What’s the big deal?

“Her [the forbidden woman’s] feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;”
-Proverbs 5:5

“It’s not a big deal.”

How many times have I heard that in regard to someone’s sin? How many times have I said it? Honestly, I am as guilty as anyone here. And I still do it! I treat someone badly, and I blow it off. Everyone does it. I engage in a little gossip at work. So what?

My issues may be different than someone else’s, but the reaction seems to be the same. I have some friends who are cohabitating while not married. To me this is a serious thing. To them, not so much. I can’t really blame them. I’ve done the same thing today in another issue.

Solomon uses the metaphor of the adulterous woman to represent sin. We’ve heard this analogy before – throughout the Old Testament, God has compared the unfaithfulness of Israel with a harlot who has traded the pure love of a marriage for a little money. In this, the adulterous woman stands on the corner, trying to lure us from family, from purity, from uprightness, and into death and Hell.

The analogy hits close to home. My life has been affected quite a bit because of adultery. Considering the statistics on how many people are having affairs, I’m willing to bet you’ve been affected by it too. This is a powerful analogy.

But is it an appropriate one? Can the lure of such simple sins such as gossip really be compared to a man who abandons his family for a little illicit fun?

In a word – yes. And it’s not simply because of gossip. It’s what the gossip comes from. We are, at heart, greedy, lustful, hate-filled, proud people. Society keeps these instincts in check most of the time. We don’t act on a portion of the evil desires that flow through us.

God has created us to worship Him, and yet we have abandoned Him to seek after created things – money, sex, power, and possessions. We have betrayed Him for, yes, a little juicy gossip at times. We are always seeking to fulfill our own desires, not to follow Him.

Like a wife who sells herself for a little money, we have walked away from God to chase after the nearest shiny object.

But God came to earth in the form of the man Jesus to buy us back. Upon the Cross He paid for our sins – dying in our place, even though our chasing after sin has earned for us death. Then He rose again to insure that we would rise also. If we repent and believe in Him, He tells us that He will ransom us from the death that we have made for ourselves.

Sin is a big deal. Solomon wants us to think of it like that forbidden woman. He wants us to recognize the betrayal involved in every sin.

He also wants us to see the love of a God who would go to such lengths to get us back.