“Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out.”
Numbers 32:23
I wonder whether any video has gone mega-viral as quickly as the “Kiss-Cam Couple,” from the Coldplay concert has. I suppose we will never know precisely why it became such a hit, but I do not believe it did solely because so many people enjoyed the couple’s public embarrassment. There is undoubtedly more to it than that!
The innumerable comical imitations notwithstanding, I believe the real reason millions have responded as they have is that in their hearts they understand that an invisible moral line was crossed. And we know that in spite of the commonness of such unfaithfulness, the deed, once manifested, would instantly and publicly wreak havoc in the lives of numerous innocent people.
The message communicated from a variety of sources, not the least of which is Hollywood, suggest that such betrayals have no consequences. Sadly, Hollywood is known for portraying dishonorable or even despicable characters in sympathetic ways. However, I think the nationwide gut reaction to what was seen on that jumbotron exposes the fact that in spite of our cultural celebration of such disloyalty, deep down the moral compass placed within each of us by our Creator cries “foul!”
Many Americans like to think that God and the Bible are anachronisms with no place in a modern, “enlightened” culture; but we all instinctively understood that a number of people’s lives were in a moment radically, painfully, and permanently altered; and there is no explanation for that apart from God’s word, the Bible.
If, as secularists would have us believe, we are nothing more than “star dust” having no objective rules to live by, and are free to do “whatever feels good,” then these two “stars” of the jumbotron can do whatever they please and have no reason to hide! But if, on the other hand, our Creator has designed us so that once two of us have been joined together in the spiritual bond called marriage, we are inseparably “one,” violation of that oneness brings great pain, permanently.
Which of those two options do you think applies to this situation?
It is said that “children of divorce never heal,” and anecdotally, children of divorced parents I have spoken with generally agree. It is also said that you should “never take down a fence until you understand why it was built in the first place.” The traditional family exists for a purpose, or better, a number of purposes, and those purposes come from the hand of God, and cannot be escaped.
But God is no killjoy, and neither is He petty or arbitrary. His commandments and laws have purpose which may not be immediately discernable; never-the-less, they are for our best and His glory, and you violate them at your own peril. The virtually ubiquitous message of our culture is that fidelity is passe’, and one will search virtually in vain for a contradictory public voice. Yet, in a flash, the fundamental truth, that marriage is sacrosanct, has flooded the internet and the media, as if God had interjected Himself almost tangibly into the dialogue!
These objective moral truths are real, immutable, and inescapable. Interestingly, they are well illustrated by the law of gravity which cannot be seen or felt, yet step from a roof top and it will determine your destiny! It has been noted that “Man does not break God’s laws. God’s laws break man.” That would seem to be an apropos description of our Jumbotron characters.
I recall as a child, maybe five years of age, asking my parents each time we ate at a restaurant, if I could have a packet of sugar. They did not bend to my childish tastes and rarely allowed me that pleasure. They knew better, and I had no choice but to accept their decision. Even as a child I understood that unfettered appetites are unhealthy, though at the time I lacked the discipline to live by it. Look around today and you will see that we have a multitude of over-grown children who refuse to curb their momentary appetites in exchange for long-term benefits. It does not bode well for them or the country.
The nation’s horrendous abortion rate is merely one of many testaments to the tragic consequences of the undisciplined sexual appetites of many Americans, and the fallout from the two cheaters observed on the big screen testifies that the unborn are not the only victims of immorality. Besides answering to God about it, violating the Seventh Commandment always has real time consequences, some of which are very serious.
If the appetite for sweets is powerful, and one need only study America’s obesity problem to know that it is, the appetite for sexual pleasure, is so much stronger! The Scriptures’ serious constraints on sensual pleasures are not evidence of a prudish God, but rather proof of His protective love! If we sympathize with the victims of licentious conduct, God out of His loving heart, is pained so much more by their suffering!
One need look no further than the health of Americans in general to know that it is quite impossible to carelessly indulge one’s appetites for sweets and simultaneously enjoy good long-term health. In like manner, one cannot live a morally reckless life and at the same time expect to enjoy the blessings of a loving spouse, a trusting family and the respect of colleagues and community.
A child, being naturally foolish, will beg for the sugar and need an adult to help him curb and control his appetite for that short-term pleasure. Adults really ought to know better; and the instantaneous reaction of the two upon seeing themselves on the big screen revealed that they did know better. Sadly, they lacked the wisdom and character to avoid the failure in the first place. In a moment they knew they had just lost the most important things in their lives! If they did not intuitively know that they would have simply stood and smiled at the camera!
My point is that America has been for decades playing fast and loose with fundamental principles of truth, morality, and righteousness; and because God, in mercy and grace, has not allowed the consequences of that foolishness to fall immediately upon our heads, that sinfulness has continued unabated. As Solomon wisely put it, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil,” (Ecclesiastes 8:11). The Jumbotron debacle, while disastrous for those involved, ought to serve as a sober warning that we, as a nation, ought to repent of our wanton disregard for God’s word and His principles.
People unmoored from truth are susceptible to any absurdity, as is witnessed by the fact that so many Americans apparently believe that a man can become a woman and visa-versa. A statement attributed to G.K. Chesterton gets it right, “When a man stops believing in God he does not then believe nothing, he believes anything.” Wisdom is calling us all to turn around, to repent and to heed the wonderful life-affirming truths of God’s word!
Regardless of the appearance that we are getting away with our sin, we can rest assured that we will one day pay the piper. As the Scriptures note, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap,” (Galatians 6:7).
