Day 2031 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Lamentations 3:39 NIV

We've got this really big problem in our world today. I was finishing up the book of Lamentations the other night and this one really stuck out to me. Nobody understands this idea of consequences anymore. Everyone just wants to do whatever they want to do without anyone saying anything to them. Got news for anyone that thinks that way, that's not at all how God works!

You see, sin has a price. Evil has a price. Our choices have a price. They're called consequences. We don't have the right to do or say anything we want to just because we want to. And we definitely don't have the right to do or say anything we want to and never face the penalty that comes with it. We will never be able to get out of the fact that our choices truly have consequences, and that we are the only ones that are responsible for them.

These days everyone wants to gripe and complain when they face the price of their poor choices. They hate the fact that they have to face punishment, ridicule, or any other form of negative feedback because of their actions. We've taken this idea of freedom and all these rights and gone completely nuts with it. We aren't and never will be free to do whatever we want without consequence.

Now it might work like that here in this broken world. Shoot, this place is to the point that truth is ignored and covered up in favor of comfort and acceptance. Evil is applauded and justified to make those lost in it feel better about themselves without having to the do hard work of repentance. So doing or saying whatever you wish without any punishment might fly down here. It's going to be a far different story when we're standing before God recounting our lives!

No matter how badly we want to, we can't get out of the consequences of our choices and actions. We can't pass the blame onto someone else saying that they did it too or they told us it was okay. We make the choices, we pay the prices. That's just how it works. God isn't going to care who else did the things we did. He's not interested in who we can blame or how this world has decided to operate telling everyone to do as they wish because it's easier that way. Not gonna fly.

So friends, don't be surprised when your sins and mistakes make you feel miserable. Don't be surprised when you face the consequences of your actions. That's just the way that it goes. There's one way to avoid the penalty of doing wrong, just do what's right. There you go, broke it down nice and easy. Don't want to be punished for doing something wrong? Don't do it. Can't make it any easier than that.

Look, the day is coming when all the griping, all the whining, all the passing the blame won't work anymore. We may as well start getting right and making better choices now rather than later. After all, we can't claim that nobody told us when the Bible tells us time and time again about the dangers and enormous cost of sin. Reaping what you sew still exists, so don't sew to feed the darkness of sin and expect to get good results!