1 John 5:16
[16] “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”
Three people in the Bible come to mind whenever I think about sinning a sin unto death. Moses was the meekest man in all the earth, but his patience ran thin, and he allowed the bad behavior of others to affect him. His disobedience to God cost him the promise land, and he was not allowed to enter in. Moses was the great patriarch of the Old Testament, and this teaches us to be careful, because at any point in life we can venture down this deadly path.
A second person who comes to mind is Achan. He stole the Babylonian garments, the silver and the wedge of gold. His sin not only led him down this deadly path, but his entire family was taken down with him. We must be careful, because sinful living affects those around us. His family paid for his own wickedness. What a tragedy, but what a truth we should remember.
Finally, I think about the couple in Acts chapter five, who thought they were deceiving Peter, when in reality they were lying to the Holy Ghost. They both died that day as a result of their sinful deceit. This proves that God will tell a preacher when folks are not living right. But even if you do manage to fool the preacher, you cannot fool God. Sin always brings consequences, and sometimes those consequences lead to death.
We never really know the weight of our decisions, until it is too late to change them. We are then faced to live with the decisions we have made, or perhaps, we can’t live because of the decisions we have made. We should always fear sin, and never treat it lightly. It could take us down a deadly path at any moment.