Key scripture – “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

There is a lie out there that sets people up to make hurtful and devastating choices that end up costing them everything.

The lie is: “What you do when you’re away, when you’re alone, when you’re anonymous, when no one can find out, doesn’t count, so do what you want, do what feels good.”

This is a lie that students fall for, businessmen on trips, women home alone, co-workers, men and women on the Internet and/or texting, people on vacation or at a party. I’m almost sure that there’s someone reading this right now who would do anything to erase what they did when they believed the, “It won’t matter, no one will know” lie.

It really does matter. Because while you can turn off your internal controls, you can’t turn off your conscience. It picks up every wrong thing we do, which in God’s vocabulary, is called sin. As was so aptly stated by the wife of a governor who was disgraced by the discovery of her husband’s long-distance affair: “You can pick your sin; you can’t pick your consequences.”

Your conscience is always running and so is the calculator that’s adding up the consequences, because as the Bible says, “whatever a man sows, he reaps.” That’s an inescapable law of the universe.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Look at it this way, God has a camera on each one of us, 24/7, which is described like this in Proverbs, “For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.” (Proverbs 5:21). So that “Sin City” commercial that says, “What you do in Vegas stays in Vegas” – that is a lie because God knows everything you do!

It doesn’t matter who you are, or how good you think you are, or if you think what you are doing is not that bad, The Bible says, “and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23).

Remember, when you sin it is; “First the thrill, then the bill” which includes: The fear of discovery, the trail of cover-up, deceit, the guilt, the shame, the loss of self-respect, the stinging regrets, the bleeding relationships, the ugly consequences, and the judgment of God.

“For,” as the Bible says, “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

Nothing good happens when we blow past God’s stop signs. That’s why you have got to paddle away as hard as you can from those big rocks that you have been drifting toward, and say “No!” to that seductive, but devilish voice in your head that says “forget about tomorrow, you deserve this, now is all that matters.” Because tomorrow really does matter.

If you are thinking, “What about the shame that I feel because of the mistakes that I have already made that can’t be changed?” Hope for all of us who have made mistakes is in the word “FORGIVEN.” God has made this stunning promise: “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12).

Like the wonderful feeling of a shower when you’re disgustingly dirty, God says, He’ll make us clean inside; every sin erased from His book, with our eternal sin-bill paid in full because of a cross. Where Jesus, God’s one and only Son, “He, himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24), and by doing that, Jesus absorbed the judgment that we deserve: The nights that haunt us, the darkness that pursues us, the secrets that are tormenting us, the bad choices that accuse us. They are gone forever! FORGIVEN!

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

That’s what happens when a sinner grabs Jesus, the Savior. It’s nothing less than a new beginning. The promise of God is that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! That rebirthing miracle is within your reach right now if you’ll just tell Jesus you’re trusting Him and pinning all your hopes on Him.

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” (Romans 4:7-8).

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, help me to always remember, “If I choose to sin, I choose to suffer.” When You tell us “Don’t do that,” You are saying, “Don’t hurt yourself.” Father, because of Jesus, I have no more shame or condemnation because I have been washed in His blood. I am a new creation in Christ, the old has passed away. You have removed my old sinful self which was like a worn out set of dirty clothes, and I am now clothed in Righteousness. My old sinful life is gone. I am forever covered by the Righteous Blood of Jesus. As a child of God, show me how to walk upright and blameless and to pursue righteousness and love, because You have told us, “Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” (Proverbs 21:21). Holy Spirit remove all iniquity from my heart and replace it with the Word of God. In the Name of Jesus, the Precious Son of God, I pray, Amen.