Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Hebrews 12:17 NIV

 

When the crystal vase crashed to the ground, splintering into shards, there was no going back. It was broken forever.

Humans can turn relationships into wrecks and the Bible doesn’t shy away from telling the truth about the lives of people of faith. The shattered pieces of a broken vase may reflect light in beautiful prisms, but they’ll never form a vase again. There is always forgiveness with God, but there are consequences to our sinful choices that may change things forever.

The Bible tells a story of a family whose relationships had gone very awry. Deceit started with the father, who lied, saying his wife was his sister and letting her be captured by a foreign king. She favored one of their twin sons over the other and coached him in tricking his elderly father into blessing him, instead of his older brother. After that, the younger brother had to run for his life, later getting a taste of his own deception, resulting in the consequence of seven years’ labor (Genesis 29).

But even prior to that, the elder brother, not valuing the position God had given him as eldest, thoughtlessly, and foolish traded his inheritance rights for a bowl of stew. When he realized, later, he couldn’t get those rights back, he was remorseful over his actions, but not repentant toward God (Genesis 26-27).

Not everyone is repentant when caught in sin.  When we’re remorseful rather than repentant, we look outward rather than inward, blaming others and making excuses. We may not believe it, but our sin will destroy us—that’s why Jesus had to die in our place.

God loves you too much to see you destroyed by your sin. He offers forgiveness and His presence in whatever consequences you’re living through now.