Not to be Taken Lightly

"All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life."

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭7‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

As much as we try to do what is right, we fall into sin. As much as we strive to live in obedience to the Lord, we fall short. We do so quite regularly. We sin, in fact, on a daily basis. 

However, although it is such a regular occurrence, we think of it as no big deal. It’s so commonplace that we’ve become dismissive of it. We’ve become so numb to it that we fail to recognize how serious it is.

We believe it’s something that affects us only in the moment. Although we may suffer some immediate consequence of our actions, we don’t believe it goes beyond that.  We don’t believe that they go beyond our time in this world.

What I’m saying is that we fail to recognize the eternal consequence of sin. And this is what stands out in the passage above. What is being described in these verses is the response of a young man to the adulteress woman. 

As she tempts him, he follows her. But look at the description. He follows her like an ox to the slaughter. He follows her as a stag that is caught fast, as a deer stepping into a noose, until an arrow pierces its liver. He follows her like a bird rushing into a snare.

He does not know that it will cost him his life. He knows not that it leads to his death. He doesn’t grasp the finality of his course.

This applies, of course, to more than this one scenario. It applies to more than this one sin, that of adultery. According to Scripture, the consequence of all sin is death.

And the death to which Scripture refers is more than physical death. It’s more than death in a worldly sense. The death to which it refers is eternal.

It speaks of the fact that we deserve not the blessings of God. We deserve, rather, his punishment. We deserve an eternity of torment in hell.

Christ, of course, has paid the punishment of our sin. He gave his life on the cross, paying the penalty of our sin. But even this should reveal to us the serious nature of sin.

It could not be overlooked by God. Nor could it be dismissed by him. If we were to be saved, the penalty had to be paid, even if the price was the life of his only Son.

We learn from this that, even as those who trust in Christ, even as those who have been forgiven, sin is not something we can take lightly. It is not something we can simply overlook or dismiss. As we are brought to see our guilt, we must look to Christ for the forgiveness and salvation he’s provided. And we must ever thank and praise him for securing our release from this fate.