Consequences part 1
I think this is one of my themes. When it comes to ministry AND when it comes to life. Actions have consequences. A long time ago my grandpa told me, "You can do anything you want... as long as you're willing to pay the consequences." Which is not a threat. But is more of a warning. Not of an angry God who is sitting on a cloud, holding a lightning bolt, waiting for us to mess up so He can get us. That kind of god might exist in Greek or Norse mythology. But that is not the God who is love. God's not trying to get us. For one thing, He already got us. On and through the cross. In the best way possible. We got us... as His own. We are His people. He is our God. But let me say what I'm trying to say. I read this on Facebook the other day: "God does not punish us for sin. He saves us from sin." Think about that. Really think about it. And add this to that, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Also Hebrews 9:26, "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Sin. Jesus took it away and put it away. Kind of a done deal, in my opinion. The problem that we find is not God's punishment... but our own sin consciousness. WE get so focused on "getting the sin out of the camp" that we don't get to experience and enjoy the truth that God already did that. We're always on sin hunt. And just like those times when we need to go to the bathroom, and we're focusing so hard on NOT needing to go that we almost mess our pants (because even focusing on not doing it is still focusing on it), the more we're focused on sin (even on not doing it) the more it manifests in our lives. What you magnify in your life WILL manifest in your life. And I'm not even getting into what I believe sin is in this Rant series. To me, sin is unbelief. Period. Believing anything other than the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. And acting out of that belief. All I want to focus on in this Rant series is that you CAN do whatever you want... but you can't do ANYTHING without consequences. I heard a preacher say it like this, "If you cheat on your spouse, God won't punish you. But you better believe your spouse will." So I guess my point is that we need to stop fearing God. We need to get to a place where we're doing what we're doing because it's in our hearts to do it. Not because we're afraid that God will throw that lightning bolt at us. We shouldn't do things because we think we can get away with them. Or not do things because we're afraid of "getting in trouble." There's a more excellent way. And it comes from counting the cost. (I'll probably quote the memory verse where Jesus talks about that tomorrow.) It comes from understanding that consequences aren't always bad. Some actions have bad consequences. Som have good consequences. But ALL actions have consequences. So the question to ask yourself is: "Is the juice worth the squeeze?" Is what I'm doing going to get me the consequences I want? Again, counting the cost. Not just doing whatever you feel like doing, or doing things on a whim. Thinking things through. Making sure what we do is worth doing. Which, of course, is where love comes in. Because love is ALWAYS worth doing!