One of the bad habits that I have is goofing off with my grandkids.
The other day, as I have done several times before, I lightly flicked my grandson on the ear and then attempted to quickly run to the other side of the room as if I had nothing to do with it.
On this occasion I didn’t quite make it to the other side of the room – I ran straight into an open cabinet door. Immediately, I said out loud, “I deserved that.” And I did.
There are a lot of unwise things people do that they learn available lessons from. Hopefully, the next time I think about doing such a thing, I will remember the last outcome.
There are consequences that come about from things we do that are unwise. For instance, it should be no surprise if someone came down with lung cancer after smoking all of their life. If someone rides a motorcycle 100 miles an hour, it should not be a shock if they end up running off of the road.
Every wrong decision we make isn’t necessarily sinful, and the consequences are not always eternal. But the results are not pretty, and it pays to avoid them.
The Bible, however, does say there are eternal consequences for sin. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” This means if our sins are not forgiven, we will suffer spiritual death, which is eternal punishment.
The good news is, again, that we can learn from our silly mistakes. But more importantly, we can get forgiveness for our sins and avoid the wrath of God.
Romans 6:23 goes on to say, ‘The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our Lord.”
Because of Jesus, we don’t have to suffer the consequences for our sins.