KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Think
MOSES THOUGHT ABOUT sin...
He considered the eternal dimensions of staying in Egypt and sharing in the sensual pursuits of his peers. "What faced [Moses] was a crisis decision: whether to remain in the eyes of men 'the son of Pharaoh's daughter,' or to throw in his lot with the despised people of God. He could not be both an Egyptian and an Israelite. On one hand was all the splendor of Egypt, with its rare treasures and its magnificent heritage; to be in Pharaoh's palaces and to possess even the throne, to be in a position of power and in a place of privilege and refinement -- all the things (the Hebrew writer describes them as the fleeting pleasures of sin) an ancient empire could offer. On the other hand were poverty, contempt, and affliction; for Israel at this time was a nation of slaves, groaning under its heavy load, with broken spirits and vanished hopes, hemmed in inexorably to daily abuse. Yet Moses, by faith, recognized these to be the people of God. He deliberately chose to travel with them the dangerous way rather than to continue in ease. He saw, by faith, that to continue in ease would be sin and further, that the pleasures of sin give no lasting satisfaction..." (Neil Lightfoot).
THOUGHTS: Like Moses, we need to think more about sin and what happens if/when we yield to our desires: a brief, lustful look could lead to an affair, a simple wink could wreak my marriage, moral compromise would invalidate my example, a single click of the mouse could lead to a wrong relationship, a short-term thrill would devastate my family, an affair will jeopardize my salvation, the fleeting excitement of passion will rob me of inner peace.
Dear Christian, have you thought enough about sinning (Heb. 13:4b; cf. Rev. 21:8)?
KneEmail: "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." Heb. 11:24-25