Session 25

If no one knows, why does it matter?

From Numbers: A 5-Week Devotional

A sturdy foundation for your home is crucial to your personal safety and the safety of your family. However, over time small cracks can appear and weaken the foundation. If ignored, these cracks will cause major headaches and threaten the entire structure. While the small cracks would be easy to hide, the damage they eventually cause would be obvious to everyone.  

Our spiritual lives are much the same. In Numbers 25, the Israelites become enticed by sexual sin, eventually giving in to their desires. Just as a series of small cracks will lead to total structural failure, it was a series of poor decisions by the Israelites that led to major negative consequences.

All sin leads us away from God. Yet we often justify our sin by making a series of excuses:

“No one will know.”

“It’s just this one time.”

“I am a good person most of the time.”

Just as the Israelites justified their immediate satisfaction, we seek short-term pleasure at the expense of our spiritual foundation.

Identifying the lies we tell ourselves can help us avoid the damage of sin to our foundation. The sooner we identify the damage sin causes, the easier it is to avoid long-term destruction.

Reflect:

• Is any area of your spiritual foundation being structurally damaged by sin? If so, what is it?
• Think about the lies we tell ourselves to justify our sinful behavior. How can you identify these lies and replace them with God’s truth?
• Structural repair requires a team and so does spiritual repair. What’s one way you can support someone else in strengthening their spiritual foundations? Who can you turn to for help strengthening yours?