No One Told Me…
We all have used the defense “no one told me it was wrong.” I have used this and I heard this used many
times in my career as a supervisor. The “quick
and easy” excuse for doing something wrong is the one that says you had no
knowledge that it was actually wrong.
This can make life tough because we are always looking for the easy and
most applicable excuse. But this excuse,
this justification for our mistakes only goes so far. We have been told. We have been warned of the consequences and
we have been instructed on what is right.
“Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we
would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some
of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and
stood up to play.’ Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and
twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them
did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and
were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an
example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the
ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does
not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God
is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be
able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians
10:6-13(NASB)
We are all tempted to do something we know we should
not. We are all drawn into situations
that, although we do not create it, we are now up in the middle of the
mess. It can be tempting to just simply
go with the flow, to join the crowd because this is how the world works. The world convinces us that these things are acceptable
and right, when we know deep down in our hearts that they are not so. But in order to be accepted and loved by the
world, we play along. We make decisions,
we buy certain things, we work ourselves to death so that we make more money so
that we can buy more stuff. This train
continues down the same track until it faces another train and we can’t get
off.
It seems that we are taught the right way at a very early
age. We are given the gift of the Holy
Spirit to guide us in making the decisions and choosing a way of life that is
pleasing to our God. But we fight these
feelings because the world has other ideas, and we want to be just like
everyone else, to fit in, to have what everyone else has. Yet God, our Father in Heaven, has already
laid things out for us. In the Old Testament,
He gives us examples of what NOT do.
Paul reiterates these in the New Testament to the Church in
Corinth. There is no secret as to the
life we need to lead. There is no mystery
as to our instructions on how to live this life of dedicated to a God who has
told us how to behave. He has given us
the written instructions on how to live a life according to His rules. And we still ignore it. This does not bode well, because history has
a way of repeating itself.
We have been warned!
No comments:
Post a Comment