I once saw a birthday card that began its greeting with “Everything I love in life is illegal, immoral, or fattening.” It was meant to be humorous, but it would be better as a catchy sermon title about the human heart’s attraction to sin.
I’ve often joked that sodas and fast foods are produced by diet companies. One feeds the other. They know that sugar is the number one ingredient to open our mouths and wallets.
Sin is like sugar. It is sweet to the taste. It’s addictive. It’s in almost everything. And it gives an instant high with a kickback.
Both are sweet to the taste
Most new parents enjoy the experience of putting a little something sweet on the tongue of an infant and watching their eyes widen with delight. So it is with sin. It’s sweet to the tongue and widens our eyes — right from infancy. The Scriptures say that our propensity to sin is rooted in our very nature:
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3).
We go astray from the moment we are born. It’s just a matter of time before our love of sin becomes evident.
No doubt David salivated while his sinful heart looked lustfully at Bathsheba as she bathed her beautiful body. That narrative was written for our instruction (see Romans 15:4). And we certainly need it. The Scriptures say that every one of us is drawn away by our own lust (James 1:14). The Bible speaks of us as having eyes full of adultery, as loving darkness more than light, and as drinking sin like we drink water.
Both are addictive
Sin is addictive. If we “serve” it, Jesus said that we become a slave to it (John 8:34). Pornography, drunkenness, greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, etc., are all hard taskmasters that don’t let up with the whip. That’s why we must guard our hearts and walk in fear of the Lord, knowing that His eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good, and that He will bring every work into judgment — including every secret thing, whether it’s good or evil.
Both are everywhere
Sugar has found its way into much of our food — from beans, ketchup, and peas to soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, energy drinks, breakfast cereals, granola bars, barbecue sauce, and salad dressings. Manufacturers have added sugar for taste and texture, and in a world saturated with sugar and sin, it’s not easy to stay away from both.
However, stay away from it we must. A Christian is someone who has left Sodom, and we don’t look back, because God has made us fit for the Kingdom. Jesus has become sweetness to our soul. We have a new nature that loves righteousness, and because of that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world because of lust:
“… by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4, emphasis added).
And it certainly is in the world. Lust permeates society, from billboards to social media, magazines, music, television, and movies.
Despite the high, it has a kickback
I once stood on our bathroom scale, and to my unbelief, I saw that I had put on a few pounds. I checked with my wife, and she said the same thing: the scales were obviously faulty. So, we purchased some new scales. They were faulty also.
Sometimes the truth is hard for us to face. Consuming too much sugar carries catastrophic consequences. It can cause obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. There can be a deadly kickback.
Oh, what terrible consequences sin had for David. His sweet sin led to the bitterness of murder and then to the tragic death of his own child. Despite its delight, sin will lead to the ultimate kickback:
“Then when the illicit desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death” (James 1:15, Amplified Bible).
Sin promises Heaven but will eventually deliver Hell. Never let it deceive you. Keep your eyes on Jesus and His cross. Take your cross up daily and follow Him because sin will be daily knocking on your door. Never open it. We have an enemy who knows our weaknesses and pushes the door. Lock it by having a tender conscience that sends out an alarm when the door is pushed.
Determine to continually turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the subtleties of the serpent — who every moment of every day will whisper, “Taste and see that sin is good.”