09 05 07 Chilling Affect of Sin

“Don’t you know that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed." (1 Corinthians 5:6-7 NET Bible)

From what I know of icebergs, 4/5 of the total mass is under water, unseen to the human eye. As it becomes heavier, losing its snow layers over time (as result of tumbling over and over, as much as 1/10 of the iceberg can be hidden! Sin can grow in the same manner over time. As Paul directed his correction to the church in Corinth, who were tolerating sexual sin rather than correcting and disciplining the persons involved, sin needs to be dealt with before it grows and affects the entire church body! Pastor Chuck Swindoll says it this way: “Don’t wait. Before such sin eats deeper into our souls, we need to ask the Great Physician to excise it—to cut it away so that we can become spiritually sound and healthy”.

Sin is in fact like cancer. Others may not see any sign at all of the sin in our lives. We may be getting by with minimal complications, minimal consequences. So we convince ourselves it’s ok; we tolerate the sin (our or others’ around us) and it takes root and grows into the very core of our being, even to out heart. Like the iceberg, like the cancer, once discovered, sin goes much deeper than what the eye can see. The deeper we examine and probe, the more chilling things become (like the iceberg), the denser the mass (consequences of sin) is and more complicated the fix becomes, if any cure at all. We must therefore purge the sin and surrounding influences much like a surgeon cuts away not only the cancerous tissue, but surrounding living tissue as well.

Sin cuts deep, much deeper than we expect. It hurts people, those we love the most! It sometimes causes premature death, either by consequences or the direct hand of God. People don’t like to hear this, but it’s true. God does indeed get upset at what we do to hurt Him and at times He will say, “Enough is enough!” It’s in His Word in both New and Old Testament.

But yet there is grace and her twin sister mercy:“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NJJV Bible)

Sin has a deep and wide chilling affect upon us all. We’re all in need of a visit to the Great Physician. In fact, a daily visit would do wonders for each of us!