Your sins have kept good from you. (Jeremiah 5:25)

Why do you sin? Why does anyone sin?

Eve sinned by distrusting God and eating the one forbidden fruit in the Garden because she thought good would come of it – she thought she would become like God! (Genesis 3:1-6)

We have similar motivations. We think that God’s way is not the path to true life, not the way to fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).  Like Eve, we think that we can follow an alternate route, a road that will be less onerous, less dangerous, more fun, and more fulfilling. So we reject God – the One Who knows all things, the One Who made us – and in our arrogance head out on the path we think is better, the path of sin.

But that path never leads to joy! That road never leads to fulfillment! At best the choice to follow our own paths results in some temporary ease, a false sense of security, and a passing joy.

In the end, however, as Jeremiah 5:25 tells us, “Your sins have kept good from you.” We choose to sin because we think we gain some good through it. But every time we sin – every time! – we are instead missing out on good!

John Piper summarizes this truth well, “Never, never does God ask you to deny yourself a greater value for a lesser value. That’s what sin is. On the contrary, always, always, God calls us to surrender second-rate, fleeting, unsatisfying pleasures in order to obtain first-rate, eternal, satisfying pleasures.”

The following Scriptures make this point in different ways. Use them to ponder this truth: “Sinning keeps good from me!” Then, remind yourself at every temptation: “Regardless of how it seems, trusting Jesus and His Word is the path to joy – this temptation is the road to sorrow!”

May you fight the fight of faith, and so live to Jesus’ glory and to your greatest joy.

His Paths Lead to Joy!

• Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (emphasis added)
• Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
• Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
• Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
• Isaiah 35:10 The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The Goods of This Life Pass Away

• Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
• 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world– the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life– is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The Promise of Rest, the Promise of Judgment

• Jeremiah 6:16-19 Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices.”
• Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
• Romans 6:20-23 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.