October means that the end of baseball season is near. For most the players in the Big Leagues, the offseason has already begun. it’s the offseason that will make or break their performance next year. Yet, it’s the offseason that no one sees. No one will know, really, if a player doesn’t work hard at doing what is right in the offseason. What a dilemma.
Obviously, life mirrors that.
Proverbs 7:19-20–“For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, at full moon he will come home” (NASB).
The idea here is that foolishness (personified in the form of a seductive woman) will have no penalty, that no one will know what you do, that there will be no consequences. It’s like the player who thinks he can lay around all winter and then still be ready for Spring Training. This lie is constant and we must be aware of it.
Satan tells us that no one cares, no one is looking, no one will find out. Temptation is like that woman in Proverbs 7, who claims her husband will never know about the affair she invites you into.
Here are three problems with that way of thinking:
1. Nothing you do is unseen. The One who created you sees all and knows all. You can’t fool him, even if you fool yourself and everyone else.
2. What’s wrong when everyone is watching is also wrong when no one is watching. Sin is still sin, even if no one ever finds out.
3. Who you are when no one is watching determines who you are when everyone is watching. Eventually, if there is a gap between your private and public lives, an internal sink hole will cause your life to collapse. Like the player who shows up to Spring Training out of shape and performs poorly because of it, your life will begin to slip publicly if you are foolish in private.
Take a minute and add to this list. What are other problems with thinking that sin and foolishness will have no penalty? Leave a comment on the blog, Twitter, or Facebook. I’d love to hear from you.
