God’s punishment for sin is not to lash out in wrath or to undermine passive aggressively; it is simply to let us have what we have sought when we have not sought Him. Sin is seeking anything other than God, His will, and His Kingdom. And all sin leads to our demise. So God does not need to hasten our suffering to punish us for sin – He can simply leave that to us.
When we follow God, He stands between us and sin’s consequences. God says not to get drunk with wine, and so when we obey we are saved from the pain of the alcoholic life. God says to love one another as He loved us, and when we obey, we are saved from the loneliness and neuroses that come when we seek only our own good.
I’ve been pondering the narcissistic life recently, and have seen that true narcissists cannot follow God because following God requires submission, and a true narcissist cannot submit to anyone else but themselves. They are incapable of putting the needs of others above their own, and so cannot obey the first rule of Christianity – love others as Christ has loved us. But further pondering made me question whether any of us, narcissist or not, can follow that rule, and if not, what that means.
Praise God for grace, mercy, forgiveness, and His constant encouragement to try again.
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