Every day we read about people who abuse children, traffic in other human beings, sell drugs to teenagers, and desert their families. We see people who destroy the lives and reputations of others to get ahead financially or politically or to acquire power in some area of life. Others become wealthy by preying on the most vulnerable. Why do evil people seem to get away with murder?
Add to that, events like school shootings, terror attacks, and hate crimes and it’s tempting to wonder, “Where is God?” “Why doesn’t He deal with evil people who do such things?”
Nothing breaks a parent’s heart more than to see our children make foolish choices that can result in consequences for years to come. But there are some things we can do early on so God doesn’t have to allow more serious consequences later. What are some of those things?
Do you have genuine saving faith? Do you have confidence that if you should die tonight, you would spend eternity with God? Jesus and the Apostles warned us that there are those who may come to church, listen to the Word preached, and even make some moral changes in their lives, but who do not have saving faith and have not had the kind of internal heart change that we call conversion. They have not been born-again by the Spirit of God.
Also, as David’s story continues to unfold in 2 Samuel, we see the foolishness of thinking we can sin in secret and that our sins won’t affect anyone but us. David had set in motion laws of sowing and reaping and the sad results were happening before his eyes in the lives of his own children. This should drive us to our knees to pray for God’s wisdom in our own parenting.
God’s restraining grace is something we often take for granted. It’s even present to some degree in the lives of unbelievers. The Puritans called it common grace. It’s seen in the work of the conscience and in society’s acceptance of certain basics of right and wrong. But is it possible to lose God’s restraining grace?
There is no sin in our lives that is too big or for which God won’t forgive us if we are truly repentant. But knowing that doesn’t mean we can sin with impunity like children with our fingers crossed behind our backs. The person who thinks he or she can do whatever and ask for forgiveness later is in rebellion against God.
One of the consequences of willful sin can be the removal of God’s restraining grace where He steps back and allows us to do what our sinful heart desires. Without that restraining grace, we find that the sin we thought we could control is now controlling us. As someone once said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
The effects of rejecting God’s authority and its resulting spiritual darkness are not pretty. As one sin leads to another, the results are sad, costly, and damaging. The book of Judges ends with some truly bizarre examples.
But as bizarre as those true stories are, in reality, they could be taken from today’s headlines. Our news is full of murder, even mass murder, sexual immorality, sex trafficking, abortion rights, and demands that we give approval to every sinful lifestyle. I’m not sure where the bottom of it all will be, but just as He did in Noah’s day and just as He did with the Israelites, God will one day say … enough! In the meantime, what should we be doing?
Have you ever felt like you have tried trusting God and things only got worse? Moses certainly did in today’s reading in Exodus. What did he do as a result and what can we learn from his response?
Proverbs has so much wisdom for us all but today’s reading from Proverbs 5 contains truths that, if heeded, can keep young men, in particular, from a lifetime of heartache and financial struggles.
And finally, from Matthew 18, we’ll talk about the seriousness of unforgiveness and its effect on our relationship with God.
How many, seemingly, small compromises and decisions turn out to reap deadly consequences in our marriages, our parenting, or our thinking? What small things can turn our lives in directions we never intended?
Today we’ll see once again that sinful behavior has consequences. And when it comes to parenting, one of the most devastating sins is favoritism. Add selfishness and manipulation to the equation and you have a destructive combination that can tear families apart. Isaac and Rebekah had to learn that lesson the hard way.
The consequences of favoritism, selfishness, and other sins can be long-lasting and painful to our families, too. How can we recognize and prevent those things in our parenting?
We’ll also read about the difference between righteous anger and sinful anger, the chastening of the Lord, and the importance of defending the faith in love.
In today’s readings, we will once again look at Noah and his family. God called Noah a righteous man, yet we’ll see that he was barely off the ark before he sinned. The result was shame and loss of respect within his own family.
And when it comes to God, shame can cause us to avoid prayer, Bible reading, and going to church in a foolish attempt to run from God. But there is a better way!
We’ll, also, talk about being made in the image of God, the quality of our “salt,” the danger of dishonoring our parents, and responding to the sins of others.
Blended Families Part 12: Seven A’s of Confession In last week’s post, Blended Families Part 11: How to Start Dealing with Ex’s, we talked about some of the reasons for conflict and the beginning steps of working toward a...
