The Agony of Adultery
Randy Alcorn recently posted a blog article on the consequences of adultery. He and a friend say down and made a list some years ago of what would happen had they commit this sin. If you think you are above this level of temptation, you need to read the list! It is a great way to dislodge even a hint of immorality (Ephesians 5:3).
1. Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.
2. Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation.
3. Loss of reward and commendation from God.
4. Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.
5. Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder.
6. Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).
7. Untold hurt to Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.
8. Loss of Nanci's respect and trust.
9. Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved daughters, Karina and Angela. ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?")
10. If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.
Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)
11. Shame to my church family.
12. Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:
13. Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. List of names:
14. Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
15. Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.
16. Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.
17. Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.
18. Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.
19. Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community "this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?"
20. Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).
21. Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.
22. Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.
23. Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)
24. Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.
25. Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.
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1 comments:
This is a fabulous list. I've seen, first hand, the generational implications of sin in general and marital infidelity in particular.
We must be wise to Satan's schemes and recognize the blindness that sin causes to the true ramifications of failing to be watchful. Paul did not say that we are taking every thought captive to Christ for nothing.
I've often wondered how to convey this sort of sense of urgency to the church and our majority of "cultural" Christians who do not take the teachings of Scripture seriously. But I am more and more convinced that it takes God-called, God-gifted, God-annointed preachers and teachers of the gospel to make it plain just what the choices before us as humans are: life or death. (Josh. 24:14-15)
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