Who’s it going to hurt?

Who’s it going to hurt?

That was probably what the Amalekite was thinking when he went to David to give him the news of Saul’s death. 

But instead of just giving him the straight truth, he fudged it a bit.  At a guess, he saw the exchange between Saul and his armor-bearer where Saul asked that his armor-bearer kill him.

Perhaps thinking that there might be a reward in it for him if he said that he had killed Saul, David’s enemy, with his own hand, the Amalekite told David that he had killed Saul at Saul’s request. 

He may have thought, “Who could my lie hurt?  Saul is already dead.  And if I can profit by his death, well then…”

But David’s response was not at all what the Amalekite expected.  Instead of getting rewarded, he was killed.  David told him,

Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’ (2 Samuel 1:16)

Who did his actions hurt?  Ultimately, they hurt himself. 

That’s what all sin does.  It destroys us.  Even the small, seemingly insignificant ones. 

Adam and Eve probably thought the same thing in the garden of Eden.  “Who could it hurt, eating this fruit?” 

But the end result was their deaths.

The Bible says that, “The wages of sin is death.”  (Romans 6:23) 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a “big” sin or a “small” sin.  All sin leads to death in the end.

So let’s not fool ourselves by saying, “It’s just a little sin.  Who could it hurt?” 

God takes all sin seriously and so should we.

As Peter wrote,

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  (1 Peter 1:14-16)