And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. Romans 1:28 HCSB
All sin is sad, but the saddest thing about our sin is the fact that it is self-destructive behavior. It’s difficult to watch someone go through hard times because of what someone else has done to them or to see someone suffer due to difficult circumstances. It’s much harder, however, to see someone suffer because of what they do to themselves.
We are quick to anger and slow to forgive when someone hurts us or hurts someone we love. But by being angry and unforgiving, we are hurting ourselves. We are sinning and bringing destruction on ourselves much more so than on the person who hurt us.
God loves us and doesn’t want us to self-destruct. He will go to great lengths to prevent us from doing so, even if this means putting us under tragic circumstances in order to turn us to Him. Charles Spurgeon said this about the book of Hosea, “God has severe remedies for desperate cases: he will do all that mercy and wisdom can suggest in order to prevent people from being their own destroyers.”
You may be calling someone to mind who you think may have had sin in their life that led them to destruction. But today, we are talking about self-destruction. We need to examine the sin in our own lives. Is God inflicting a severe remedy on us to prevent us from destroying ourselves?
Our pastor often says that when the Bible says, “Thou shalt not…” it’s God’s way of saying, “Don’t hurt yourself.” God doesn’t want us to self-destruct. He wants us to live and to thrive in Him. Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I came that you may have life and have it in abundance. He doesn’t just want us to live, He wants us to thrive. He wants us to be good witnesses for Him while we are here on earth. He wants us to bring as many people as we can to heaven with us. The more the merrier.
Are you thriving, or do you teeter on the edge of self-destruction? I can tell you that when I decided to re-dedicate my heart and my life to the Lord, my sin got in the way. I had to change some things. I will also admit there were some things I didn’t have the strength to change, but God handled that for me. I had to give these things over to Him and He cleaned up my act for me in a way that only God can do.
We are told in 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we are in self-destruct mode, we don’t have to stay there. We can turn to our Lord and Savior and He will help get us on the right path.
Maybe you are like I was, and you are so deep in your sin, you can’t see a way out of it. Maybe you think with this being the case, God will just overlook it and let it go. Maybe you think you can get it all straightened out later. That’s not the case. Your sin will destroy you. This is what the devil wants for you. He wants you to be destroyed.
God loves you and will help you find a way out. If you love Him and trust in Him and do as He calls you to do, He will work all things out for your good (Romans 8:28).
But make no mistake, if you reject Him, he will give you over to your evil desires. There will come a time when it’s too late and you will literally have destroyed yourself. Please don’t let it get to that point. Turn to Jesus, repent and let Him lead you along the right path to complete your journey to eternity with God the Father.
Have a great day!