The Deceptiveness of Sin

Pastor Gary Oser

I have a riddle to share with you:

I am something that will take you further than where you want to go. I will keep you longer than you want to stay. I will cost you more than you want to pay. I will require more of you than you plan to give. What am I?

The answer is SIN.

We don’t hear a lot about sin these days, but we need to be reminded of its dangers.

A number of years back, I read a story which I stuck in a file. I thought this would be a good time to share it with you. A man took his dog on a late evening walk. The moon was out, the street lights were on and the man and his dog stayed on the sidewalk.

However, as they approached home, there was a section of the sidewalk that was about an inch out of kilter with the rest of the sidewalk. The man wasn’t paying as close of attention as he should have been, so he stumbled, almost falling, and managed to twist his ankle. It was not a simple twist. For a moment, he thought he had broken it.

He hobbled home, used ice to reduce the swelling and added an elastic wrap for extra stability. It really hurt for over a week! And it was all over an errant inch.

After a while, he saw what happened as a perfect metaphor for sin. It attacks when we can’t see things clearly. The sin may not be large, but it is powerful enough to cause damage. It often occurs on a well-traveled, well-known path. It results in pain and suffering. And, it happens when we let down our guard and stop paying attention.

This is the way sin works. Stop paying attention, let down your guard and you can end up stumbling. Even so-called “small” sins can lead to big problems and cause a lot of pain and difficulties in our lives.

So who do we keep our guards up and prevent ourselves from stumbling?

First Peter 5:8-9a says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith…!”