Here's how it went down: I wanted a piece of Juicy Fruit. So I grabbed the package and popped out a piece (now, note that this is not a stick of gum, it's just a normal piece, like the size of an average Trident or Dentyne). But as I was sliding the covering back over the gum, a scrap of that yellow tinfoil backing caught my index finger and tore right across. Then the pain came. And the blood. On went the Phineas and Ferb band-aid. Away went the devil Juicy Fruit package. I will never underestimate the power of the gum again.
Okay, so it wasn't quite as melodramatic as that - in fact, it was kind of funny. I mean, who cuts their finger on a pack of gum? Um ... yeah, just me. But that tinfoil backing on Juicy Fruit is actually quite dangerous! Well, sort of.
Anyway, as I was telling Dad this last night, he gave me a great idea (after he stopped laughing of course). "I feel a blog post coming on," he said. "About how you didn't think a harmless, little pack of gum could hurt you, and then you got hurt. Just like sin ..."
Yeah, I know, he's brilliant. So I'm taking his idea and applying it to my Juicy Fruit life lesson here. For fifteen years, I underestimated Juicy Fruit. Never took it seriously. Thought it harmless and unworthy of much caution or care. And then my ill-preparedness came back and bit me in the behind. Or the index finger. And this is just like what we deem "little sins." You know the ones I'm talking about - careless words, unkind thoughts, borrowing little things from work or school or siblings, telling "harmless" white lies, disobeying your parents, watching a show that, yeah, may not be the best for you, wasting time, skipping church every once in a while just cause you feel like it. All of these sins we think unimportant. We underestimate them, never take them seriously. But in God's eyes, a sin is a sin is a sin. Yes, different sins have different consequences, but all sin is equally odious in God's sight. And even though we may think them harmless and unworthy of much caution or care, they'll come back and bite us in the behind. Don't think that sin will give you something for nothing. There's always a price to pay. And that price is never a good deal. All sin has consequences, even the little ones.
So there's your lesson for the day - don't underestimate sin ... or Juicy Fruit.