A neighborhood child, I’ll call Abby, who was also in my daughter’s first grade class, showed the effect of one person’s sin. Abby’s father left her mother—and her—for another woman. Abby’s anger and hurt spilled out on the neighborhood children and her classmates.

Who did this man’s adultery hurt? His wife and child obviously grieved. But my children also suffered. The sin committed by a man we’d never met disrupted our neighborhood and his daughter’s classroom.

Believing we can corral the consequences of our private sins is like throwing a flaming, gasoline-soaked rag into an apartment and being astonished when the whole building burns down. Continue Reading