Plagues and epidemics have been part of human history since the fall of man. Of course, the latest one is COVID-19 and all of its variants. But there is a plague that is even more contagious and disfiguring, the plague of sin. Paul warned us about contagious sins. We can pick them up from others and, worse yet, we can be carriers spreading them to those around us.
Have you allowed yourself to be exposed to some contagious sins? Are you protecting your family from over-exposure to them? Or worse, could you be guilty of spreading contagious sins to others?
“I know it’s wrong, but I’ll just ask God to forgive me afterward.”
Have you ever entertained that thought?
Perhaps we don’t say it quite that bluntly. Instead, we tell ourselves:
God understands.
Everyone sins.
I’ll deal with it later.
After all, God promises to forgive us.
And every one of those thoughts can contain enough truth to make a dangerous lie sound reasonable.
God is patient. He is merciful. And He does forgive His children when we genuinely repent.
But does that mean we can deliberately choose to disobey Him while planning to repent afterward?
Scripture calls sin deceitful, and one of its greatest deceptions may be convincing us that we can choose the sin while somehow controlling what happens next.
We can’t.
But there’s an even more sobering problem with the attitude, “I’ll sin now and ask forgiveness later.”
It may reveal something far more serious than a moment of disobedience.
What could it reveal about our relationship with God?
We’ll talk about that today, along with chocolate-covered dirt, foolish talk, and why something we dismiss as “just a joke” may not be funny to God.
