no doubt about it: people make bad decisions - everyday. even people, who are considered good, can screw up and ruin their good name in an instant! we make thousands of decisions everyday -what to wear, what eat, what time should i do this or that, low-fat or non-fat, buy or sell, red or blue, etc., etc., etc. sometimes your decisions have good intentions, then turn out to be not-so-good. like the time you bought your nephew a wood recorder from another country and your sister lets you know how much they are "enjoying" your gift. or that article of clothing you bought that would have looked better on a teddy bear, but your friends were too nice to say anything. or like the time when you asked your roommate to highlight your hair, only to have to go out at midnight and purchase a darker color because it didn't turn out quite like you imagined. :) sometimes, when we make our decisions we only think of one thing - ourselves. and some of the time our decisions and choices effect only us. and in this way, i believe, we tend to get careless because there are those bad decisions that we make that have costly consequences.
think about it. ever stop and pause and consider the effect of your choices on yourself or anyone related to you or around you? the human race is no stranger when it comes to costly decisions. and it started at the beginning of time...
adam and eve were given detailed instructions when God placed them in the garden of Eden -- do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and knowledge or you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17). pretty clear instructions right? well, then the devil comes into play and plants doubt in the mind of eve, that maybe God didn't really know what he was talking about when he said they would die. but he also gives her the idea that she and adam would become like God. eve made the decision to eat the apple - disobeying God (that's called sin). did she stop to think of what the consequence would be? she knew it was wrong b/c she told the serpent God's instructions. then she gave some fruit to adam -- both doomed. 2 lives affected, but in reality, it wasn't just the 2 lives -- it affected the entire human race and we are still struggling w/ sin in our lives today! *it also caused a curse on creation and the serpent as well. not only were adam and eve effected by their choice, as well as the entire human race - but all of God's creation!
fast forward years later to achan. poor achan. the israelites crossed over into the promised land, with joshua as their leader. they were getting ready to march on to jericho. God tells them he will bring them victory, but He also gives them instructions that after they leave no survivors with the exception of rahab and her family, they are not to keep the plunder, but that to give it to the Lord. there was also a warning given that those who did not stay away from those devoted things would bring about their own destruction and bring trouble on israel. jericho was overtaken and they went to march on towards Ai, and what should have been an easy victory for israel turned out to be a defeat. joshua inquires of God as to why the defeat and come to find out - someone made a bad decision. achan took some of the devoted things for himself. he told joshua he coveted them and so he took them and buried them under his tent. joshua found the items as he had said, and while achan did come clean about taking the devoted things from jericho, he still suffered the consequence. but not only did his decision affect him, it affected his ENTIRE household. all of his relatives were stoned. all of his possession burned, killed, destroyed. as adam and eve's decision to eat the fruit affected the entire human race, achan's sin affected all of his descendants! (read Joshua ch. 1-7)
our choices don't just affect us -- they have a ripple effect! just this month, the community in which i work had 3 families suffer from poor decisions made by people in their families. 2 families, their lives were changed forever - never to be the same! i admit that i don't think of the effect of my decisions on others, but only of myself. let us begin to count the cost when it comes to decisions. some decisions we make could cost us our life or the life of others. some might cost us our job, our family. but let us make the right decisions. let us never give up trying to do good. and who is good? God is good, so let's focus on Him - His son Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! lead us in the way everlasting!
think about it. ever stop and pause and consider the effect of your choices on yourself or anyone related to you or around you? the human race is no stranger when it comes to costly decisions. and it started at the beginning of time...
adam and eve were given detailed instructions when God placed them in the garden of Eden -- do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and knowledge or you will surely die (Gen 2:16-17). pretty clear instructions right? well, then the devil comes into play and plants doubt in the mind of eve, that maybe God didn't really know what he was talking about when he said they would die. but he also gives her the idea that she and adam would become like God. eve made the decision to eat the apple - disobeying God (that's called sin). did she stop to think of what the consequence would be? she knew it was wrong b/c she told the serpent God's instructions. then she gave some fruit to adam -- both doomed. 2 lives affected, but in reality, it wasn't just the 2 lives -- it affected the entire human race and we are still struggling w/ sin in our lives today! *it also caused a curse on creation and the serpent as well. not only were adam and eve effected by their choice, as well as the entire human race - but all of God's creation!
fast forward years later to achan. poor achan. the israelites crossed over into the promised land, with joshua as their leader. they were getting ready to march on to jericho. God tells them he will bring them victory, but He also gives them instructions that after they leave no survivors with the exception of rahab and her family, they are not to keep the plunder, but that to give it to the Lord. there was also a warning given that those who did not stay away from those devoted things would bring about their own destruction and bring trouble on israel. jericho was overtaken and they went to march on towards Ai, and what should have been an easy victory for israel turned out to be a defeat. joshua inquires of God as to why the defeat and come to find out - someone made a bad decision. achan took some of the devoted things for himself. he told joshua he coveted them and so he took them and buried them under his tent. joshua found the items as he had said, and while achan did come clean about taking the devoted things from jericho, he still suffered the consequence. but not only did his decision affect him, it affected his ENTIRE household. all of his relatives were stoned. all of his possession burned, killed, destroyed. as adam and eve's decision to eat the fruit affected the entire human race, achan's sin affected all of his descendants! (read Joshua ch. 1-7)
our choices don't just affect us -- they have a ripple effect! just this month, the community in which i work had 3 families suffer from poor decisions made by people in their families. 2 families, their lives were changed forever - never to be the same! i admit that i don't think of the effect of my decisions on others, but only of myself. let us begin to count the cost when it comes to decisions. some decisions we make could cost us our life or the life of others. some might cost us our job, our family. but let us make the right decisions. let us never give up trying to do good. and who is good? God is good, so let's focus on Him - His son Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! lead us in the way everlasting!
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