My friend Greg Breazeale over at http://www.yearnforgod.org/ recently refered to a post by author Randy Alcorn on the consequences of adultery. I invite readers to reflect on the implications listed below and to suggest additional consequences that should be considered since this list is by no means complete:
1)Personalized List of Anticipated Consequences of Immorality
2)Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.
3)Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation.
4)Loss of reward and commendation from God.
5)Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.
6)Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder. List of these names:
7)Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).
8)Untold hurt to my best friend and loyal wife.
9)Loss of my wife's respect and trust.
10)Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved children. ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?")
11)If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.
12)Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)
13)Shame to my church family.
14)Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:
15)Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. List of names:
16)Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
17)Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.
18)Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.
19)Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.
20)Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.
21)Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community "this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?"
Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).
22)Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.
23)Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)
24)Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.
25)Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.
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1 comment:
Ben, I think this list is great! I plan to make it my own and keep it before me as much as possible. While I have never experienced the possibility to commit this sin, I know that I must keep myself as far away as possible from it. Thanks for posting it so your readers can see it.
As for the music issues you raised, I would like to point you to a post I wrote a while back. You can read it here:
http://www.yearnforgod.org/2009/02/stirred-affections-part-4-weighty-music.html
It was in a series I was doing a while back on the blog. See what you think! Thanks for stopping by the blog, I really enjoy your input!
GB
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