Actions, Choices, and Consequences
I have done some very foolish things in my life.
When I was a young child (maybe around six or seven), I talked my dad into letting me carry a bucket full of ammonia up the stairs in our house (he was going to use it to clean something on the second floor). He was hesitant, but I promised him I could do it and wouldn’t spill it. He trusted me, and I made it up to four whole steps out of 20 before the bucket became too heavy, caught on a step, and flipped completely over, pouring the ammonia down the stairs like a flood.
Also around the same age (hmmm - maybe there’s a pattern here), I was riding my bike barefoot in the street of our housing track neighborhood one summer day, and as I approached a mail truck, I decided it was a good idea to use my feet to stop myself rather than run into the mail truck. My bike was a Beach Cruiser, so to hit the brakes, all I would have had to do was peddle backward once. Instead, I dragged my bare feet top side down along the asphalt to stop myself. As I’m sure you can visualize, I tore up the tops of my feet, and what’s more - I ended up slamming into the mail truck anyway!
Then there was the time I overloaded my washing machine, in the interest of the efficiency of getting more clothes washed at once and cutting down on the number of laundry loads, and ended up flooding the entire bottom floor of my condo.
Yes - I have done some astronomically dumb things in my life, and I’m sure there are plenty of dumb things to come. But, I take full responsibility for my folly.
A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord (Proverbs 19:3).
People make choices. People choose their career path: What college they're going to attend, what vocational or certification training they’re going to get, or just what entry-level job they’re going to work their way up from. People choose their spouse, food, clothing, living location, vacation spot, and so on.
But people also make bad choices. They choose to lie, cheat, and steal. They choose to eat foods they know are not good for them. They choose bad habits, friends, and advice.
No matter if our choice is good or bad, an immutable Law of Nature states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every choice, there is a consequence (good or bad).
How often, though, do people take responsibility for their own actions and therefore ownership of the consequences?
As a high school teacher, I’ve heard plenty of students say to teachers over the years, “You failed me,” or “Ugh I hate that teacher - he/she failed me last year!” Never included in either of those sentences is the acknowledgment of responsibility that the student did one or more of the following: Did not turn in assignments, was often late to or absent from class, didn’t follow directions, and/or didn’t study. Yet, despite all of these facts, the TEACHER failed the student.
Imagine this situation: An employee tells a lie at work, and a co-worker tells the boss. The employee gets mad at the co-worker for telling the boss, but the employee is the one who lied in the first place!
Worse than these (and others you can think of, I’m sure) worldly examples of actions and consequences, we (humanity) blame GOD for everything!
We blame God for:
Famine: Why does God allow people to go hungry? Why does He allow children to starve?
Disease (especially resulting in death): Why did God give my father cancer? Why did He let him suffer so much, and why did He take him from me so early?
Holy Wars: “I can’t support a religion like Christianity. As a history buff, I know what it’s been used to do to other nations.” If God loves everyone, why does He support these bloody and gruesome conversions?
Senseless acts of violence: If you remember Columbine, it was a horrible mass school shooting (13 died, 20 were wounded) perpetrated by two students (who turned the guns on themselves at the end) who attended the school. When it happened, the nation was reeling and wondering how kids could do something like this. I remember reading a fictional reflection on the incident that was a letter written to God that asked God why he allowed so much violence in schools. God’s answer was, “I’m not allowed in schools.”
Our own lives: How many times do we ask God why He is allowing something to happen to us?
While most of what happens to us is a result of actions WE take and choices WE make, there are a few Biblical examples of God’s hand in calamity: The plagues of Egypt and the suffering of Job to name two. In the case of the plagues of Egypt, God brought calamity down on the Egyptians as a result of THEIR refusal to obey Him. In the case of Job, God ALLOWED things to happen that were not a direct result of Job’s choices or actions.
In both cases, though, God was in control the whole time to work both situations out to His glory and the good of His people.
In the case of the plagues of Egypt, they resulted in the Hebrews being allowed to leave Egypt while showing the world the power of God.
In the case of Job, it was to test Job’s faith and prove a point to Satan. I encourage you to read the whole story in the book of the Bible named after him, and you will see that EVERY step of the way, God was in complete control of how far Satan was allowed to go. It started with Satan being able to do whatever he wanted to try to get Job to curse God EXCEPT harm Job himself. Then, Satan was allowed to harm Job but not kill him, and finally, it ended with God telling Satan he was done hurting Job in ANY way.
Yes, most of what happens to us is a direct result of our actions and choices, but there are some times, especially if Jesus is the driver in our lives, when God will allow things to happen to bring glory to Him and blessings to us. The trick is to know the difference.
Here’s my challenge: The next time you’re in a situation where you blame God, take a moment to remember the evidence of God’s hand in situations and people’s lives (see The Bible) and ask yourself the following:
Is this a consequence of MY actions and/or choices?
If not, what hand does God have in it? Does it show His power, test me, or use me as an example?
Then, no matter your answer, GIVE it to God - don’t BLAME Him.
AMEN.
Read part two, “Not My Actions or Choices, But Still My Consequences,” here.
