HEBREWS 11:24-25 – By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

THEME OF THE DAY. TAKE THE LONG VIEW. The last five words in today’s scripture is worthy of lengthy and prayerful meditation – the fleeting pleasures of sin. If we did so periodically and learned to take the long view of sin, we would spare ourselves and others a lot of regret, remorse, and painful repentance. Yet, the pull and deceptiveness of sin is so strong, so blinding, and so tantalizing, we too often have the short view of sin and that is deadly.

The problem with sin is that it is pleasurable. I cannot think of any sin of the flesh that doesn’t promise, and even delivers, pleasure – for a season. Since we are witnessing the death of our nature and that largely due to the sexual revolution of unbridled promiscuity, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and the billion dollar industry of pornography, sex is a perfect example to illustrate the pleasure of sin. God gave human beings not only the command and ability to procreate, but He also made it the most intimate and pleasurable act a man and woman may experience together; provided it is kept within the God-given boundaries of marriage between a man and woman. And what has happened? Sex, a beautiful and pleasurable gift from God, is now the source of wrecked families, lives, and is destroying the fabric of our nature. People enslaved to this evil do so because of taking a short-view of sinful sex. Passions and emotions blind the heart and the fleeting pleasures of sexual sin occur only to produce regret, remorse, and possibly irrevocable life consequences. This is the danger Moses realized – the fleeting pleasures of sin – and he avoided them. Follow his example when it comes to all sin. But how may we do so? How may we take the long view of sin, all sin? It all begins in the mind. Let’s consider two things to discipline our thinking which will help us see sin right and be Moses-like against it.

First, realize we are never alone. God is everywhere, all the time, and knows all things. Theologians call this His “omnipresence” and “omniscience”. When does most fleshly sin occur? In the dark. In private. When all alone or in a small company of people. And when a Christian forgets he or she lives in the constant presence of God, sin loses its right view. Sin loses its true nature in our thinking. The only way to see sin for its deceptive and damning power is to live in conscious awareness of God’s Holy Presence. Remember, we are never alone and there is never a private conversation or moment in our lives. This will help us keep the long view of sin.

Next, realize the Day of Judgment is coming. Yes, Judgment Day when every person will stand face-to-face with Jesus Christ and give an account for their lives. Even Christians. Fellow believer, do not believe for a second the anti-Biblical position that we will not be judged for how we lived. We will and the Bible is clear, Christians may lose rewards at this Judgment (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). And one way of losing rewards is to yield to temptation and commit sins of the flesh (James 1:12).

Friends, sin is pleasurable . . . for a season, a short season. Don’t play with it, don’t ponder it, don’t let it into any area of our lives. It will only cause tremendous pain after its fleeting pleasure is enjoyed. And we can overcome it by remembering the Lord’s Presence and our day of judgment before Him.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You that in Your Son are far more lasting pleasures than any sin I might consider doing.”

QUOTE: “Sin looks good, tastes good, and is enjoyable for a season. Then it shows itself for what it is – deadly poison.”