Why does it feel like I've been given a stone and a snake?

Excerpt from 'Finding God in Unexpected Places'

Not so long ago I sat in a restaurant and listened to yet another variation on a familiar theme (referring to the Parable of the Prodigal Son). A good friend of mine whom I'll call Daniel confided that he had decided to leave his wife after fifteen years of marriage. He had met someone younger and prettier, someone who 'makes me feel alive, like I haven't felt in years.'

Daniel, a Christian, knew well the person and moral consequences of what he was about to do. His decision to leave would inflct permanent damage on his wife and three children. Even so, he said, the force pulling him toward the younger woman was too strong to resist.

I listened to his story with sadness and grief. Then, during the dessert course, he dropped the bombshell. 'The reason I wanted to see you tonight was to ask you a question. Do you think God can forgive something as awful as I am about to do?'

...

Here is what I told my friend Daniel, in a nutshell. 'Can God forgive you? Of course. Read your Bible. David, Peter, Paul - God builds his church on the backs of pepole who murder, commit adultery, deny him, and persecute his followers. But because of Christ, forgiveness is now our problem, not God's. What we have to go through to commit sin distances us from God - we change in the very act of rebellion - and this is no guarantee we will come back. You ask me about forgiveness now, but will you even want it later, especially if it involves repentance?"

Several months after our conversation, Daniel made his choice. I have yet to see any evidence of repentance. Now he tends to rationalize his decision as a way of escaping an unhappy marriage. He has rejected most of his Christian friends - 'Too narrow-minded,' he says - and looks instead for people who celebrate his newfound liberation.

To me though, Daniel does not seem very liberated. The price of his 'freedom' has meant turning his back on those who cared about him most. He also tells me God is not a part of his life right now. 'Maybe later,' he says.

...

As George MacDonald put it, we are condemned not for the wicked things we've done, but for not leaving them.

George MacDonald's got another great quote:
"Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it."


It's like deja vu all over again.

Breathe, just breathe. And let it go.