When we were raising our kids, my husband taught our son Jake the principle: “Boys take. Men give life.”
The concept, however, is not gender-specific. The phrase means that immature humans selfishly take for themselves, while mature, godly, and sanctified humans reject that philosophy in favor of self-sacrifice and love.
Perhaps the more accurate phrase is: Sin takes.
We see this everywhere. We see it in nations who kill to take power and land away from others. We see it in the form of corporate greed at the expense of the environment or humanity’s best interests. We see it in crimes of fraud and robbery. We even see it in our children as they take the best toy or the biggest cookie.
And we will see it in Sunday’s sermon as we look at the graphic and disturbing account of the rape of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13.
Sin is always looking for what it can take. It consumes with an appetite that is never filled. It is a master that is never satisfied. Sin leaves in its wake the carnage of innocent victims and destroyed lives.
In contrast, God loves us so much that He gave His Son. We see Jesus, for the joy set before Him, enduring the cross, giving His very life. God gives. And sin takes.
The book of James tells us: “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” James 1:14-15.
This imagery is also graphic and disturbing. When we flirt with sin, a baby is the result. And sin’s child is named Death.
That’s how serious sin is. Its repercussions are uglier and deadlier than we can imagine.
Sin will not share its mastery. But neither will God. Sin steals and kills and destroys. But God gives so that we can have life and have it to the full. Everyday we are faced with choosing which master to serve.
God‘s cry for us to renounce sin and pursue holiness is not because He’s a cosmic killjoy. It’s because He doesn’t want to see our lives shattered, isolated, and broken beyond repair.
If you are currently serving the wrong master, God is so gracious and quick to forgive! The gospel is true for brand-new Christians and for long-time believers who have found themselves caught in a web of sin. For everyone, the best next step is always the same:
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7.
We will all continue to struggle with sin, but thanks be to God, in Christ we no longer need to be mastered by it.
