The dangers of returning to sin
Have you seen this trope in heist movies, where a character gets enticed back into their life of crime by an old friend tempting them with one last great score? Usually, the character will swear that this will be their last job. But unfortunately, they end up dying during that “last” job.
Or maybe you’ve watched a show or movie where there are these bad characters doing a bunch of terrible things and constantly getting away with it, and they have a friend who’s a goody-two-shoes who never gets involved. The bad characters make fun of their goody-two-shoes friend, which makes them feel inadequate. So, one day this goody-two-shoes character decides to join in on the “fun”, but that one time they do so ends up being the unluckiest day of their life. Either they get into an accident, they get arrested, something terrible happens, and maybe it only happens to them. Everyone else walks away scot-free, but the goody-two-shoes, the person who’s not about that life at all, or at least isn’t supposed to be, ends up getting burned the most because this one time, things didn’t go according to plan.
And it seems kind of random, like why wouldn’t things go exactly the way they’ve gone in the past? But it’s not random. It’s a biblical law of life.
Let’s look at some scriptures.
2 Peter 2:20-21 (NIV)
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Matthew 12:43-45 (NIV)
"When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first."
Luke 12:48 (NIV)
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
So with these 3 passages, we’re seeing this theme of increased responsibility with increased knowledge (and increased consequence). This means that if God delivered you from fornication, drugs, idolatry, from any type of sin, and you willingly chose to run back to that sin and revel in it, you’re setting yourself up to be in an even worse position than if you hadn’t been delivered at all.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to be delivered in the first place, because God wants you to be free from sin. Freedom from sin signifies that the Spirit of the Lord is in you and that you are a child of the Most High. Being free from sin also improves your quality of life. But you need to be all in. No lukewarmness.
So, whether you used to be involved in a certain sin or you were never in that sin, but you know it’s wrong, you need to stay the course and not return or get involved, otherwise, you’re setting yourself up. As we read in Matthew 12, when you return to sin, you’re not in a worse condition randomly. The worsened condition is because there are unclean spirits constantly on the prowl looking for whom they can devour, looking for someone who will let down their guard just enough, so that these spirits can find an opening and wreak havoc again. But when we choose to stay steadfast, God keeps us in perfect peace and keeps us protected.
