“No man is an island.”

So we hear. But did you know there is more to that quote?

The full quote by John Donne is this:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

Honestly, I did not know of the rest of the quote. But WOW! It sure changes the meaning doesn’t it? Take the first part by itself and it sounds like no man is alone. No man needs to be alone. No man can survive alone.

And I’ll agree with that.

But the rest of the quote gives a whole new twist. Let me show you what I mean. It is common to hear someone say, “My sin is my sin and I’m not hurting anyone anyway. What I do in the privacy of my home does not affect you.”  Well, in a sense, that is true. But more often than not that phrase is used to justify sins like porn, or lust, or reading offensive literature or watching a movie that is tainted. We justify those things saying we watch it or read it in the privacy of our home so I’m not hurting anyone. Have you heard that?  Shoot, I’ve even used it.

I wonder if thoughts like that went to Achan’s mind when he stole some of the sacred things of Jericho and hid them under his tent? Maybe. But little did he know or realize the chain reaction of consequences his actions would bring about. The lost “innocence” of Joshua and the people of Israel. The lost battle. His death. The death of his whole family.

Would he have taken the sacred things if he had known? That’s not the point, of course.  He did and the consequences were a whole lot bigger than just a few trinkets.

That’s the trouble with sin. You cannot contain it. In time it will destroy you and those you love. Private sin? No such animal.

“Father, You see my sin. Help me to see it as You do. And help me to say no to hiding or thinking I can hide my sin.”