No more Loopholes!!!!!

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Today's Passage: 1 Chronicles 21
Memory Verse: 1 Chron. 21:24

As a teacher, if I had a penny for every time I heard one of my students say, "I'm sorry", I promise I'd be a millionaire at least. The more aware they are of the rules, the more liberties they take in pushing the limits on how cleverly they can break them. Even the best rewards I could come up with don't seem enough to motivate a select few to follow the established directions.

It always amazes me, though, when the consequences are presented to them, how upset they become. It's almost as if they never knew those end results would be there when they made their choices in the first place. Funny how the same thing happens in the spirit realm. God has established His rules and laid them out for us to follow. The Holy Spirit does His part to remind us of the consequences that will come up when we disobey. And yet, we choose to do wrong, expecting different results every time.

Have you ever asked yourself what would happen if there were no consequences for our actions? If all we had to do was put on a sincere look and blame someone else for our mistake,and see no sign of our sin, can you imagine how much more of a mess our world would be? I love David's attitude, however. When he did something to break God's heart, he confessed his sin and accepted his punishment with a contrite spirit. To walk away from this process while rationalizing and trying to get out of the consequences prematurely breaks God's heart even more.

To answer the question of why God doesn't just forgive sin without giving us consequences, our Father knows the condition of our hearts. If we knew we could get away with si once, twice, even multiple time with no consequences, we would trample over the sacrifices God made to grant us that privilege. And pretty soon, the enemy of our souls would have us so far bound in that place of the reprobate mind that God wouldn't be able to save us. That's why we need a healthy fear and reverence for our God. It's only because He loves us that He gives us consequences--to keep us realizing we need His mercy covering us, and stay connected to Him rather than trying to find loopholes around obedience. No more loopholes!

Prayer: Father, I've been pretty callous in my attitude about Your response to my sin. Please forgive me and purge me so that I'm no longer so quick to disregard the warnings. I will obey, for in obedience there is peace. In Jesus' Name, Amen.