Sin and Alienation

I don't read many blogs, but I ran across this and thought it was too good not to share.  I'll have one comment below.  This is from Tim Challies (www.challies.org).

It is notable that Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, from the face of God. It wasn’t the sound of him that was terrifying; it was his presence. When we are full of the guilt and shame of sin, that’s exactly what we want. We want to hide from the gaze of the person we’ve offended, we want to run from the person we’ve sinned against. His presence becomes offensive. When a woman sins against her husband, as long as she remains in her sin she doesn’t want him to be near—she wants him to be away from her—far away.

This can manifest itself in another, similar way. The man who has an affair comes to hate his wife—the person he has sinned against becomes a person he hates. The guilt and the shame of what he has done drives him away from the one he should be pursuing to seek her forgiveness and reconciliation. Her acts of love condemn him. Her innocence drives him mad.

Hate and abandonment—here is how we act when we have sinned against another. Sin is so tricky. It’s so dark and deceptive. One of the primary manifestations of a man who is consumed by pornography is anger. Anger against his wife! His sin condemns him, leaves him filthy, leaves him dreading the presence of the one he sins against. Because he has sinned against her, he finds that he cannot be in her presence without his sin crying out against him.

There are many lessons we can draw from the description of man’s fall into sin. But here is one I found that was rather unexpected: When I feel alienated from another person or when I even find myself full of hatred toward another person, I cannot assume that it is that person’s fault. It is just as likely that my own sin is driving me away. Because alienation is exactly what sin desires; it is exactly what sin accomplishes.

My comment now:  any wonder, in light of this insight, that Jesus addresses anger and lust within a breath of one another in the Sermon on the Mount?  He proclaims the righteousness that's available through Him and then turns immediately to anger and lusting.  Seems like He knew what He was talking about.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...