Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Why should I avoid sin if I can simply confess later? Might as well do what I feel like and then I'll just confess. This is a recurrent question that many are faced with on a daily basis. Will God not forgive if we confess the sin later? Yes, if we repent, He will forgive. So, the reaction is usually: Okay then, so let me be! But wait a second. It is not that simple. Let us consider the question carefully.
The question implies that since I'll be forgiven later, then let me enjoy my life now. First we have to ask ourselves: Could God be the originator of such a thought? Obviously no! So, who is the originator? As we saw in the previous video kicking off this series on satanic warfare, the devil is a liar and the father of it. So, we have to consider each of his proposals very carefully.
God will forgive if we repent. So, the fundamental question then becomes: Will we indeed repent? And this is where we expose the hidden poison under this beautifully packaged idea. There is a reason why St. Paul commands us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why would he say such a thing if God is merciful? Well, because he understood that one bad move can destroy our lives forever.
The first problem with such a thought is that we approach God in a legalistic manner, meaning we are not necessarily seeking a relationship with Him. We are not seeking to remain in His image. Spiritual life, in this case, has just boiled down to a list of things to do or not to do and I'll just confess the sins that I'm not supposed to be doing.
Unfortunately, this approach leaves no room for a love relationship with this incredible being who is God. There's no room for Him to dwell in me. And St. Gregory the Theologian will respond and say to us:
''It would be absurd to grasp for money but throw away your health, or to lavishly cleanse your body but neglect cleansing your soul. It is ridiculous to seek for freedom from earthly slavery but not care about heavenly freedom, or to zealously do good to others without wanting to do good to yourself. It is foolish to eagerly try to dress and live extravagantly, but never consider how you yourself could become precious.
''But when mercy is offered freely at your feet, you despise it for its cheapness. Every moment is fitting to cleanse yourself, because you may die at any moment. With Paul, I shout to you with his loud voice, ''behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 1 '' '' (St. Gregory the Theologian)
Let us, therefore, not despise God's mercy, but embrace it. In reality, people that choose to adopt this attitude of sin now and repent later, more often than not, don't repent. They usually don’t, because the devil is slowly gaining authority over them without them realizing. When Adam and Eve forsook God and chose the devil in Genesis 3, they became under devil's authority. And when we, today, adopt such an attitude, we do the same.
Although we re-became under the authority of God and baptism when we looked toward the West and rejected the devil and looked to the East and accepted God, through sin, we can slowly hand ourselves over to the devil once more. When we do that, he jumps on the opportunity and eventually rules over us again. And when this happens, we are disconnected form the source of life and so, naturally, find death. In his Epistle, St. James described this when he says:
'' 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full- grown, brings forth death.'' (James 1:14-15)
And death is the lack of life. So, the more I sin, the more authority the devil has over me, the more I am unable to resist sin, which eventual' leads to addiction. So, in other words, although God can forgive my sin in confession, the chances for repentance definitely decrease.
Another major point to consider is the consequence of sin. If I do repent, confess and partake of the Eucharist, I am reunited with God, but the consequence of sin remains. Think about it. If someone cheats in an exam and gets caught, will the teacher restore his grade if he confessed? If a murderer confesses his act, will the murdered one be resurrected? When a smoker finally quits after many years of struggle, will the nicotine disappear from his lungs? No! The consequence of sin remains.
Imagine this: every time I commit a sin, it is like digging a hole under myself. The more I sin, the deeper the hole gets. Once I realize the truth about sin that it does lead to suffering, I naturally want to get out of this hole, but now I need to start climbing up to the ground's level. The deeper I am in sin, meaning the deeper the hole, the more difficult it becomes.
There is a significant difference between someone that commits a sin once versus another one that commits it many times versus someone that is addicted to it. This concept needs to
1 See 2 Corinthians 6:2
be crystal clear in our minds, because unfortunately, the devil deceives so many people into falling into sin several times before repentance or even between confessions.
For example, when someone has just confessed a certain sin that he is struggling with and then happens to fall back into the sin a week later, the devil encourages him to repeat the sin since he still has to re-face the priest anyways. He plants this idea in our minds where he makes this re-meeting the priest become such a heavy burden. He wants to discourage us from confession.
And if we do insist on confessing, then he tells us: You might as well repeat the sin as many times as you please till then. But again, the person doesn't realize that when he gives himself to this thought and repeats the sin, he's digging a deeper hole for himself, and in the process, he is givin' more and more authority to the devil to rule over him.
In Matthew 24, Christ says:
'' 12 (...) because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.'' (Matthew 24:12-13)
These words are rightly fulfilled. The love of many is growing cold. Let us, therefore, be of those who endure to the end. Let us be with those that say with St. Paul:
'' 39 (...) we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.'' (Hebrews 10:39)
Let us cling to God. Through fasting and prayer, let us fight the good fight and start climbing whichever holes we allowed ourselves to fall in. And let us be wise not to dig more holes for ourselves.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever. Amen.