ur world recognizes failures, conflicts, and social ills – but too often it does not recognize sin. Sin connotes a wrongdoing for which one is responsible before God, and modern man does not want to see himself in this light. A problem may be disgraceful, corrupt, prejudicial, or harmful, but never sinful! The concept of sin against a personal God is missing. In an era of “no fault” insurance and divorce, there is a need for moral and spiritual accountability. One way to bring this problem to light is to stress just how damaging and hurtful sin really is. In other words, we all must recognize the high cost of sin.

Using Samson (Judges 16) as a case study, brother Wendell Winkler has so clearly pointed out how costly participation in sin can be for each of us. Samson is known for being self-willed and rebellious. He refused the wise counsel of his parents. He kept numerous evil associations. He courted temptation and eventually participated in fornication. (Do any of these characteristics sound familiar or remind you of yourself?) For all of this, he paid a very high price. It is widely known that he lost his strength when Delilah cut his hair (Judges 16:19), but this is just the beginning. His sinful actions also cost him his sight as the Philistines gouged out his eyes (v. 21), and cost him his freedom as he was tossed into jail. There were no voices of comfort or compassion in that prison – he was all alone.

Just like Samson, sin can steal our strength as well. Sin will weaken one spiritually, physically, and emotionally. In such condition, one is prone to long days and even longer nights of sadness. Sin can also cost us our ability to see. Sin will blind one to its reality, its nature, its consequences and also to the beauty of holiness. The Laodiceans were so spiritually complacent they could not see how ugly and miserable they really were