I have heard people say that what they do behind closed doors is their business. That is partially true. No one will know what you are doing, but God will.
Jesus told many parables and one of them was about the talents.
Matthew 25:14-30 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This one passage has so many meanings and the one I am applying it to today is how you live really does matter. Who does it hurt when you do drugs or alcohol or when you cheat on your spouse or your taxes or when you hit your kids or your spouse or when you take the Lords name in vane or when lie about being sick or when you steal from others or when you manipulate people for your own personnel gain, and the list could go on and on? The answer is you. Sure there may be some victims, but you are the one that suffers the most.
Some of you may be thinking I am full of crap because it has not hurt you at all, but is that really true? Would those that know you really well say you are better or worse than before? I would venture to say that most will say you are worse, but I could be wrong.
When we do something enough times and we know that it is wrong, it eventually numbs us to what we have done. This is a coping mechanism. The first few times you may have been scared you were going to get caught or you felt guilty or you were anxious or you were restless or you could not sleep or fill in the _____________. However, as time went on those feelings went away. You knew deep down inside that what you were doing was wrong, but you did it anyway. But you were not alone.
God was right there with you every time you did something you knew you should not do. He was probably speaking to you, but like so many of us, we did not hear Him or did we? I will take a wild guess and say that all of those feelings you had were from God and it was His way of communicating with you. However, we ignored Him to the point where He is talking, but we are not listening and as such have started to accept how were living as being okay.
To make it acceptable to us, we will tell ourselves it is okay because everyone does it or it is okay because they will never know or it is okay because it is only the government or it is okay because ___________. You really need to sit down and evaluate your life. Are you doing what is right or wrong in the eyes of the Lord, not your eyes nor someone else, but the Lords?
If the answer is no, then it is time to repent. You need to start reading the scripture and praying/talking to the Lord. You need to ask Him for help and be prepared that the help He may send is not the help you might want.