MARRIED TO IT

MARRIED TO IT:

Evildoers are snared by their own sin, but the righteous shout for joy and are glad. -Pr 29:6

Some years ago I read an article in Sports Illustrated. From behind prison bars Tyrann's father told him “One misstep can cause years of regret, grief and sorrow.”

Tyrann Mathieu, aka the "Honey Badger," was a standout college football player at LSU and played in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals.

Tyrann’s father, Darrin Hayes, has been incarcerated the majority of his life. Darrin’s advice and legacy for his son Tyrann: “One misstep can cause years of regret, grief and sorrow.”

While studying at Dallas Theological Seminary I heard Howard Hendricks put it a little differently: “Moral failure is a slow leak – not a blowout.”

In reality it’s not about “one misstep,” but about lost, hurting, broken, idolatrous people perpetually flirting with sin.

People flirting with sin soon find themselves courting it.

People courting sin soon find themselves sleeping with it.

People sleeping with sin soon find themselves married to it.

People married to sin are frequently shocked that “one misstep” could have caused such an epic eruption of disaster in their lives.

It didn’t. It doesn't.

Darrin Hayes didn’t simply wake up one morning only to find that one slight misstep from his otherwise ethical, benevolent, righteous, humble life had instantly led to regret, grief, and sorrow.

The same holds true for us.

The sin that has become an integral part of our secret life in the shadows didn't happen overnight. It started with one image on our device, with one drink, with one flirtatious comment, with one white lie, with one creative accounting maneuver, with one _____________ that pushed the boundaries.

It's the fool who flirts with sin and boldly, arrogantly, pridefully boasts, "Sin ain't got no hold on me!" They are the ones who fall the farthest and hardest.

Ignorance isn't bliss. Psalm 14:1 tells us "The fool says in their heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good."

What about that sin you’re flirting with now? The one nobody knows about? Maybe the one you’re too blind and too enamored with to realize? The sin you've been flirting with, courting, sleeping with, and have been married to for a while.

Common-Law Marriage is defined as marriage by habit and repute. So what sin are you married to because of habit and repute?

The devastating storm of sin is undoubtedly coming. It always comes. The calm you're in now isn't freedom from consequences, but rather the eye of the inevitable storm. Maybe today or maybe tomorrow, but there is no doubt it’s coming; and when it does you may wonder “How did it get this bad so fast?”

It didn’t. It doesn't.

Oswald Chambers wrote, “Never allow the truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record it, with ink or with blood.”

So now that it has been brought home, how will you respond?

“I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me…” -Psalm 34:4

Right now is your opportunity to seek the LORD. Right now is your chance to call out in desperate dependence and repentance. Right now is your shot at deliverance.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

-Pr 26:11

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com