Consequences of Moral Fall

by: Randy Alcorn

Whenever I feel particularly vulnerable to sexual temptation I find it helpful

to review what effects my action could have:

• Grieving the Lord who redeemed me.

• Dragging His sacred name into the mud.

• One day having to look Jesus, the Righteous Judge, in the face and give

an account of my actions.

• Following in the footsteps of these people whose immorality forfeited

their ministries and cause me to shudder: (list names)

• Inflicting untold hurt on Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.

• Losing Nanci’s respect and trust.

• Hurting my beloved daughters, Karina and Angie.

• Destroying my example and credibility with my children, and nullifying

both present and future efforts to teach them to obey God (“Why listen

toa man who betrayed Mom and us?”).

• If my blindness should continue or my wife be unable to forgive,

perhaps losing my wife and my children forever.

• Causing shame to my family (“Why isn’t Daddy a pastor anymore?”).

• Losing self-respect.

• Creating a form of guilt awfully hard to shake. Even though God would

forgive me, would I forgive myself?

• Forming memories and flashbacks that could plague future ministry

with my wife.

• Wasting years of ministry training and experience for a long time,

maybe permanently.

• Forfeiting the effect of years of witnessing to my father and reinforcing

his distrust for ministers that has only begun to soften by my example

but that would harden, perhaps permanently, because of my immorality.

• Undermining the faithful example and hard work of other Christians in

our community.

• Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the enemy of God and all that is good.

• Heaping judgment and endless difficulty on the person with whom I

committed adultery.

• Possibly bearing the physical consequences of such diseases as

gonorrhea, syphilis, Chlamydia, herpes, and AIDS; perhaps infecting

Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death.

• Possibly causing pregnancy, with the personal and financial

implications, including a lifelong reminder of my sin.

• Bringing shame and hurt to these fellow pastors and elders: (list names).

• Causing shame and hurt to these friends, especially those I’ve led to

Christ and discipled: (list names).

• Invoking shame and life-long embarrassment upon myself.

Wow! If this list of consequences doesn’t make you think twice, I don’t know

what will. It reminds me of Proverbs 6:“Can a man scoop fire into his lap

without his clothes being burned? . . . But a man who commits adultery lacks

judgment; whoever does so destroys himself” (v. 27, 32).