What Do I have to Lose? blog

This is a question that enters our minds when we are just beginning to be tempted.  It has some companions like;

  • I am not hurting anyone.
  • This will be the last time.
  • I’ll continue my recovery tomorrow.

We have this amazing capacity to rationalize our sexual sins and tell ourselves that this really doesn’t matter.  That is even truer if you are single, alone, and isolated. The problem is we do not take the time to actually answer the “What do I have to Lose?” question.  The real answer is a lot … you have far more to lose that you can imagine.

Part of the problem is that we do not take a split second to brush that question away.  We believe we do not have much to lose so why not go ahead and get a little pleasure, have a period of escape from reality, and feel the release that makes you feel really good for a brief moment.

Most people if they would take the time to really think about that question would come up with some serious things they have to lose.  Things like;

  1. Their marriage.
  2. Their job and the financial security it provides.
  3. Their career and value of their education
  4. Their family.
  5. Any respect others may have had for you.
  6. Your financial security should you end up being sued.
  7. Your health should you catch an STD.

I was fortunate.  Only #’s 2,3,5, and 6 applied to me and actually happened. However, I know many men who have lost their marriage and ruined their relationship with their kids.

However, what I want to talk about is a different kind of loss that you have probably not considered.  I call it;

“The loss of what could have been.”

or

“Not experiencing God’s Transforming power in your life.

Let’s look at it this way.  There is a plan that God has for your life that doesn’t have anything to do with your earthly success, education, position in a career, or how high you can climb the world’s ladder of success.

His plan is not to change what you do but to transform who you are. At the beginning of your salvation, He has done a huge amount of work … on his own and gives it as a gift to you.

  • He has raised you from being dead in your sins to being alive in Christ.
  • He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit by placing Him in you forever.
  • He has given you the faith and grace to believe.
  • You have become His workmanship, His project and has plans for you.

Add to this the fact that Jesus tells us that we will have an abundant life and that out of us will flow streams of living water.  We can have the power of the Spirit to empower us so that we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.  We can bear His Fruit and use His gifts to help build up other Christians.

I believe there is this awesome Christian life that we could be experiencing if we were moving forward in the transforming done by the Spirit.  Instead, we have taken a detour from His plan and are not entangled in the sin that so easily entangles us.  We have not chosen the Lord to be our Master every day and instead, we allow sin to still be our master and suffer all the crap that sins brings with it.

This is what you have to lose.  The transforming and sanctifying work of the Spirit.  God stops changing you from who you used to be and conforming you into the image of Christ.  You lose not experiencing the incredible person God wants to turn you into.

If the transforming work of the Spirit were not being neutralized by our sexual, and our walking in shame, guilt, and fear instead of love, joy, and peace.  When trials come, we are overwhelmed because we are weak when we could be strong.  When temptations come, we lunge at the lust instead of fleeing to safety.

Here is the great news.  God is still with you and He is waiting to continue the transforming process of the Holy Spirit in your life.  It can start for you today.  I will continue this next week.

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