Consequences part 3
I know I'm taking this verse slightly out of context, because I'm not talking about communion tonight, but the phrasing is so good I want to use it to illustrate the point I'm trying to make in this Rant series. 1 Corinthians 11:29, "If you give no thought (or worse, don't care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you're running the risk of serious consequences." So, like, take out the "broken body of the Master when you eat and drink" part, and insert literally whatever you're doing. Because if you don't think about--or don't care about--the consequences of your actions... you just might find yourself in a place you don't want to find yourself in. And, guys, come on. I'm not talking about hell. At least not as a destination. I'm talking about how sometimes we make things harder for ourselves. Because we don't think about the consequences. We don't... let me quote the red letters. Jesus. Luke 14:28, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" Sometimes we don't count the cost. Sometimes we don't seem to worry about whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze. Remember yesterday? You can do anything you want, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should. Some things aren't worth doing. Some things hurt and don't help. And if your goal is to hurt... you need to reevalute your goal. I truly believe that hurt people hurt people. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. If all you have is hurt... that's all you can give. But I don't believe ONLY hurt people hurt people. I think sometimes people can't look past themselves. Can't get over themselves. Selfish and immature, unfortuately. And they end up doing the very things that will ensure that they DON'T get what they want. Squeezing too tight and not realizing that its all slipping through their fingers. They don't count the cost of their actions. They can't see that what they're doing is hurting and not helping. If you give no thought--or don't care--about the consequences... if you light everything on fire... chances are YOU are the one who will get burned. And this may seem like a bit of a downer Rant, but I'm trying to give almost a cautionary tale. Because what you do matters. It really, really does. All we have is our word and our actions. And if one doesn't back up the other, we really don't have anything. If we don't think about the consequences of our actions we're going to find ourselves face to face with them pretty quickly. I saw something funny the other day. It said, "Well, well, well. If it isn't the consequences of my own actions." And, like I said, pretty funny. But also completely true. You can't run from it. What you do affects things. If you sow love you will reap love. If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. (And I think that's where I'm going with this tomorrow, because I think it can mean two different things. But we'll get there.) Actions have consequences. Good, bad, and ugly. What you do matters. You can create a living hell for yourself (and others) if you don't count the cost of what you're doing.