The High Stakes of Holiness

Today, we are continuing in our series through the Gospel According to Mark, "Behold the King." As we enter into the next section of Mark's Gospel account, we come face-to-face with very sobering words from the lips of Jesus, where he speaks about a topic which many people inside and outside of the church have tried to avoid.

The larger point Jesus is making has to do with humility before God, which ultimately results in people taking their sin seriously. Not only do we need to deal with our sin for how it puts us at odds with God, but because, according to Jesus, it also puts us at odds with each other. Our personal sin may even cause others to stumble as well.

Needless to say, there are very real consequences for our sin. There is a cost to compromise. Toying with sin is like playing with fire, and that is how Jesus says it all ends... with the unquenchable fires of Hell. These are weighty matters that certainly feel heavy upon our shoulders, but there is relief when we trust in God and His Son, Jesus, as our sin-bearer. Meanwhile, it is good for us to ask for His grace and His sacred fire to shape us into the kind of people He designed us to be.