Proverbs 7:21-27 “She turned him aside with her persuasions; with her smooth talk she was enticing him along. Suddenly he went after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare till an arrow pierces his liver— like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life. So now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words I speak. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways— do not wander into her pathways; for she has brought down many fatally wounded, and all those she has slain are many. Her house is the way to the grave, going down to the chambers of death.”

Sin is insidious and destructive, and the consequences can continue to impact us long after the event. A man in his late 80’s once asked me to come and visit him because he needed some counseling. I had some ideas about what it might be based on my experience, but I was completely wrong. When this man had been a teenager being shipped off to war, he looked at what were considered pornographic images for that day and time. His problem was that, 70 years later, he still remembered those images and couldn’t get them out of his mind. It was taking away his peace and his joy. Unfortunately, that’s a perfect illustration of what sin, and particularly sexual sin, does to us. Guilt, shame, and pain can still affect us years later. In one way or another, it can cost us our lives.