Three Consequences of Sin and a Great Danger

Recently, I spoke with Jackson,* a sailor who was part of my ministry over three decades ago. He called to apologize over a series of texts that frankly were spawned from frustration and anger over racial issues he was troubled by. During our conversation, he linked his bondage to pornography to his father, who beat his wife, Jackson, and his older brother.  His justification troubled me, and he permitted me to speak candidly.

​Meditation
Genesis 3:16-17--He [God] said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.
 
The passage above states three consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobeying God’s command. The first consequence is physical and emotional—pain and anguish in birthing. The second consequence is mental and emotional. Most translations state a wife’s desire for her husband but he will rule over her. The New English Translation and English Standard Version use a variation of “You will want to control (be contrary to) your husband, but he will dominate you.”  The third consequence is a production challenge—the earth is cursed and takes great effort to produce food. 
           
Satan deceived Eve by using truth mixed with a blatant lie. The truth was that their eyes would be opened, and they would be like God. The lie was that they would not die (3:4,5). There is a related danger to Satan’s deception that plagues us, and if we fail to understand this, we could experience an insidious bondage.
           
Jackson used the hurt he experienced as a youth as the cause to justify his enslavement to pornography.  This is precisely Satan’s intent—for us to rationalize disobeying God because we were hurt or deprived. The truth is we sin because of the lust of our flesh and eyes and our pride in our lifestyle (1 John 2:15,16). Being a victim never justifies sinning. Nor does it mean we are powerless to do what is right. Abuse and trauma may serve as triggers for anger, but when sin results, we have allowed hurt to condone wrongdoing. 
           
The good news is that God remedied our failure through the victory Jesus provided through His sinless life, taking our sins upon Himself and providing us redemption. “For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested” (Hebrews 2:18). We must live beyond sin’s consequences through our relationship with Christ as we await our eternal liberation.  Say “No!” to sin and “Yes” to obeying God.
 
Inspiration
Beware of justifying yourself when God alone is the justifier.  If ever I can justify myself, I make God unjust.  If I am right and morally based in all I do and say, I do not need a Savior, and God is not justified in the extravagant waste of sending Jesus Christ to die for me.  If God judges me a sinner who needs saving, and I can prove that I am just, I make God unjust.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where 

*Not his real name
 
©2024 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.     
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)