Lets be honest, here: no one really like to change. And change is NOT EASY. A few weeks ago, I started to go to the gym and at 66 years of age, I can tell you it is tough. However tough it is- it must be done. If not, I will die earlier than I should and that would be unfortunate. I can only imagine a future where I am disabled by a heart attack or stroke and thinking- I wish I had listened to that little voice in my head, telling me to get up and do something about my situation- NOW!!!
And then there is sin- what do we do about SIN? And what are the consequences of sin? The answer is twofold- the here and now AND the hereafter and FOREVER!!! Because even the best of us sin, we all need to address the concept. Consider David, a man after God's own heart and the matter of Bathsheba...
2 Samuel, Chapter 12 (WEB)
1 Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter. 4 A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man who had come to him.”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. 9 Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
11 “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth. 17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. The servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
When confronted with his sin, David acknowledged it and begged God for the life of Bathsheba's child. When God did not grant David's request and the child died, David moved on.
The point of all this is when we are confronted with sin, we need to do everything we can to change- if we don't- we will regret it. And the consequences, well, the consequences of sin are terrifying. Hell is not a word that should be used lightly. Change, please God in everything you do, in order to avoid Hell at all costs. And do it NOW!!!!