Pleasures of Dishonest Gain are Short Lived – (Proverbs 20:17)

Daily Bible Study
The Bible does not say there is no pleasure in dishonest gain, but it does confirm those pleasures are short-lived. Moreover, the consequences of such actions, often brings more pain than the initial pleasure received by the ill-gotten gain. And unless our consciousness has become completely seared, deceit and dishonesty often bring with it the fear of being caught. God will make sure that the fear of being found out by others predominates our day to day thoughts. In addition, God will bring a fear upon those who steal because of the rebellion in their hearts. One of the telltale signs of this is people who steal often become overly fearful that someone may do to them, what they have done to others. This is because God through the Holy Spirit puts the fear of their own wickedness in their hearts.

When we gain something through sin we not only store up additional wrath for ourselves in the future, but we also bring human consequences into our lives for the here and now. The Bible promises that the sweetness from such gain is short-lived and can bring long term damage into our lives. Dear child of God, we are not unscathed by sin, why? Because sin always brings decay and destruction. This is because acts of sin damage the fabric of our hearts, which not only makes it easier for us to sin the next time, but begins the hardening process against God. Repeated sin hardens our hearts toward God, toward others who love us and leads us into eventual destruction by the very sin we sought to hide and conceal. We must never forget sin is always hungry, sin never has had enough and sin will only stop, when like a virus, it destroys its host. After which it will move on to its next victim.