I am daily amazed at the behavior of Christians. I’m even more amazed at the Christians who are shocked when they disobey God and have to pay the consequences. Yesterday, a brother in Christ said this to me:
“I’m going through some tough times right now. I’m not allowed to see my son.”
“How come?” I responded.
“His momma has issues.” Apparently this guy had sex outside of marriage, got his girlfriend pregnant, and she hit the road.
I couldn’t help but to say, “Do you think there is a reason God intended people to be married before they had sex?” He was speechless, but a nearby sister in Christ said, “oh it doesn’t really matter.”
I can understand that mankind has constantly been in rebellion to God since the Garden of Eden, but I can’t understand why mankind is shocked by God’s response. I recently had one of those cute little God stories in my e-mail. This particular one wasn’t so “cute”, but it was full of truth. A girl wrote a letter to God asking Him where He was when the man came into her school and started shooting her friends. Then she goes on asking where He was at all the other school shootings that have happened over the years. God’s simple response is, “sorry, I’m not allowed in schools.”
Of course, I believe that God can take any of our mistakes and use them for His Glory. That is one of the amazing things about our Lord. No matter how bad we mess up, there is always hope in Christ. The little boy that was conceived out of wedlock might grow up to lead thousands to Christ. The guy who fornicated might have learned a lesson that will bring Him closer to God. The kids, parents, and teachers of those schools might even realize that something is not right in the classrooms, and maybe we need to go back to some of the old ways.
The fact is, there is still going to be a price we have to pay for our rebellion. “The wages of sin is death.” Jesus conquered death, and He conquered sin, but He also said that, “those who sin, are slaves to sin.” So how, as Christians who are called to be slaves to righteousness, can we continue to be slaves to sin?
The other fact is that God’s way works. He designed things a certain way for a good reason. Sex before marriage creates problems. If you are reading this I want your input. Quit being silent about these things! Let me know what is bothering you lately in the Body of Christ, and what are some ways that Christians and the world are seeing the negative effects of our rebellion?
Good point! God told us to live a pure and holy life, honoring Him in all things. We are supposed to live a lifestyle of prayer and worship. Yet sometimes we get caught up in the world, living for ourselves, barely praying and worshiping every day, hardly witnessing at all, then wondering why God isn’t answering our prayers or why something bad happened.
If we would see how much we fall short of God’s standard of holiness and obedience, we would be shocked. And we would be so thankful for God’s grace, because we don’t deserve anything good.
That said, while we don’t deserve anything good, God in His mercy and grace has offered us a victorious lifestyle, and it’s our choice whether to live that or not. We just have to remember that it’s according to His terms (covenant). We don’t get to live however we want and expect to receive all of God’s promises. That may not seem fair to some people, but God gets to set the rules, and if we could fully understand them, it’s for our own good.
Comment Submitted: March 31st, 2008 at 5:39 pm