Many people do not know that it cost more and takes more effort to live unholy than to live holy. The primary reasons being, when we are not living holy, we do not have the support from God as we do when living holy. I know the pain and hurts of not living holy. That is why I want to share some of the effects to help you avoid them:

• Separation from God
• Always stressed
• Unanswered prayers
• Satan entry way
• Bad example

Have you ever been around someone that has extremely bad breath? Can you imagine that person getting in front of your face and talking to you with a breath that smells like a garbage truck? Does that sound pleasing? You would not want to have a “close” conversation with that individual would you?Or what about someone with a bad body odor; can you imagine sitting around them for a long period of time? Wouldn’t that make you want to puke? When living an unholy lifestyle, it causes us to be separated from God.

When God created man, His intent was not for us to be separated from Him but to fellowship with him. However, after Adam and eve sinned, things changed. Their eyes were opened because of their sin. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you’?” (Gen 3:7-9)

You notice that after sinning, they hid from God. That’s what happened to those that are not living a holy lifestyle. They try to avoid going to church or having conversations that talks about sin. I used to be like that. There were times in life when I wasn’t living holy and during that time I tried to avoid having conversations about holiness as much as I possible could.

My relationship with God was drowning day by day. Even though I went to church, I wasn’t listening to the word. I heard it, but not listened to it. There is a difference.

Sometimes I wondered why God seems so far from me. I couldn’t feel His presence at all or hear his voice. The worse thing for any Christian is to feel separated from God. When that happens, all hope seems to be lost.

Always stressed

There are certain factors in our lives that are caused by not living right. For example, when someone is living unholy, they are always on their guard to making sure that no one sees them. I can relate to that.

I remember time in the dorms when I would make sure that no one was around when I know a certain show was about to come up. I made sure that I was in a position to change the channel or the website whenever someone was coming around. That caused me so much stress because I was constantly worrying about someone finding out some of the things I did behind the scene. Some times I wondered if someone saw anything, which made me very nervous.

Unanswered prayers

Have you ever wonder why God does not answer some of your prayers? Part of the reason could be because you are living a life that is full of sin. You cannot please God while living in the flesh. “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16) When there is sin, especially willful sin in our lives, and we are not obeying the word, God will not hear us. Isaiah 50:2 tells us, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” and Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”

Prayer is a way for us to verbalize our needs and desires to God. It can be very frustrated to pray the same prayer for a while and not getting back any response from the Lord. I have been there and it doesn’t feel good. Make sure that you are living holy and pure before God so that He can answer your prayers.

Satan’s entry way

Satan is very cunning deceitful. He knows just how to “snick” in certain areas of our lives without us being aware. I wasn’t caught up in my sexual sins (lust, porn, masturbation) in a day. The more I feed it, the more it grew.

When I first started lusting after women, I started with just one look for about two seconds. As time went by, the more I looked, the longer I looked. Before realizing it, I was already caught up in it.

Same with pornography, it started with surfing the web without any intensions of going to a pornographic website. Then a though came to mind, “why don’t you type in such and such” so I figured, it wouldn’t hurt to look at girls with short skirts. From that moment on, I couldn’t stop going back to those websites.

Here is the number way Satan uses to get people caught up in sexual sin or sins in general. Have this thought ever come to your mind whether being persuaded by someone or just by yourself, “it doesn’t hurt to try it.” That’s all he want you to do–just one try. That’s how most people become addicts. It only takes ones to get.

Look at Adam and Eve. They only ate the apple “ones” and caused the entire human race to suffer. When you know how the enemy operates, the more you’ll understand that “we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). Do not let him “snick” in.

Do not give the enemy any room whatsoever to influence your walk with God. If it means you don’t watch TV pass a certain time, do it. We all have our struggles and God understands. But there is a difference between someone struggle and getting help, and someone struggling and not asking for help. The enemy always attacks those that want their freedom. He knows that ones they are set free, they will be free for good. However, those that are struggling and don’t seek help, he cares less about them because he knows he has complete control over them.Satan is walking night and day, looking for those whom he me devour. I know some times we all slip and fall. When that happens, dust yourself, get up and keep running. God is running with you. He wants you to win more than you want to win. He is more concern about your holiness than you.

Bad example to others

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16)When you are not living the “Christian” life, it causes others question your faith. Why? Because you say one thing but do another. When that happens, people start to question more than your faith. They question your integrity. You will not be very effective when people view you as “the do what I say and not what I do Christian“.

If we are going to preach the word of God, we should also live the word of God. Our lives should be a living testimony of what we preach. When we fail to do that, it causes others to run away from Jesus. Have you ever heard people say something like, “I want to become a Christian or go to church, but church folks are corny” I have heard that several times.

I thank God for not letting anyone know that during the time I use to be “the do what I say and not what I do Christians”. Please, learn to live what you preach. Remember that the Jesus most people will know is the Jesus inside of you. I want you to ask yourself this question, Is Jesus in you touching the lives of others? If not, then you really have to examine yourself.

There are so many effects of not living a holy lifestyle, The above are just a few of them.

Examine your relationship with the Lord. What are some of the things you do that God is not pleased? If you don’t know, take a few moments to asses your walk with God. Ask God to show you what is in your life that is causing you to be unfruitful. What is holding you back from serving God whole-heartedly?