Sin would not be so attractive, if the wages were paid immediately

It’s fascinating but painful, to watch the evolving journey of Jordan Peterson, a secular Canadian psychology professor and therapist. He is seeing over and over, the devastation of poor life choices in his practice. He has arrived at the conclusion that we step outside of the guidelines of our culture at our peril. In essence he is saying that when we throw out the rules and the wisdom of these guidelines, we have to make up our own rules. “See how easy that is,” he says, “it is such a weight, and we are likely to end up divorced with children. That” he goes on to say, “is cancer for lots of people. ” He continues “They get divorced they have children, they get locked into a custody battle and they are done. That’s the end of their life. They are ruined by it.”

The title of this morning’s post, brings two Scriptures to mind. The first is “The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). There are many kinds of death. It’s not just talking about eternal death, but also about the many, many losses we suffered in life, the death of a marriage, the death of our dreams etc., etc. The second Scripture talks about our reaping what we sow (Galatians 6:7). This is every bit as much of a law, as is the law of gravity. There is a difference however, in that as in the implied analogy of plant life nature, the fruit of our sowing (choices), be it good or bad, takes time, is not immediate. However, since it’s a law, our reaping what we sow will eventually catch up with us, again be it for good or evil. So the meme makes sense, since though we do have the devil to pay, our debt does not immediately become due.

And what Peterson is observing in his practice, is the the start of the consequences of all this in our culture, the consequences of our refusing to be guided by the values and the principles of our Judeo Christian heritage. He is seeing the long term, as opposed to the immediate, consequences of this rejection. “You only have one life” he says and again, “it is ruined by these choices.” But ruined lives are why Jesus died on Calvary, and ruined lives do not need to stay ruined. The second half of Romans 6:23 says “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Father, it’s painful to watch Peterson’s evolving journey, because he seems to have hope neither for himself, nor for those he is seeking to help. In fact in Christ the point of ruination is a crossroads, because Christ came to heal the brokenhearted ( Luke 4:18). You did this for me Lord, and You are ready willing and able to do it for others. So I pray this morning for both Peterson, and those who have arrived, or are arriving at these crossroads, that You would bring people, circumstances and the like, into their lives with the good news that Jesus can resurrect our various deaths in the here and now (Psalm 27:13). Plus the retirement benefits are out of this world! I pray these things in Jesus Name Amen