Daily Devotional for Saturday, November 5

The High Cost of Sin

Grace extends favor. It does not erase or eliminate consequence. Perhaps we misunderstand the high cost of our sin because grace abounds. It is not that the sin does not require punishment, sin always requires payment. People who have accepted the grace of God found in our Lord Jesus Christ do not pay the eternal consequence of their sin but only because Jesus paid that awful price. “He that believeth on him [Jesus] is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

One of the terrible consequences of sin in the life of a child of God is that it gives occasion to the unbeliever to blaspheme. What is blasphemy? It is the act or occasion of speaking badly of God or sacred things. When you sin, you open a door for the unbeliever to speak badly of the God you serve. At the least, they speak badly of you, and you are sanctified, having been set apart by God, for His own use when you accepted His Son’s death as the payment for your sin. 

David’s life was spared even in the wake of his adultery and murder. God had something yet for him to do and extended him grace after David’s prayer of repentance found in Psalm 51. The potential to blaspheme resulting from his actions necessitated a visible expression of the wrath of God. This was shown in the death of David’s son conceived through his sin.

REFLECTION: Are you causing an unbeliever to blaspheme because of your ungodly behavior?

David Thompson