But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. (Jonah 1:4-5 ESV)
The Bible is pretty clear that we all sin (Romans 3:23). Though some of these sins could be considered worse than others (1 John 5:16), they each still separate us from God. Some sins are out in the open, while others are hidden for years or even a lifetime.
When we are sinning, we can get into the mindset that our sin isn’t hurting anybody else, or that it isn’t a big sin. In fact, Jonah probably was not thinking that running away from God (Jonah 1:3) was going to affect anybody else; boy was he wrong. God sent a storm because and almost destroyed the ship Jonah was on because he disobeyed God.
We also learn that Jonah was comfortable with his sin as many of us are, while those around him were not. Jonah was sleeping while men were frantically throwing their precious cargo overboard hoping that the boat would not capsize in the storm. As we sin or have a desire to do so, must remember these lessons from Jonah.
Remember that you sin affects more than just you. You might be accustomed to the consequences of a sin, while those around you will be busy picking up our ship wreck. A secret sin might be hidden for a while, but inevitably it will affect those around us.
Is there a sin you aren’t dealing with because you feel you are the only one it affects?
