BBD 09.22.14 The Cost of Sin (Classic)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2002
09.22.14
The Cost
of Sin
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that
both you and your descendants may live. - Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV.
The West Coast port shutdown (The port shutdown occurred in
October 2002.) is continuing in the United States with twenty-nine ports now
shutdown from Seattle to San Diego. The ships are backing up in the ports with
nowhere to go with their cargo. Those ships will be unable to leave to pick up
and deliver more cargo. On shore, things are quickly growing into a crisis
situation. Factory after factory is facing shutdown as they run out of
materials needed for their products. Some companies are considering using
planes to fly in materials but, of course, this will be much more expensive and
raise the cost of goods. The economic consequences of the shutdown are
spreading with the result of rising prices and shortages of goods. Employees
too are being idled on a wider and wider scale as the shutdown continues
resulting in substantial loss of income and further slowing the economy.
The fact is that spiritually some people do choose the
path of death and cursing. That path at first does not seem so bad much like
the port shutdown but as time moves along more and more negative consequences
are seen. When someone begins to use illegal substances, there may not be any
immediate consequences. However, because of the addictive nature of the
substances more and more money is required to use them. That money is taken away
from where it normally would be used. The person who chooses this path begins
to be late in making payments and then is unable to make payments. Often jobs
are lost and then material possessions are used up and many times people end up
on the street.
For the substance abuser, relationships begin to
deteriorate as their decision-making abilities are impaired by the harmful
effects of the substances and often psychological abnormalities arise.
Eventually, marriages break apart, children are taken away, and many end up in
prison or their lives come to an end through an overdose or poor health, which
resulted from their use of the illegal substances.
The same deterioration is seen with other sinful
activities, although it may not be as dramatic. Having an affair, for example,
is going down the wrong path, the path of cursing and death. Every area of your
life is affected, and usually it is like the port shutdown with a stagnation
and slowdown that result in an eventual meltdown.
We do have set before us on a continual basis two
choices. We can choose life or we can choose death. With each decision, we
ought to ask ourselves whether the result of that decision leads to more life,
or if it will lead to a deadening in our life.
The real cost of sin is always more than we really want
to pay. If you have been going down the path of cursing and death, turn around!
Stop choosing death and begin choosing life. Begin today!
Copyright © 2002-2014. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
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