Consequences
A mouse smells some cheese. He goes to investigate following his nose. He finds it. It seems too good to be true. There it is sitting right in front of him. He’s excited but pauses. Something is off. The tasty morsel sits on a small wooden platform with a metal bar and spring attached. That’s not how he normally finds cheese. What is this thing? He circles the contraption and is still concerned. He circles again looking, sniffing. Finally, the desire for the cheese convinces him to give it a try. Decisions have consequences.
Let me ask, do you (or did you) allow your children to eat ice cream for
dinner? Do you allow them to stay up or stay out as late as they want? I’m
guessing not. Good parents wouldn’t. No, you worked in some vegetables and had
bedtimes or a curfew. You had boundaries. Why? Because you love your children,
and you have wisdom they do not yet have. You know a healthy diet and proper
rest is good for them. Because of your experience, you also know nothing good
ever happens after 10:00 pm and your job as a parent is to keep your children
safe. Therefore, you have lines that are not to be crossed. Rules you expect to
be followed. Boundaries you expect to be honored and when they are not, there
are consequences.
God’s the same with His children. He has boundaries, lines that should
not be crossed. For the same reasons. He loves us and has wisdom we do not.
And, likewise, if His boundaries are crossed, there are consequences. Remember
the story of Noah? Genesis 6 tells us, “The Lord observed the extent of
human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or
imagined was consistently and totally evil” (Genesis 6:5). How about Sodom
and Gomorrah? Two angels warned Abraham’s nephew Lot, “The outcry against
this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy
it” (Genesis 19:13). The consequences of their decisions? “Then the Lord
rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He
utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain,
wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation” (Genesis 19:24-25).
One of the hardest things in all Scripture to read is when Jesus says, “‘On judgment day many will say to me, ‘LORD! LORD! We
prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many
miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me,
you who break God’s laws’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Yes, remember there are consequences for our decisions. The cheese may look luscious and smell wonderful. It always does. But before we choose to go after it, we should pray, seek the LORD, read His Word. Decisions have consequences – both bad and good.
One decision we can make that makes all the difference is when we choose to believe in Jesus. That decision changes everything. Now, when we make a bad decision, there is an option. The apostle John reminds us that “…if we confess our sins to him [God], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9). Amen! Those are the kind of consequences we call live with!
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Remember you can email praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. I lift them up every Wednesday at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.
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