Recently, officials from the U.S. Coast Guard revealed the results of a series of massive drug busts. The month-long operation based out of a port in Florida netted 16 tons of cocaine.
The officials estimated that the drugs had a street value of over $1 billion. One billion dollars worth of cocaine in that one place? Can you believe that?
But more than the monetary value of the drugs, what really got my attention was what one Coast Guard Captain had to say about it.
“To look at those bales as just cocaine is short-sighted,” Mark Fedor said. “When those smugglers are racing across the Caribbean or the Pacific, they’re not just carrying cocaine. They’re delivering violence, corruption and instability to a part of the world—the Western hemisphere—that just can’t absorb it.”
This statement reminded me of something I’ve heard numerous Gospel Preachers say over the years about the deceptive power of sin:
“Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go…it will keep you longer than you wanted to stay…and it will cost you more than you wanted to pay.”
The pleasure that sin offers is temporary (Heb. 11:25). The world offers several false promises—fame, friends, fortune. However, the reality is that the world, with all it has to offer, will only leave us feeling hollow, used, forgotten and worthless.
Just ask Jonah, Samson, the Prodigal Son, et. al. Rebellion against God always brings much more pain and heartache than we ever imagined. Let us be resolved to seek Him with a whole heart.
“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:10-11)
