Sin Doesn’t Wave The Jolly Roger

Sin comes to us in degrees, never revealing its full scope until it is too late.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   In 2 Samuel 13, we read “Now Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David’s son, loved her. Initially we may be struck with sympathy by Amnon’s having been struck, perhaps, by Cupid’s arrow. But this is not love. This is sexual appetite. The word used for “love” in this verse is a flexible word. It can mean all types of different types of love—the love of family, the love of foods etc—and one of them is the desire/love for another sexually. This is not some-one who is love-sick, as we will soon find out. This is someone who lust-sick, set on hunting down Tamar like she is some type of prey. And what Amnon is facing and wrestling with is the deceitfulness of this lust. The lust that is consuming Amnon’s mind is promising him that to have Tamar would cure him, relieve him, satisfy him, heal him, bring joy into his life like never before, IF only he could have her in HIS way. Sin can be easy to identify and easy to avoid when it comes waving the flag of its true colors, like the crossed swords and skull of the of the Black Pearl. But sin does not come to us in that way, does it? It comes dressed in different clothes, waving a different flag. One of the reasons sin is so treacherous lies in the fact that sin comes to us in degrees, not ever revealing the full scope it seeks to take us, or of the destruction it will cause. No doubt Amnon’s sin did not start out in full blown lust that caused him to be bound up in a sort of dire straits. Rather, it started small, with improper thoughts, and fed the fire that does not need to be easily stoked in young men. This is why the text says, “And after a time…” That’s an interesting phrase isn’t it. It should make us think, “What seemingly insignificant sin or sinful frame of mind am I allowing to linger on?” Don’t let it be said of you, “And after a time sin was full blown.”