The exorbitant price of sexual sin - My list. Make yours!

Make a list of what can be the possible consequences of your sexual sin if you fall into it.

Whenever I think about sexual temptation, I find it helpful to review what effects my ungodly action could have:

1. Bringing dishonor to my Lord and Savior who has brought me this far.
2. Deeply hurting my wife and children. She may never trust me again in life.
3. Wasting years of ministry experience for a long time, maybe permanently.
4. Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the enemy of God and all that is good.
5. As a ‘wanted man’ anything can happen to me.
6. Being the firstborn in my family, transferring battles to my next generation which ordinarily would have ended in my generation.
7. Undermining the faithful example and hard work of other Christians in our community.
8. Possibly bearing the physical consequences of such diseases as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and AIDS; perhaps infecting my wife or, in the case of AIDS, even causing her death. I always remember Sis A who died of AIDS with all her prophetic gifts.
9. Creating problems for my younger brother who is a pastor and has looked up to me for years. In his challenges, I know that he has been watching me.
10. Heaping judgment and endless difficulty on the person with whom I committed adultery.
11. Possibly causing pregnancy, with the personal and financial implications.
12. Bringing shame and hurt to my ministry partners and elders who have trusted me over the years: (list names)
13. Bringing shame and hurt on all that will hear it from far and near who have been blessed through my ministry.
14. Causing shame and hurt to friends, especially those I’ve led to Christ and discipled: (list names)
15. Invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon Myself.
16. Getting entangled in a sin-chain that may be very difficult for me to break till I die.
17. The Lord coming and meeting me in sin.

I will continue to update this list as days/years roll by!

Try making your own list. When you weigh the consequences of sexual sin in advance it’s a frightening prospect! May God help all of us! Amen.


Adapted from Randy Alcorn’s article THE REAL AND UNTOLD COST - The exorbitant price of sexual sin. See Randy's list here.