By: Phil Hopkins
As a parent, from time to time we find our children trying us and the rules that we have set for them. One common ploy that they use; after they are caught doing something that they know that they shouldn’t have done is to try the excuse that they weren’t told to not do what ever act that they were in caught doing. They try to escape on a technicality. Although the courts at times let the guilty free due to some technicality, we do our children a great disservice to let them escape their punishment for a technicality. God will not release us from the consequences of sin by technicalities. He didn’t let Israel get away with their deeds as we find from the prophet Malachi: Mal. 1:6 A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is mine honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible. 8 And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith Jehovah of hosts. When confronting religious error, how many times have we heard that God didn’t say to not use instruments in worship, as if that makes it OK. Or some other behavior that may not be specifically condemned, but we or others try to justify ourselves by saying “God didn’t say that we cannot do that specific act”. Do we seriously think that God will let us off? The scriptures teach: Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, when we sin, we will receive death, it doesn’t get any more clear than that. We don’t have any authority to change God’s plan, we are to obey: Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men. When our children don’t obey our instructions or as citizens of this country when we don’t obey the laws of the land, we will receive the consequences of our actions. It is said, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Why would we think that it would be any different with God? Jesus warned that: Matt. 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? 23 (Ps. 6:) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And again: Lk. 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well builded. As a good citizen of this country we should be dedicated to following the laws of the land, God throughout Bible history has expected mankind to respect his commandments, to love him and follow him. As Jesus Christ pointed out: Matt. 22: 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets. We show our love for God through our obedience of him. He told us the elements of love: I Cor. 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; (NASB) Notice that love as God defines it does not act unbecomingly and love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, if we love God we will show it by following (obeying) his commands. In fact if we love God we will use this definition of love to model our behaviors towards God and our fellow man. Notice the kindness and patience that we should have with others. The endurance of love (it never fails), it looks for the good in others and does not harp on things that go wrong, it respects the other person. We should think about the endurance of God’s love towards each of us. That he loved us so much that he is willing to forgive our every weakness when we repent: Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;(NASB) We must carry that attitude towards others, that of forgiveness: Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (NASB) If we will not forgive others how can we ever expect God to forgive us. As we return to the original thought, that of obedience, when we know what we must do, and we do not do it there will be consequences. There will be no technicalities that will allow us to “weasel out” of the things that we know that we should do. As our parents should not let us get away with excuses, God will not let us get away with excuses. It is important that we look critically at ourselves to ensure that we are living up to God’s standards. He is the master and creator of all things, why do we think that we can fool him. We have a tendency to become lax over time. It we look at society today and compare with that of 10, 20, 50, even 100 years ago we can easily see how casual we have become in our behaviors, our dress and our language towards God and each other. We must improve and not allow ourselves to think that it doesn’t matter. It is God and others to whom we are showing ourselves to be examples. Do we want others to emulate our behaviors? How will we feel (and how will God feel) if we allow ourselves to continue to slide? If we wouldn’t do it in a court of law, why would we ever think that we can do it in front of God?