Can forgiven folks still reap the fruits of sin

Can folks whom God has forgiven still reap the fruits of sin? I think so.

Look at Numbers 14:20 and Numbers 14:23 let's rightly divide the word of God. In the story we see that God forgives the spies who went to spy out the land. Yet they were still not allowed to go into the Promised Land. And even Moses was forgiven but not allowed to receive certain things in this world.

Okay, I know that we are in Christ and now we are accepted in the beloved. There is peace between us and God and some aspects of the old testament are not applicable to us. And yet, I still in many ways this wholes true. We sin often and God has forgiven us in Christ but we still have to deal with the fruits of our sins.

I'm thinking about this because I've been thinking of the rapture and the great tribulation. Whether or not we are raptured, we have to be afraid of the consequences of sin and we must shy away from provoking God. As I said, True he's our Father and we have passed from death to life. But there is still chastisement. Think of the many healers in the past century who died of the very things they were healing folks from or who came to a bad end. Why? Perhaps they didn't give God the glory. Perhaps they were presumptuous. Let us just try to be counted worthy and to be as good and as pure as we can be.

The biggest sin I have seen among Christians is rebellion against God by failure to believe. They have talents that they put in the ground. We are all given the gift of being able to heal when we witness. Signs are supposed to follow. But we don't step out in faith and try to heal anyone as proof that God still heals. If God has said we can do something: take a land, fight spiritual giants, heal the sick, raise the dead...then we should do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

I decided years ago that whenever I heard Christian speculative fiction writers say they couldn't help be published that I would simply believe and speak faith. I also decided years ago that whenever I heard Black speculative fiction writers say that they couldn't be published that I would simply believe and speak faith. And look, I a Christian Black speculative fiction writer was published by a secular traditional company. And I have no doubt that all my books will be published. When I hear Christians speak about impossibilities and speak doubt and despair, what can I do? They think they are being realistic. They say they trust and love God so much...and yet they indulge in the sin God hates most, the besetting sin for all humans: the sin of saying, "Has God said?"

And let us never rebel against God by being faithless. Numbers 14:9 and many passages in the Bible equate faithlessness with rebellion. Remember Psalm 78:41 "They turned back and tempted God and limited God." Psalm 78:32 I wish we could understand how sinful it is in God's eyes to walk around saying what God cannot do. . . especially if one has already seen God's power to deliver. And it is really fearful to contemplate what God does with those who do not believe. We can reap the fruits of many sins, the fruit of faithlessness is the harshest. Remember, we have a God who tells us that cowards are among those who do not enter heaven. A scary thing to ponder. Let us not hide our talents in the ground. And let us not be afraid of giants. We have already conquered them in Christ.