Articles
'Beyond Scared Straight'
One of the scariest aspects of cancer is that it often grows undetected. By the time we learn of its presence, it may be too late to treat it. The same thing can happen with sin. We may be lulled into tolerating sin because it hasn’t “hit a nerve” yet. We may get comfortable with sin. We may downright enjoy it so long as we experience its pleasures and are shielded from its dark side.
Sin doesn’t always appear, well, sinful. We don’t have sensory confirmation that our relationship with God has been breached. True, we may have a wounded conscience, but that can be shrugged off as a reaction to violating some societal norm or imagining our mother’s voice scolding us for our misdeed. Stronger voices may prevail to ease our conscience, and our sin may not create some obvious negative consequence.
Sin’s true nature is revealed to us by God. We know that sin is a violation of God’s law (I John 3:4). We know that we are guilty of sin, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We know that sin creates spiritual death or severed fellowship from God (Eph. 2:1-3). We know that dying in a sinful condition results in judgment and eternal punishment (Matt. 25:41-46). But we must be open to these truths in order for them to shape our values and thinking. If we reject them, they have no power to dissuade us from engaging in sin.
The truth is that we have been on both the giving end and receiving end of sin, and in our honest moments we would recognize the damage done by it. But we may not see its true nature when disguised by pleasure. Or perhaps we have grown indifferent toward it. But what if we could ease out to the edge of the cliff and see where all sin finally leads?
The premise of the documentary series "Beyond Scared Straight" is to expose troubled teens to the reality of life in prison. The show is raw and ugly, and I would not recommend it, but it sends a stark message. When arrogant young punks (and that’s just what many of them are) who think that crime is just a game, who despise their parents and do as they please, are confronted with the vileness of life behind bars, not a few of them are persuaded to change their ways.
Do you suppose if we were able to see Satan in all his hideous evil and hatred, if we could hear him say how much he wanted to take us from God and torture us for eternity, that we would be so agreeable to do what he says? Not likely. But “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (II Cor. 11:14). His being and his ways are so deceptively alluring that we go for the bait -- and get hooked.
Yes, there are other reasons to do what is right, but considering the outcome of our sinful behavior -- being “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (II Thess. 1:9) -- should help persuade us that sin is not worth it no matter how harmless or pleasant it appears. If you are comfortable in your sins, the greatest blessing you can receive is for your life to be turned upside down. Perhaps from that perspective, you will see the folly of sin and be “scared straight.”
