Pay careful attention then, to how you walk-not as unwise people but as wise-making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:
speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. Ephesians 5:15-21 HCSB
Have you ever watched a commercial for a medication and really listened to what they are saying? You will have these people talking about how great the medicine is and this will be followed by these horrible side effects. For example, something designed to cure psoriasis may cause cancer leading to death. I have suffered with migraines for years. Fortunately, they are not as frequent as they used to be. I read that a side effect of my medication was headaches, hmm. It does cause one to wonder. Sometimes the side effect is worse than the treatment. You have to weight it out to decide if it’s really worth it.
For a Christian, we too must be aware of the side effects. Sin has a number of unpleasant side effects. The worst side effect is that it creates a barrier between us and God. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that it causes God to hide his face from us so that He does not hear us. It keeps us out of heaven. John 3:3 tells us if we are not born again we cannot see the kingdom of God. It causes us to be cast into hell. 2 Peter 2:4 says that God threw the angels who sinned into hell and delivered them to be kept in chains until judgment. God promises the Israelites hardships or curses for those who disobey Him in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. When we try to cover one sin with another sin like David did when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, there are some horrendous side effects. Without God in our life, there is a void. If we try to fill that void with sinful things like alcohol, sex or drugs, there are horrible side effects.
There is a treatment for sin, however, that has some wonderful side effects. The treatment for sin is total submission to Christ. When we surrender to Him and trust and obey Him and confess our sins to Him, He forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). When we live a life of obedience to Him, we have peace no matter what our circumstances (Philippians 4:7).
We have seen sin running rampant in our nation. It’s everywhere we look. Things that used to be shameful are done proudly in the streets. We must choose the treatment that suits us best. We can choose to join in with them and sin along with them. We can go deeper and deeper into sin until God just gives us over to it. Or, we can choose to turn to God, confess our sins in Him and trust and obey Him.
I’ve tried it both ways, but the side effect of my sinful life was more than I could bear. Once I surrendered to Christ my side effects were comfort, peace and joy. I will admit that I have read today’s scripture passage and thought, “Yeah, right.” Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and making music to the Lord from your heart sounds a little far fetched, right? But, once I submitted to Christ I learned when we live for Him, we love Him. We have peace and joy. We are focused on Him and where we are headed. It helps us to not worry so much about what’s going on down here.
I will admit that I don’t always speak to people kindly or submit to them, but I do this a whole lot more than I used to. I guess you would say I am still a work in progress. I can say that I treat others a lot more kindly than I did before I surrendered to Christ. It’s a wonderful side effect of living a life that is focused on Him. We are told in Philippians 4:8 that we are to focus on those things that are pure, lovely, commendable, praise any moral excellence and to dwell on these things. When we do this, we have joy. When we have joy, it shows. Others will want the same treatment that we had for our sin. My former pastor’s last sermon talked about how a grumpy Christian was an oxymoron.
If you are trying to use sin to cure your sinful nature, please beware the horrible side effects. Things will only get worse. But, if you are trusting in the Lord and being obedient to Him, you are going to really enjoy the side effects.
Have a great day!