What!? Here we go again...another post intended to back us into a corner. It seems like I've been cheating all of my life. From what I understand in Scripture, so have you. Thank you Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and restoring us to a relationship with you. We usually go with our first thoughts when we hear questions like this one. That is usually wrong. Well, maybe most of the time anyway. Whether we cheat on a test, use a radar detector to avoid obeying the law, or cheat on your taxes, we will not be able to find a person on earth who has not cheated. Don't get me wrong, cheating is not okay because "everyone is doing it." It's a subject where we humans put some behaviors and words in a negative sense or positive sense based on what we want. Opps!
When we knowingly choose to disobey the law we sin. When we knowingly choose to obey Jesus we sin. When we knowingly choose to avoid a stop sigh by driving through the parking lot of a store we never shop at, we sin. It may seem funny or nitpicking to some when we go from the obvious to the mundane in the issues that come to mind. To be honest, not only do we poke fun at some of the things mankind does, we also poke fun at the consequences of those actions. To be honest, I've done more than my share. So, why do we do this? Why do we wink at some of the choices we cheat on? I don't have all the answer to these questions. What I do have is a Biblical command to not be selfish. That may sound like a simple answer to a complex question but none the less selfishness is at the bottom and center of our world and our being.
So, just exactly who are we cheating on? Again, the simple answer is God. This question not only addresses the issue with believers but also the non-believers as well. When we cheat we first injure our relationship with God followed quickly by the damage to our relationships with those close to us. To be honest, looking at cheating from a single action scenario, we can isolate the behavior and not put it upon any other behavior. What's the first behavior that comes to mind when we talk about cheating? If you are like 90% of the population (I made up the percentage) you are with good company in your denial.
I've talked before about starting places and ending places. When we are considering the beginning of cheating our minds begin to rationalize and justify our pending behavior. So much so that there appears to be little or no guilt when the deed is done. In the beginning mankind was innocent and pleasing to God. Satan tempted mankind to cheat and eat the fruit on the tree. That is when mankind fell from grace and separated from God. We've been cheating ever since. It doesn't matter whether we admit it or not; cheating remains wrong. If we took the subject literally, we would all be dead from the consequences. However, God made a way for us to cheat our own death. Can you imagine!? We have been given the hallway pass! We have been told we have won the lottery. Can anything be so wonderful as cheating death? Nothing that I can think of.
So, you and I give our lives to Jesus and live happily ever after. Not even close! We will be convicted of our sins and some will engage salvation given freely in order that we can cheat death. We who believe will be alive for eternity. Those who choose to not believe will be unable to cheat their way out of hell. Just as cheating has a beginning; it also has an end. The beginning comes at conception. The end comes in eternity in heaven or hell. Very real consequences on both accounts. The choice before us is renewed moment as our lives move on. Do we choose to not cheat? It's a simple question and request from God. Yes, we cheat in many different ways. Do we have a choice? Yes, we have the choice to stop the behavior or to continue on with the sin.
What will you choose for today?
No comments:
Post a Comment