Sin and Smoking

Note: This is not a post on how smoking is a sin… smoke away.

I do not smoke. When I smell the smell of cigarette smoke I feel sick. It is repugnant to my nostrils. If I am in the presence of a smoker I find myself coughing and spluttering for the smoke is completely foreign to my body. However, to a smoker they do not feel repulsed by the overpowering smell and actually enjoy being around it. They suck it directly into their lungs and enjoy it. It is common knowledge that smoking is bad for you, yet to those who smoke the pleasure of the cigarette outweighs the dangers of smoking. Some smokers have smoked for so long that although they have come to hate their dependence on smoking, they find themselves addicted and cannot stop.

This is just like God and His relationship with us. God cannot stand the repugnant smell of sin, but we, who have sinned stink of it. Romans 3:23 tells us that ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’. We are surrounded by a sinful smog that separates us from God.

God does not wish to be separated from us therefore He sent His Son to come to this earth and become like us, so that He could take the punishment that we deserve for our sins and wrongdoings that we have done. As a result if we put our trust in Him who has saved us then we are saved from our sin and the punishment that sin should bring us, because the punishment has already been taken away by Christ. But, if we do not put our trust in Him then we remain in this sinful state and will perish. We cannot save ourselves. It is impossible for us to go even one day without making some sort of mistake. This is something that is to big of a deal to trust ourselves with.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.”

If we put our trust in Christ, we can be saved from this sin-filled world that separates us from God.

If you are a Christian you will notice how your nostrils all of a sudden become adverse to the smell of sin that is all around us. That is because your will has become in line with God's. Just as a non-smoker who is sickened by the smell of second-hand smoke, as one who has put their trust in Christ we baulk at the injustice of the world and the offensive things that people are doing to God. The closer we get in our faith to God and the more set apart we become (1 Peter 1:16 “Be holy, for I am holy”, God says) the more we come to hate the smell of smoke and see just how damaging it is.

Sin is damaging, but as we are all sinful we do not even see how damaging it is. The Bible says men love the darkness because they are in the darkness! Just as if you are in a dark room after a while your eyes adjust to the light and you are able to see, we who are in sin have adjusted to the darkness so that we can no longer see the true dangers of the situation we are in. Only when the light enters the darkness do we realise how depraved we have been. For if a light comes into the darkness then the darkness will cease to exist.

John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”

Pick up God’s Word and read what He commands of us. There is a reason as to why He asks of us the things He does.

Give up your sin before it is too late. Romans 1 tells us that we all have free-will. God is calling you to save yourself by putting your trust in Him, but if you refuse to answer His call there will come a point when He will stop calling you and give you over to your sinful desires. Just as those who wish to give up smoking but cannot, your heart will be darkened to that which is good and sin will rule in your life, leading to death with no way out.

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;”

Give up sin and put your trust in the Lord Jesus.

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
 Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
 My God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler 
And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
 And under His wings you shall take refuge;
 His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
 Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
 Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side,
 And ten thousand at your right hand;
 But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
 And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
 Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you,
 Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
 To keep you in all your ways.12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
 Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, 
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; 
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; 
I will be with him in trouble;
 I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him,
 And show him My salvation.”

-BACChristian