According to the FBI, most bank robberies are “Unsophisticated and unprofessional” crimes. Despite the ubiquity of all-seeing surveillance cameras, 76% of robbers don’t bother with a disguise, and 95% have no plan to conceal their spoils.
Case in point, Jack Shreiner. This criminal mastermind handed a New York City bank teller a note demanding money. She surrendered $7,791 in cash. After four days, our evil genius then decided the best place to stash his loot was in a savings account. The enigmatic part of his brilliant plan is that he selected the very bank he had just robbed. Perhaps he thought the teller had Alzheimer’s?
Another “unsophisticated” robbery allowed Detroit detectives to ferret out the villain almost instantaneously. This green hornet apparently believed strongly enough in recycling to write his demand note on the back of a used envelope he had received. No, he didn’t remember to tear off the part inscribed with his name and residential address.
There is only one explanation for this type of behavior: sin makes you stupid.
When a Christian realizes this simple truism, human behavior becomes far easier to decipher.
Ephesians 4:17-18 — this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
When you sin, you draw the curtain of folly over the Spirit’s illuminating wisdom.
Take Samson; everyone’s favorite brawn-over-brains Bible hero. In Judges 16, immediately after the Gaza gate crashing fiasco, Samson selects a delightful dish named Delilah, the same way he always does, based entirely on the menu’s picture. Said cup-cake then innocently asks him what is his kryptonite. New ropes, yeah that’s it, fresh cords will do the trick.
- Kryptonite rope
When the Philistine assassination crew just happens to locate him as the last knot is being tied, it doesn’t occur to our hero that his leading lady has led him into an ambush.
Things only get weirder, with looms and hair weaving and more hints that Delilah might be a mole on Lex Luther’s payroll. But even when she is vexing his soul to death with nagging—old school Chinese water torture by a proverbial dripping tap—he still hasn’t figured out what anyone who hasn’t yet had their eyes gouged out should see.
- Perseverance
There is only one explanation, sin makes you stupid. Sin robs you of your reasoning and your rationality.
So many counseling situations prove this point, don’t they? You want to ask, “What exactly did you think would happen to your debt when you opted to pay it off with your credit card?” Or, “So how long did you think you could flirt ‘innocently’ with your secretary before that turned into something more?”
When a pyromaniac singes his eye brows, it takes a tremendously self-controlled counselor to keep “I told you so” on a leash.
So this is the advice I give young adults. Select for yourself some people whose godliness, counsel, and wisdom you trust. Do this now while you are not stumbling in the fog of unrepentant folly. And then get into the habit of running everything by your trusted war council. Your financial decisions, your relationship choices, your career options…nothing is off limits for your consiglieres. And then, when they tell you this boyfriend isn’t yet husband material, or this pyramid scheme is a financial tomb, listen to them.
Proverbs 12:15 — The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
When you fall into sin, you lose your power to discern.
Sin hits the dimmer switch on the light of your rationality; the longer you sin, the darker you become. Next thing you know, you are the spiritual equivalent of a bald, blind guy grinding grain in utter darkness like a shaven mule.
