some language I didn’t want to understand. It spoke so loud but not louder than my merciful Saviour’s voice.
On that fateful day, I had just tilted my head towards his. And as our lips met, I said no I shouldn’t do this, and I did – would I say a little. The world won’t call it a kiss… because our saliva didn’t even touch. But it was.
I had strayed in my walk and the Lord spoke to me that early morning of my sinful departure.
As I had cried and prayed for mercy, but he said, I will make you dumb. The last I remembered I said out loud, was mercy Lord – within a twinkle, I became dumb between 7:00am till 9:00pm of the same day.
It was a harrowing experience not been able to talk.
I didn’t do what people would have said the actual act of going all the way. But I sure got more than what I bargained for.
Is it the pity look on the faces of colleagues, friends and family or the children whom I couldn’t tell the story of my downward journey?
Sin may be pleasurable, but it will cost you more than you wanted to pay.
Dear Christian, don’t go near it nor anything that looks like it. Corrupt communications, lying, fraud, gossip, immorality, etc.
You can engage in secret sins…
…but remember you would pay more than you want to pay.
