Be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers (22:23)

Did you ever notice that when you’ve done something wrong, foolish or embarrassing, you rarely get away with it?  Somehow, somebody always seems to find out.  And when they do, there are consequences.  They may confront you, which can be difficult–both for you and the person confronting you.  They may “share” it with someone else with the alleged reason to find some way to “help” you overcome your failing.  Or they may keep it to themselves, either hoping that the problem will go away on its own, that they can hold it over you to be used at later time or to make them feel better about themselves because they aren’t guilty of the same thing.  And sometimes, it’s a combination of all these possibilities.

I remember a couple of amusing incidents from my coaching days.  At the time, I was coaching both spring track and cross-country.  One bright and wintry Saturday, I took my runners on a 9 1/2 mile run in the snow and ice.  About a third of the way into the run, we went by a frozen pond.  Wouldn’t you know it, one of my runners (who was absent from practice) was on that pond fishing.  What were the chances that we would stumble upon him skipping practice?  I bet he thought it never would happen.  None of us stopped and we let him sweat it out until we returned to practice the following Monday.  Then his teammates and I enjoyed” his extra workout for skipping the previous one.

Early one spring, one of my runners asked to be excused from a Saturday workout for his grandmother’s funeral.  The next week, he asked to be excused for his grandmother’s funeral.  Two weeks later, he again asked to be excused for his grandmother’s funeral.  Needless to say, he didn’t have three grandmothers.  Once again, we all enjoyed his extra workouts.

 We’ve all done things that we’ve regretted.  And when we’re found out, we usually suffer some immediate consequence–if only to feel guilty.  Even if no one else knows, you do.  And that knowledge will always be a part of you until you make it right, fix it, then let it go.  You may think you think you’ve gotten lucky and that no one else will ever know.  And that you think there will be no consequences.  Well, maybe not in this life, but what about the one to come?