Jump Start # 2067

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Recently, my wife and I went to an Eagles concert in Indianapolis. Amazing. Those guys are old but good. Ever since, I’ve been listening to an Eagles station on Iheart. As I was driving yesterday, the song, “Lyin’ Eyes,’ came on. That’s such a catchy song. It’s not a good song. The music is fine, the words are the story of an adulterous affair. ‘You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes,’ is sung over and over at the end of the song. As the ballad unfolds about this cheating woman, there is one line that brings us to our verse today. The Eagles sing, “She wonders how it ever got this crazy…”

How did it get to this point? How did I sink so low? Lying to her husband, to go meet someone on the other side of town. The wonderful thing about the song is that it doesn’t justify, glorify or try to assume what the adulterous woman was doing was good. She knows all along it’s wrong. Her life is filled with deception. “She wonders how it ever got this crazy…”

Sin will do that. It knocks the stuffin’ out of reason and common sense. It becomes a downward cycle and anyone that still has any conscience about them wonders, “how it ever got so crazy.”

Consider some places we see this:

First, there is the person who is addicted to drugs. It started off as a curiosity. Playing around with some friends. But soon the person is hooked. They are addicted. They have to have more. And, they begin doing things that they never thought possible. They steal the identity of someone in the family to get money. They literally steal from family members. They wonder, “how it ever got so crazy.”

Second, there are friends, life long friends who have traveled through the ups and downs of life. But a misunderstanding took place. Words were said. Pride refuses to admit wrong or apologize. Now, they have nothing to do with each other. Others have tried to intercede but it never works. They wonder “how it ever got this crazy.”

Third, a preacher begins working with a congregation. The eldership loves him and has high hopes. Things start well. But before long, something is misunderstood. Feelings are hurt. Trust is shattered. Now, they are suspicious of each other. The preacher feels the elders are out to get him. The elders try to read between the lines of every word the preacher preaches. Tensions swell. They find it hard to be civil and even remain in the same room with each other. They wonder, “how it ever got this crazy.”

Fourth, a person comes to believe in Christ and is baptized. He loves singing hymns to God. His Bible is marked full of notes and he has come to learn so much about the Lord. But along this journey something happened. A prayer wasn’t answered the way he felt like it should have been. A tragedy took place. A job was lost. The person questions God’s love. His faith wavers and weakens. For a while he still attends, but he finds no joy in singing. He finds the sermons to be empty promises. Eventually, he walks away from God. He’s finished. He no longer believes. He wonders, “how it ever got this crazy.”

We often find ourselves on the cycle of sin, moving away from what we once held dear. Those things didn’t just happen overnight. How did it ever get this crazy? There’s answers to that question.

First, a person isn’t paying attention to their soul. That’s how sin snares us. We see the pleasure and the fun and we don’t see the consequences. We don’t see the depth that sin will drag us to. Is it any wonder that the New Testament gives us those obvious warnings. Words such as: beware, be alert, watch, each remind us that we need to keep our eyes on the road and not be looking around.

Second, a person gets lazy and selfish. They feel empty and feel that they deserve whatever wrong they are pursuing. They have forgotten that they have denied themselves. They have taken their eyes off of the cross. We expect others to apologize. We expect others to take the first step. We sit back doing nothing, just waiting and waiting. And as we wait, we get content with the way things are.

Third, a person stopped following Christ. They stopped thinking pure thoughts. They stopped being holy. They stopped forgiving. They stopped treating others the way that they would like to be treated. And once they stopped following Jesus, they started sinking into the world of sin. Deeper and deeper they sank. They have thoughts that they never had before. They are doing things that they simply cannot believe that they are doing. How did it ever get so crazy? They pushed Christ out of their life.

The wages of sin is death. Death of our relationship with God. Death of our relationship with what is right and good. Death of our fellowship with God’s children. The person who says, “what I am doing isn’t hurting anyone,” not only doesn’t know the Bible, but he is fooling himself. Sin kills. Sin kills all that is good and right. And, sin can carry us so deep that we wonder if we can ever come back up to the surface. Many believe that it’s too late for them. There’s no hope. So they surrender to sin and it takes them even deeper.

God can and will forgive. Turn around and surround yourself with God’s people and God’s word. Fill your heart with goodness. You ought to drop to your knees and ask God to forgive you. You need to go and apologize to those you have wounded and trashed. You need to make things right as best as you can. You need new friends, a new path and a new purpose.

She wonders how it ever got this crazy…too bad she didn’t think about that before she made her wrong choices. Too bad she allowed her self to sink so low. Too bad this song is the anthem of so many lives today. Marriages destroyed by affairs. Friendships ruined by refusing to forgive. Relationships strained by hurtful words. Down, down, down many have sunk. Miserable. Lost. Empty. Realizing you’ve hurt those you love. And, now stuck and feeling like you are unable to stop even if you wanted to. This is the life of sin. This is death. Controlled by Satan. Addicted to lying and deception. Certainly not the way one expected life to turn out.

Jesus came to give us life and to give it abundantly. Freedom from sin and Satan. A life of hope, joy and purpose. Come unto Me, the Lord said, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Weary…she wonders how it ever got this crazy.

Roger