Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
One of the phrases used by some who are addicted to sin to justify their conduct is, "I'm not hurting anybody but myself. So, it is nobody else's business." But this is never true. Sin hurts everybody. Most importantly, sin hurts Jesus. He loves us, the people who populate his Father's creation. He loved us so much that he was willing to come here as one of us and to die to appease God's wrath for our sin so that we could be made holy and happy again. He lives to help those who are weak, and he quickly forgives those who confess their sin and turn from it. When, in spite of all that Jesus has done, any person on earth continues in sin and does not take advantage of the way out of sin that Jesus made possible, it hurts his heart.
Miriam and Aaron spoke in private to a few Israelites against Moses. They didn't understand the consequences of sin. Their slander of God's servant eventually caused millions of men, women, and children to spend an extra week in the sand-blown, burning desert and delayed their reaching the Land of Promise. Moses himself erred as a younger man by angrily killing an Egyptian, who was abusing an Israelite slave, instead of waiting on God to deliver Israel from slavery. As a result, the very people he tried to help were forced to labor under the lash of Egyptian task masters for an extra thirty years.
Sin hurts everybody, whether it is a secret sin or a sin that is published around the world. Sin messes up everything, no matter who knows what. Stay away from it. When a person does evil, he is doing much more evil than he realizes.
On the other hand, righteousness blesses everybody. When you do good, you are doing more good than you realize. Your life touches every other life around you, and their lives touch every life around them. When your good deed is done, it is like a stone thrown into a pond; the ripples spread out in every direction, affecting to some extent every corner of that pond. Some good deeds are greater than others, just as some stones are larger than others, but every good deed has weight, and they all make a splash. And just as every stone makes waves, and every good deed affects the lives around it, so every deed, whether good or evil, will be brought into judgment.
God will reward you for every act you perform. Solomon told his children, "Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil, with every secret thing."
Many times when people hear such exhortations, they have the idea that they are being asked not to enjoy life. Nothing could be more wrong. When we who serve Christ exhort people to obey God, we are pleading with them to really enjoy life, with all the zeal and joy that they can. Sin offers some pleasures, but those pleasures bring with them no joy but sorrow, shame, and regret. At God's right hand, "there are pleasures forevermore." This is the blessing that the Lord has promised to the upright, and to that blessing, "He addeth no sorrow" (Prov. 10:22).
Nobody enjoys life more than those who love God. The pleasures they enjoy make them richer every time they enjoy them, and the troubles that they may face along the way only make them wiser to do good. Don't be fooled, young person, by this world's incessant promotion of sin. In the end, sin stings like the bite of a serpent, and in the meantime, it will be hurting every person whose life you touch.