Resources/Articles
"You Just Ruined It"
It is a terrible thing to have a new dress, shirt, or pair of shoes ruined because we spilt something on it that will not come out. Young children have probably heard their parents’ displeasure after having played baseball with their “good clothes” on, especially when the dirt and grass stains cannot be removed. There are many other things people ruin which are far worse than grape juice spilt on a white shirt.
Immoral relationships of fornication, adultery, and incest have ruined lives with divorce, disease, guilt, and anxiety. Dreams have been shattered. Hopes are dissolved. It gives what God calls “marriage” a bad name. It causes some people to believe the relationship between a man and woman does not work. Maybe there is a better alternative, like living with someone of the same sex or living together with the opposite sex temporarily without the commitment of marriage. Can people not develop a human relationship the heavenly way God intends - a relationship God said was “good” from the beginning? Why do people want to ruin such a “good” thing?
A good name is hard to come by and the easiest thing to ruin. Judas was probably once a goodnatured fellow, but within a few hours, he turned into a traitor. Cain was a good brother until jealousy led him to murder. David was as courageous as any young man you would meet, but he lost self-control and his lust for another woman gave occasion for the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme (2 Samuel 11:14). “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches...” (Proverbs 22:1).
Consider the greatest ruin in Luke 6:49: “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.” Great is the ruin of a house, mansion, cathedral, and palace, because it is know of the skill, energy, time, and toil it took to put such a building together. Instead of preserving the structure through diligent maintenance techniques, some of these historic sites now lie in waste.
When a soul is lost, the labor in teaching, the patience, and the prayers for that soul’s obedience is all thrown away. The trials or temptations of life through which some souls pass easily consume them. They are not prepared for the storms, the wind, and the floods, and their life lies in ruin (Matthew 7:24-27).
We may have a hard time “estimating” the value on a soul lost, but God knows all too well the worth of each soul. He told us it is worth more than the entire material world (Mark 8:36). The ruin of one life is bad, but when one life is ruined and lost in hell, sadly, others soon follow. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6).
We cannot sit back and think, “This is my life. What I do has nothing to do with you! It is not ruining things for you!” Yes, it is. It ruins the virtuous traits of self-respect, decency, morality, goodness, responsibility, loyalty, and hope. It is ruined for yourself and others. We do not live in “our own littler world.” We live in the only world there is. Obey God. Do not ruin life for yourself or others!
