To Die Is Gain

      Money grows with time. It does so by compounded interest. The wages of the lender is paid by he borrower. Indeed, "usury" is making a profit off the misfortune of others. For instance, when one borrows money for a new home, let's say for twenty years, they may pay as much for borrowing as for the home. 

     Five-percent sounds like little cost until it's compounded. One-hundred thousand sounds affordable but the real cost must include the cost of using money. That cost is $65,000. You may well have afforded $100,000 with the simple interest of $5,000 but interest repetitive over time makes the borrower a servant to his desires, and a slave to the lender.

     The compounding of money over time is analogous to the wages of sin. One sin seems so simple and harmless. Surely, God will afford us one sin! One sin isn't the problem: but the practice of sin. Let's take a look at a few examples:

Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. (1 Kings 11:11 ESV).

     Sin is the disregard for the Law of God. Sure, God is gracious; He will turn a blind eye to one sin because He understands our flesh. Solomon's problem was with its practice. Of course, practice is when sin becomes a lifestyle, and with time, sinners become more conflagrant sinners because with practice it comes easier! Solomon's wages were only to lose his earthly kingdom. God knew that he would quit practicing sin, and save his membership in the Kingdom which counts - the Kingdom of God.
     It is not one sin which makes a man without a kingdom, but the practice of sin. Isaiah warned of practicing sin:

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. (Isa 30:1)

     Sin is additive - one sin leads to another. That's for two sins. The "simple" result is that one sin leads to another one. With only one repetition, it is still not a practice but the "wage" or payment for sin is losing one's spirit with God. Even for Christians - God's "rebellious children" repetitive sin takes one out of communion. Does God go away? No, but he becomes silent since he will never leave nor forsake His children (Deut 31:6).
    Everyone is born in iniquity (Psalm 51:5). All have sinned and deserve death (Rom 3:23). However, God is concerned with His "children": James, speaking with his "brethren" in Christ warns:

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (Jas 1:15)

     Calvinists don't appreciate the inspired words of James. He warned Christians that sin can kill them. What is spiritual death? It is not having eternal life (Rom 6:23). James is referring to the practice of sin. How many sins will God endure? We don't know but rest assured when "interest" in God's gift is expired, a Christian may lose his or her reward which is eternal life!

     Faith is God's gift (Ephes 2:8). God is not into usury. His gift is free and expects no principle nor charges interest. If He did, we would never be able to afford it! Any minute interest which He could have charged, compounded over eternity is infinite. However, eternal life, unlike living in a fancy home, will not make you a slave to anyone. 

     God does want you to serve Him. Service to Him is simple interest: practice loving Him and your fellow citizens! To be honest, the latter is hard work, but is obtainable because God helps you to love others, if Christians show an interest.

     Showing no interest in God our your fellow man, indicates an interest in the law of sin:

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. (John 8:34)

