We saw yesterday that the spiritual life is subject to law exactly as the physical life is. We cannot break physical laws and not get hurt, nor can we break spiritual laws and not get hurt. Paul here connects sin and death and he calls the connection between the two “the law.” Are they always connected? Does death follow sin? Inevitably?
Perhaps not outwardly, but inwardly, yes. Something dies in a person the moment he sins. The greatest illusion, barring none, is that man can sin and get away with it. That was the first lie uttered in our world. Satan uttered that first lie in the garden of Eden: “You will not surely die”—there is no connection between your disobedience and death. It was the first and it is the latest great lie that has ever been uttered—it is whispered into the ears of those dallying with temptation: “You will not die” (Gen. 3:4). That lie has been disproved in every single case from the first one to the last one with no exception. Yet each person who tries to be the exception fails. The payoff is automatic—it is registered in the very person. Something dies in the person. “I was a ninny to do it,” said a cultured woman, all shot to pieces inwardly. A man with ten million dollars brooded amid his millions over the face of a betrayal and an illegitimate child. His millions could not buy off his inner unhappiness. “I did just what any man in my position would have done,” said a man who was fighting an unequal fight with his conscience. It was in vain. His countenance reflected the unhappiness of his soul.
The moment sin enters, death enters too—as substance and shadow, inseparable. It is the death of inner peace, of influence, of power to help others, of self-respect, and of your relation with God.
THE PRAYER
O God, we’ve listened to this lie, and we haven’t been the exception. Help us never to try it again. Give us the grace of intelligent discrimination. Help us to learn our lessons, for we do not break these laws; we break ourselves on them. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY
I shall surely die—something dies within me the moment I sin.
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Recovering from “the first lie”
Using your thoughts, words, or actions to embrace what is morally wrong kills inner peace. It slays innocence and guiltlessness. It murders self-respect and crucifies the conscience. It causes the death of direct connection with God and makes Him seem far away because we’re lost in the decay caused by our frequent choices to rebel against His will. We’re caught in the hopeless trap of guilt and there’s no way we can restore ourselves to life.
Yet, there is one who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” The Creator became a man named Jesus so that He could suffer the death caused by humanity’s guilt and be raised to life again so that He can daily live in and empower all who will continually believe/rely/depend on His sacrifice for them.