Sin, when it is finished.

 

I remember the conversation. We were approaching my parents' neighborhood, stopped at a red light, my mother in the driver's seat of our latest in a long run of blue mini vans. She was scolding me, or maybe warning me, about how later in life I was going to regret the decisions I was making as a teenager.

Vividly, I remember thinking, "You don't know me. You don't know how I feel. I won't regret any of this." 

She was speaking in generalities. She didn't have the specifics. She didn't know which sins she was bringing to mind.

Sin. My sin.

James 1 says,

"Blessed in the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his lust, and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

 

If I have sin, tucked away, that hasn't brought forth death yet, I promise you, it just isn't finished yet. The Bible promises that sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Later, in the same chapter, James tell us,

"But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

I've always known the truth, and maybe so have you. If I'm only hearing the truth, but not living it, I'm deceiving myself. 

In the book of Numbers, the Lord gives His children a task and says, 

"But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out."

I can be sure, even if it hasn't found me out, yet: My sin will find me out. Even if it's been half my life since the sin began, if it hasn't brought forth death yet, it isn't finished. 

As someone who knows the truth, and is familiar with Scripture, James has another warning for me,

"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

The weight of knowing the right thing and not doing it. The sin, piling up.

And then, Jesus, speaking of religious people, who outwardly pretend to be doing the right thing, but inwardly are sinning, lying to themselves and those around them.

"Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

 

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

 

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops."

 

The specific sin that came to mind at that stoplight has been a long time coming, unfinished in my life. Recently, I'm reaping the heartache and hurt that I, at the time, willing, sowed. 

I'm posting this as a testimony and a warning. Maybe you're a teen who thinks, "It's not that bad. No one will ever know." Or maybe you're an adult, who needs the reminder that there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. 

He is a God of justice.

"He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgement: a God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he."

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I'm thankful that God is just and right, and that even though I could never earn His forgiveness, He can forgive me, through his Son, Jesus Christ, when I confess, repent, and turn away from my sin. 

I'll leave you with this: Rand Hummel says, "You can choose your sin, but you can not choose the consequence of your sin."

So often we think we have it handled. So few people know. Who does it hurt? But the longer you keep sin in the dark, the more people it hurts when it is brought to the light.