     There is a reward for practicing righteousness which is eternal life. Practicing righteousness compounds itself as well. With loving God, love comes easier to the point that we can love our neighbors with ease. It is to come with such ease that we can even love our enemies; we can't do that alone but practicing our faith makes all things possible (Matt 19:26)! With that said, sin makes eternal life impossible. Jesus was speaking (John 8:34) to his disciples - his followers. If they continued in his word, the truth would make them free (John 8:31-32). Free of what? The wages of sin which is death (Rom 6:23).
     Satan is a usurer. God hates that (Exod 22:15). Satan compounds your sin. Ironically, the more people sin the less they enjoy sin. In order to have increasingly more pleasure or to retain what one gets, one sin leads to more sin and more intense sin. (Yes, there are degrees of sin. I have written on that before.)
     Sinners must intensify their sins to intensify their pleasure. Sin compounds itself; that "innocent, harmless, little" sin compounds into living for sin and in sin. When that time comes, sin compounds itself. What will you owe Satan when it's all over? The practice of sin compounded for a lifetime, and well you owe Satan your life. In a Faustian manner you have traded your soul for pleasure. What's more, all the while you may think not!
     If we pretend we are Christians, maybe God won't know the difference! God's not stupid. He already thought of that. Faith is a gift but it must be maintained! We show interest to God, and he removes interest from the silly Prince of the Air - the Devil. His "bank' has ample love for the world, and to borrow from it is free!
     All God demands is that we trust His bank whose "President" is Him. When the gift is given, if the recipient has not trusted in the benefactor, and has no fidelity to the "Bank", then they may become spiritually insolvent. Like the prodigal son who spent his inheritance frivolously, Christians, those young sons of God, may do the same. To inherit the Kingdom of God requires fidelity to the King! Faith compounded daily comes to add up to a very significant inheritance: "the meek will inherit the earth" (Psalm 37:11) - a new world, all clean and spiffy!
     Now for my own purpose: the argument is gateway drugs. The implication is that a lesser drug leads to a greater drug with intensified pleasure and/or more often used. For my own case, for instance, cigarette-smoking which seems a benign sin, allowed me to sin more often. I had already shown my weakness for the drug, and the longer I smoked the more I smoked. That one sin compounded itself with time. Because I sinned once and became accustomed to pleasure, I sought more pleasure. Smoking did not satisfy that longing, so I did other sins and more magnificent sins. I lusted after the things of the flesh.
     I began to do many things which a Christian should not do. Believe it or not, my cigarette-smoking was an enabler. I thought, I have already sinned in this manner so I may as well sin in other matters. Cigarettes were a gateway sin in two manners: (1) I practiced smoking more often and got better with practice, and (2) I began to practice more types of sin. As scripture says, sin leads to sin.
     Sin is compounded in all types, and there is even cross-breeding of sin. I have done all manner of sins, and while I smoked, I thought, why bother? I quit trying not to sin! I had loaned Satan me for my pleasure. He wanted to keep me in sin by compounding more pleasure, then one day, I had enough of slavery to him and the law of sin.
     When I quit smoking it became easier to quit sinning in all areas. "Blessedness" is righteousness compounding itself and the compounding of that is the journey to sanctification - setting oneself apart from iniquity -  or freedom from the wages of sin as sin diminishes. The desire for pleasure will never be eliminated, but it will be diminished to the point that Christians are no longer servants to sin!
     On the issue of marijuana:  It is a drug and is sinful. The use of it will indeed be compounded. I have seen slaves to marijuana do no more than lie is a state of euphoria on their sofas and be of no use to anyone, even themselves. One couple who practiced sinning with marijuana told me that they never were even interested in their children, let alone God. Neither were they sober and vigilant, and the lion could have devoured them easily (1 Pet 5:8) because that's how Satan enslaves.
     Without regard to any so-called "scientific" study, the young people in the drug rehab all testified that marijuana led them in the pursuit of harder drugs. That's the way any sin is compounded. Thus, marijuana is a gateway drug and a gateway sin. The practice of anything is at first a sin then a ritual. I practice my daily Bible study everyday because I am addicted to the pursuit of truth. If my day passes without learning more about God, I am uncomfortable. My addiction is that I must know the truth! Having that addiction protects me from sinful addictions. I still want to sin, but if I am practicing God's will, I am less prone to sin. (God blocks the gateway to sin.)
     Likewise, practicing sin becomes addiction to sin. I am not a pharmacist so I cannot say that marijuana is a classical narcotic. I can say, though, that it provides an emotional addiction, and a spiritually wrong addiction as well. Saying that is not addictive and dangerous is a gamble - a user can lose both their life and afterlife.
     Sinners think of death as ceasing to exist. Slavery to marijuana is ceasing to exist both emotionally and spiritually. I saw a young man whose life was dedicated to Maryjane, and who had not interest in the opposite sex. That fifteen-year old boy was a slave to marijuana, and with time, is still emotionally fifteen-years old. He handles his issues, not rationally, but under the guidance of marijuana - that is to say without sobriety and with little vigilance. He continually opens himself to the devouring lion, and much of the time his life is chaotic.
     I have spoken of the great "wages" which sinners pay for their pleasures. How about the usurer? The malefactor of your pleasure is the Devil. He gains from your weaknesses. What has he to gain? Your soul. You do indeed trade off your souls for pleasure. When that is done, God is undermined and the Serpent still alive in his tree or on his pole (Num 21:8-9).
     The Serpents M.O. is deception. Like the tobacco pushers years ago who claimed that cigarettes were healthy and cool, the marijuana lobby has the exact same M.O. There indeed is nothing new under the sun, and Satan still uses the same old lies. Worse yet; people still believe the same old lies! How gullible sinners are! Not only will marijuana gradually kill you but you may be devoured by the powers of whom you ignore.
     Interest in God compounds as well. As your benefactor, your inheritance is increased until the maximum is attained for His servant:

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phil 1:20-21)

     Maintaining Christ as your "banker" is your gain. Death is when "gain" is obtained. It is eternal life. That is in which I am most interested; all other things are secondary!