A good bit of pastoral life involves hanging around--simply being with people. I did that this morning. In addition to the lovely people with whom I spent several hours, someone, or really something, else was with us.
Nothing exciting was happening, in fact our time passed in much the same  way it would have had we been watching paint dry--old oil-base, wet-for-hours paint. As I thought about it, it seemed rather perverse that events of such great importance were unfolding as we waited, and yet our experience was so mundane. The clear, yet unspoken reality that hung all around us, and was hanging-out with us, was that sin had been let loose, and the consequences of that sin--or those sins--could not be--indeed, should not be stopped. We were there in quiet vigil waiting for the dreaded other shoe to drop, not knowing precisely how bad its fall would be.
James talks about sin's life-cycle.
Temptation comes from our own desires,
which entice us and drag us away.
These desires give birth to sinful actions.
And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
(James 1:14–15, NLT)
Someone had already died, their life horribly ended because a temptation had become an all-consuming craving. The decision had already been made that another life, young and full of promise would never again be lived outside a prison. We were gathered in a place where we didn't quite feel welcome, but where we had an official right to be, to get what news we could about the beginnings of another phase of the unfolding of this evil. Will sin, in particular this sin, claim yet another life? All around us were those playing their part--a judge, lawyers, witnesses, advisers, clerks, bailiffs, guards, prospective jurors, reporters, even janitors--each summoned by some authority to come and fulfill their role. Then there was the family of the victim, and members of the family of the man on trial--in a sense, victims as well. Some of us were there because we thought it the right thing to do. I sure there are more than a hundred of us. We had received the summons. In a sense it was a summons from evil. God has so ordered his universe that evil is like gravity. It has a force that appears to be all its own. Once evil is set in motion it calls far and wide. That summons cost me a morning of my life. The sentence already handed down from sin's gruesome bench to some who are involved, is "Your life will never be the same. You will bear this mark." Pandora's box, version one billion, seventeen has been opened, and the imps let loose on humanity, even what we consider to be innocent humanity, have yet to be counted, and their mischief is ongoing, and will continue, in some cases forever.
Like watching the clock I watched evil unfold this morning. I couldn't actually see it move, but its results are plain, and undeniable. It's not pretty.
It's STTA.
A great deal of the story of the Bible has to do with sin and it's consequences, but the story of God's word is bracketed by paradise lost because of sin, and paradise regained because of Christ's victory over sin. On Easter of 2014, I shared God's Story In His Own Words all in one message. Click the link to listen or watch.
You will find information about stopping the consequences of sin in your life, here. |
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