A student refuses to go to church because a bi-vocational pastor/teacher chose to call them stupid because they have a learning disability.
Your teenage daughter becomes sexual activity because you chose to deny that it could happen to your child and chose not to communicate.
Your marriage is falling apart because you chose not to share your true feelings and hurts so they can be resolved.
Sometimes our choices have immediate consequences. Other times the consequence comes later. And at times there are both an immediate consequence and later consequences.
Too much debt is an immediate consequence but other consequences continue to happen as a result.
As a christian, when you choose to talk down to another, they may be hurt but the long term consequence could keep them from knowing Christ because they feel judged by Christians.
Choosing not to have open communication with your child may not have consequences until he/she is a teenager and refuses to talk to you.
Choosing not to let your spouse know that the little things hurt you may not have consequences until you blow up after several years and walk out of your marriage.
The choices you make today will have positive or negative consequences. Some of you may be in the middle of dealing with some unpleasant consequences. You may have a choice to make today. Have you thought about the consequences of that choice?
As I read Facebook statuses I see a lot people looking at buying a house, a new or used car, looking for employment. These are all major choices. First of all, you should pray about any major decision. All these choices have long term consequences. Are you thinking about the immediate positive consequences or are you thinking long term consequences? Is that new house that gives everybody their own space going to hinder you from helping your child go to college or maybe just keep you from having funds to provide for them? In this economy right now, can you choose to be picky about your job choices? Is it better to wait for the ideal job or settle for a lesser job?
What about the choices you make for your children? Are there long term consequences? You have choices on discipline, spiritual development, reading to them, schooling, what they watch, where they go and where they live. What has short and what has long term consequences? I see and listen to many teenagers who are facing consequences of their parents choices. It is really sad at times.
It is so easy to justify our choices or only see the positive side. In this world where it is all about "I", we make choices to make "I" happy. We have become accustomed to it. We have got to put our focus back in the right place before we make choices. We have to start admitting there are consequences for our choices and they not only affect us but others.
1. We go back to the beginning and remember to choose God daily. We most likely will not be sensitive to the Spirits leading if we do not spend time with God.
2. When faced with a choice we must take the time to think of all the consequences and who it affects. (Sometimes God may call your family to pick up and move. It may seem like a negative consequence for your child. But if God is calling, you have to trust Him and teach your child to trust Him.)
3. Pray, pray, pray. I am not talking about asking God to give you a new car or a new house. Bring your needs and wants before God, but be still and listen to Him answer.
4. And remember one simple thing: Does your choice glorify God (personally, physically, in your home or work)?
Eve did not realize choosing to eat that apple would cause all women to have pain in child labor. What choice are you making that might cause pain? Be careful, the enemy is trying to entice you to make a choice that seems yummy, but there will be consequences and possibly not just for you.
"1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 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.
8 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. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:1-19
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 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.
8 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. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:1-19
You will have to make a choice. Will your choice be to be obedient or will you be persuaded by the enemy? And who is affected by that choice? Will you ever really know?
No comments:
Post a Comment