1. Be unfaithful to my wife.

2. Bring reproach upon the gospel with my life and teaching.

3. Become so irritable and ungodly with my children that they can’t see the true Father in heaven for their lousy father on earth.

Years ago I read Don Carson’s book, How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil. He taught me to see suffering from many angles, one of which is this: death is not the worst thing to experience – there are worse things than dying. He helped me to put suffering and evil in a perspective that I had not understood. Dying is a grevious part of the evil, broken world that we live in, to be sure. But death is the response of God to what is most evil – sin. We come to understand the gravity and offensiveness of sin when we see the just consequence of our sin. Sin is worse than Death! Death helps me to see most clearly what God sees in me – my sin.

That so many people on earth will live to sin another day is because of the mercies of God; he is longsuffering. But since death comes to all men because all have sinned, there is only one hope for all men: Christ Crucified for the sins of man. Do you believe that your sin deserves your death? Then escape the consequence of your sin by turning to the only one who can suffer in your place that you set free to live for God. His name is Jesus Christ. Though you die, yet you will live again.

We need God’s grace to say, “I would rather die than to sin again.” With that kind of view of our sin and the great mercies of our Lord, we can live as God would have us to.