"Now And Later"

By: Zach Wood

Romans 3:23, 6:23

(3) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

(6) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

 

Some of you may be familiar with the candy called "Now and Later".  I used to see it all the time when I was a kid at the grocery store and drug store.  It wasn't my favorite candy, but I picked it up and enjoyed it once in a while.  The name is pretty simple, signifying that you enjoy some now and then enjoy some later.  What occurs to me is that you must pay for the candy before you enjoy it now and then later.  However, when you consider how sin takes grasp in our lives, it's the complete opposite.  We enjoy it now and then pay for it later.  Quite a contrast, wouldn't you agree?

 

This past Sunday morning, one of the members of our church gave a devotional thought during communion time about how our sin affects us and our relationship with Christ.  He quoted one of John Maxwell's sayings which reads, "Sin will always take you further than you intended to go.  Sin will always keep you longer than you intended to stay.  Sin will always cost you more than you are willing to pay."  I thought about how very true those words are.  We have all sinned as Paul states in Romans.  However, we tend to make excuses for our sin and brush it off like it's no big deal.  I know I do sometimes.  Sin is a big deal, no matter how BIG or small we think it is.  As the candy name suggests, you pay now to enjoy some sweetness and flavor now and then some later.  With sin, we enjoy the sin now and pay the consequences now and later as well.  

 

I want us all to be encouraged to look deep into our hearts and really consider our sin.  We need to take some time to consider the things we do and how we often overlook sin and brush it off as no big deal.  Christ Jesus has saved us from our sin, and we should be striving to stay away from it.  It always starts small and then ends up eating us alive.  I'm sure we all have story after story about how sin has entangled us and dragged us down the dark alley of regret.  We have all been there, but the problem is that we keep going down that dark alley and have become somewhat immune to it.  Something needs to change!  

 

I often remember a great saying my grandfather taught me while growing up.  Four challenging words for us to pass through our minds and bring to our hearts before we make decisions that could lead to sin.  "Think Before You Do".  They are great words and should always be remembered.  

 

The wages of sin is death.  However, if we have Christ in our lives, He forgives those sins and grants us eternal life in Jesus.  Let's strive to avoid the awful now and later sin syndrome and walk with Christ more abundantly.