Condemned By Darkness

“The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.” 1 Timothy 5:24

Three pastors went to the pastor convention and were all sharing one room. The first pastor said, “Let’s confess our secret sins to one another. I’ll start. My secret is I just love to gamble. When I go out of town, it’s cha-ching cha-ching, let the machines ring!” The second pastor said, “My secret sin is that I just hate working. I copy all my sermons from those given by other pastors.” The third pastor said, “My secret sin is gossiping and, oh boy, I just can’t wait to get out of this room!”

There is no such thing as secret sin. When someone does something wrong and is not immediately punished, it is natural to think that somehow they have gotten away with it. Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “When a crime is not punished, people feel it is safe to do wrong.” In other words, when punishment for a sin does not come immediately, a person may think, “Well, I got away with it this time, maybe I can get away with it another time.” They may begin to feel safe in their sinning.

The problem is that just because you get away with sin now doesn’t mean you are going to get away with sin later. Pay me now, pay me later, but ultimately everyone who enters the dark side will pay up. Your sin may never be revealed to your spouse, friends, parents, police, or a judge; but one day, to God, the dark side will be revealed. You cannot get away with sin. Be sure your sin will find you out.

But there is Good News. You can go to a cross where a Savior died for your sin. Let Him cross out what He has already seen, and be forever forgiven of all of your sin. Then you can move from darkness into the light of life for eternity.

Dear Lord, thank you for paying the ultimate price on the cross so that I might have an eternal relationship with you. Please help me to accept your unconditional love and forgiveness, and help me to live in the freedom that comes from that love and forgiveness. Amen.