For God’s Glory, Man, Think About the Consequence!

Most mature Christians are well aware that repentance, faith and sanctification are all gifts from God, and yet the Bible says it is our responsibility to repent, believe and work out our own salvation. There is of course a mystery concerning the connection between the sovereignty of God and man’s responsibility. So while others persuade you of God’s grace and mercy, so too please allow me to persuade you of your duty as true Christians.

When I was young a friend told me, “Life is short, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, you gotta’ live your life like every day is your last.”

So I did. I seized the day!

Well, guess what? He was wrong! Oh sure, life is but a vapor, but it sure don’t seem that way when there is a price to pay, and every poor choice you make has a consequence.

No, life is long, and that bus won’t hit you tomorrow, or the next day. Instead you will wake up in the morning, wondering what you were thinking, but it will be too late, you done did your dirty deed. And now you gotta’ live with it.

One day you are sinless, listening to your wife in the garden, the next you are toiling, barely gettin’ by from the sweat of your brow. You marry an Egyptian and the next thing you know you’re worshipping another god. You take another man’s wife and the next thing you know your kids are trying to kill you. You are passing through the valley of Sorek, and the next thing you know, you’re vexed to your soul as the Philistines poke your eyes out.

But don’t get me wrong, don’t blame the woman, it’s your own fault, you forgot your life is not your own, you have been bought with a price, Jesus didn’t spare His own blood to save you.

And now look at you! What was fun for a season now seems like a distant horrid memory. Grief and shame comes over you like familiar enemies, regret and remorse like cruel adversaries. True repentance brings restoration, but alas, the consequence remains.

Thankfully your God is a loving God, and mercy is His name, but He is known by another name, Justice, and so your future sins, those you have yet to commit, will not go unnoticed.

So I plead with you young people, gain knowledge from someone far wiser than yourself, listen to the seasoned brother who has tested and learned many things the hard way, and who has become well acquainted with grief over sin.

Choose carefully; make every decision, even the smallest choice, with the greatest of care and thoughtfulness, with concern towards God’s glory, knowing that God is watching. Do not make your choices alone, but with men wiser than yourself, so that you may avoid an abundance of consequence.

There is one thing I have learned in a long life of stuborn disobedience; there is no sin worth its consequence.

Those with grey hair have learned these things to spare you from the same. Forget your feelings and emotions, instead think; then act with a conscience toward God, and if it seems you are unable, then at least think of the consequence and do not choose recklessly.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina