Topic(s): Sin, Christian Life

Allen Webster

Links to this entire series:

• Why Not Be a Prodigal?: Part 1
• Why Not Be a Prodigal?: Part 2
• Why Not Be a Prodigal?: Part 3
• Why Not Be a Prodigal?: Part 4
• Why Not Be a Prodigal?: Part 5

THE FAR COUNTRY WILL KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU WANT TO STAY (continued).        

Bad habits will keep you longer than you want to stay. Sin is addictive. And it's not just the obvious ones (drugs, alcohol, smoking, gambling)-all sin is habit-forming.        

Lying is addictive. Once a person becomes a liar, a lie will come easier to his lips than the truth. He'll tell a lie when the truth would have served him better (Prov. 8:7; John 8:44; Acts 5:3,4; Eph. 4:25; Col. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1 : 10; 4:2; Tit. 1 :2, 12; Rev. 21:8; 22: 15).        

Cursing is addictive. There are men (some women) who curse without even thinking about it. They can hardly open their mouths without using God's name in vain. Even when they try to stop, they can hardly keep the words from slipping out (Psa. 10:7; 59: 12; 109: 17, 18; Jas. 3: 10).              

Sex sin is addictive. Samson learned this the hard way. He had already gotten into trouble with one woman, but his lust led him back to Philistia where he visited a harlot in Gaza (16:l-3). In fact, Samson found it so hard to quit that he kept going back to the Philistine girls. He did thirty-five-hundred years ago what many young people will do Friday night-he committed fornication. He broke Moses' Seventh Commandment (Ex. 20:14); teens today break Christ's commandment (1 Cor. 6:15-20; Mt. 5:27, 28; Gal. 5:19-21). Because there is pleasure in sex sin (Heb. 11:25), once one starts, it is very hard to stop. Don't think marriage will remove the temptation, either. One who sleeps around before marriage will find it hard not to run around on his wife (her husband) after marriage (Prov. 5:20-23).                 

Cheating is addictive (cf. Rm. 12: 17b). Some students work harder trying to cheat than they would have had to work to read the material and answer the questions. Once one starts cheating it's hard to go back to studying for honest grades.           

Gluttony is addictive (Prov. 23:21; Phil. 3: 19).              

Immodest dress is addictive. It is surprisingly hard to go back to styles that are "right" when one is used to "slight and tight" (I Tim. 2:8; cf Mk. 5:15). It is ironic that a young lady returning from the far country of fashion feels more self-conscious with clothes that properly cover than she does with those that should make her feel self-conscious (cf. Jer. 6: 15).               

Smoking is addictive. To many teens, it seems "cool" to sneak a few cigarettes and "cough" their way through them. Twenty-thousand packs later1 one is hacking his way through the final stages of life-prematurely ended due to nicotine inflicted injury (cf. 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20). At a Gospel Meeting in Tennessee a few years ago, I preached part of a sermon on why Christians shouldn't harm their bodies by smoking. When the service ended a man wearing an oxygen mask and pulling a tank behind him (because smoking had ruined his lungs) walked up to me. I was afraid he had been offended and might "let off a little steam in the preacher's ear." To the contrary, this Christian gentleman said, "Son, please don't stop preaching about smoking. I've quit, but it's too late for me. I wish someone had told me what you said tonight when I was young." Young people, I know a lot of adults who smoke (who doesn't), but I do not know a single one who doesn't wish he/she had never started. "Marlboro Country" will keep you longer than you want to stay.            

Bad company will keep you longer than you want to stay. Almost every parent and teen has had a conversation on this subject. The Bible often warns against bad companions, too. Regardless of what people say, it is still true that leaven leavens the lump (1 Cor. 5:6; 15:33). He who lies with dogs will rise with fleas. Like the flour miller who left a little flour on all those he brushed against on the way home from work, so we leave a deposit of our personality on all of those with whom we associate each day.              

Bad groups can be hard to leave. I recently counseled a gang member who was trying to get out of his gang. He wanted to get his life back on the right track. He explained, "They won't let you get out-they say, 'the only way out is death."' He was running scared because they had been trying to shoot him. Fraternities and sororities are often like this, too. Don't join a wild fraternity or sorority2 when you get to college. Sadly, their reputation for drinking and wild, ungodly behavior is well-earned. Am. once you know their "secrets,"3 they won't let you out. No, they won't put a price on your head or try to take you out in a drive by shooting, but they will "blackball" you. That is, you'll be immediately socially ostracized, and, after you graduate to the business world. They network against you. That means that they try to keep you from getting a job, receiving promotions, and joining in their professional circles.                

Think of the time lost in the far country of sin. For David it was about nine months. (Nathan the prophet evidently came just before the baby was born.) Wasted time...days given to the devil. But this is nothing compared to what many young people do. They give Satan years. They leave God at sixteen not to return until they are thirty ... or forty ... or ... seventy. Solomon said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them" (Ecc. 12: 1). Paul told us to redeem the time, because the days are evil4 (Eph. 5:16). How sad that many can sing from personal experience, "Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not that my Lord was crucified ..." The far country will keep you longer than you want to stay-maybe even for eternity.                

Endnotes:

1 Roughly a pack a day for fifty years.

2 There are some professional clubs that don't fit in this category.

3 Their secret handshakes, rituals, passwords, etc.

4 “This seems to mean that "hard times are coming" so you better use the easy times to get ready. Don't give the devil your young mind and body. There will come a time when you cannot remember as you can now and learning God's Word and memorizing Scriptures will come hard. There will come a time when you will wish you could sing God a beautiful song, but your voice will be old and cracked. There will come a day when you will wish that you could go to worship services just one more time, but your health will not allow it. There will come a day when you will wish you could work for God, but your body will have lost its strength. Use the opportunities that God gives today so you won't have to live with regrets tomorrow.