loss: destruction; ruin
loss: the act or fact of being unable to keep or maintain something or someone
loss: the partial or complete deterioration or absence of a physical capability or function
(Merriam-Webster online dictionary)
loss: you have something and then you don't
For a born-again believer, sin always brings loss. Not loss of salvation. Nor Heaven eternal. These are firmly secured in Christ. But sin brings the loss of so much that cultivates the rich, abundant life the Savior's death and resurrection make possible here on earth.
Just as God intended only good for Adam and Eve but sin targeted and took, the good that God purposes in His child's life is snatched by the enemy, via the choice of disobedience. When we make a transaction with the enemy's voice and influence, we're foolishly believing there will be gain—just as in Eden, Eve foolishly believed there'd be. But where and when and however the enemy is involved, ultimately, there's loss. Always. Let us not be fooled into thinking otherwise.
Satan's deceptive, luring words to Eve in the garden were "Did God really say. . ?" (Genesis 3:1). Likewise for each of us, because he's been using the same time-proven strategy down through the ages, the enemy's goal is for us to question God's personal communications to us, given through His Word and His abiding Spirit. To get us to doubt the Creator's loving heart and good intentions toward us. His strategy (though it manifests itself in various ways and various degrees) is always an all-out attack against the authority of God's declared and true, time-proven words. And the role we play in it all is whether in our moments of temptation, we will choose to trust and obey the Word and the Spirit (who always operates in agreement with God's truth), regardless of the convincing thoughts and feelings we're overpowered by at the time.
"Here's this fruit," the enemy says, "and it's good." And at the juncture that we buy into his lie, perhaps it is momentarily "good." Until it no longer is. This is because there's nothing good in the enemy. And the fruit that he offers never ultimately brings benefit. Never ultimately brings God's definition of good, no matter how much we convince ourselves otherwise. Rather, it harms, it steals, it plunders. And what is ultimately experienced is always loss. Because in the moment that you accept the counterfeit "good" the enemy offers, you accept his deal and his terms and his right to take possession of the true good that's already been contracted between you and your Creator.
And this is so tragic because the Creator's good always brings life. Abundant life. And the enemy's so-called "good" always brings loss. Loss of peace, loss of contentment, and loss of purpose; loss of fellowship and loss of unity; loss of hope; loss of spiritual energy and vision and kingdom effectiveness; loss of blessing and loss of joy. Always loss. In a myriad of ways.
When the first sin entered this world, there's no question that loss entered God's perfect created order. And that good created order has been tragically impacted ever since. This is because loss is always impactful.
And yet—Hallelujah! Praise His holy name!—because our Creator is who He is, He would not, He could not allow Satan's lure toward loss to ultimately triumph over the good life He purposed, the good life He so lovingly designed. So, even in the shadow of the Fall, even in the shadow of covenanted consequences, we see evidence of God's heart. We see evidence of God's plan of redemption when He clothed Adam and Eve's nakedness and shame with "garments of skin" that He made (Genesis 3:21).
Oh, the heart of our loving Creator!
Fellow sojourner, I have no way of knowing if or how you might be struggling in your acceptance of God's declarations over your life and specific circumstances. I have no way of knowing in what ways the enemy's whisper of "Did God really say?" is tempting you toward disobedience and loss (though in the moment of temptation, what always results in loss, the enemy counterfeits as gain).
But I do know this:
Because the Savior experienced earthly loss—loss of His position and rights and life—you and I can experience true gain. True peace. True contentment. True hope. True fellowship and true oneness. True purpose. True fulfillment and true effectiveness. True life. Not just life eternal, but life abundant, every single day—yes, even on this sin-assaulted, fractured planet.
Truly, it's when we choose to foolishly believe the enemy's lies and cave to his suggestions, that we tragically forfeit, so tragically lose, the unmerited, glorious gain gifted by our Creator.
Why would we want to do that?
No sin is worth it.
