“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children,
nor shall children be put to death for their fathers,
a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
Deuteronomy 24:16
Sons of anger, you will be responsible for your own consequences. While God knows that you have gotten a bad start, He still requires you to acknowledge and obey Him. There is a lot of rebelliousness in your hearts, you feel like the whole world is wrong. The trials and tribulations of this world again are not to punish you but to draw you closer to God.[1] The real sin is not that we do not believe that God can change us, it is that we know He can and choose not to allow Him to. That we choose to stay enmeshed in our sinfulness. We prefer the filth of this world to the purification of God. With rebelliousness comes false pride. Our lives are a mess, but we are doing fine. We refuse to acknowledge that we need help. We refuse to say that life sometimes is too much to bear. As boys, we are not allowed to express fear, or sadness, or even to cry. The only emotions many of us are allowed to express is anger and aggression. I can not cry, but I can kick somebody’s butt. We are taught to not let anyone hit us, we must always fight back. For many of us as adults all of our emotions can be summed up into anger. When we are in pain, or fear, or we are sad, we lash out in anger. Anger has always been an acceptable emotion. This unchecked anger is fueling the epidemic of violence we as a community are now facing. Hurt people, hurt people. When we hurt, somebody has to pay. Give that anger and pain to God, we as a people have suffered enough. You not only hurt others, but you damage yourself as well.
For many of us our lives are being led by false pride. False pride says we do not need help from anyone. Many of your lives are full of disappointments, yet you refuse to seek help. We continue to suffer, yet the One who can relieve our suffering, we refuse to call on. Unfortunately, many of us stay in pain far longer than we have to. There have been times in my life when I have had pain and I have known the remedy to stop it and have chosen to stay in the pain. I wish I could say that I immediately seek a remedy for the pain, but sometimes I do not. Our pride becomes our idol, we worship our ourselves. We worship our own intellect we become wiser than God. We think that our “street smarts” will overcome the world. All we have to do is to look at our past histories to see the foolishness of this plan. All of our plans have only brought pain and suffering for our loved ones and ourselves.
“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”
Proverbs 28:26
We must transfer that trust from ourselves to Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus said, “Who among you can add one inch to your height by worrying?”[2] Therefore if none of us can do the least thing, how can we expect to do the difficult task of fixing our lives. It will only be by submitting to God that change will take place. How can God who has the power to raise the dead, not have the power to change us? Does He not have the power to stop us from sinning? It is not that God can not change us, it is that we will not allow Him to. Then the question that each one of us must ask and ultimately answer is, “Why will I not allow God to change me?” Why do we continue to live this way? This will be one of the most important questions we will ever ask ourselves and answer. The answer will hold the key to the rest of your young lives and your eternity as well. The Lord, your God does not require our belief to be God. We should understand God does not need us we need God! The Bible tells us we must trust in God with all of our hearts and not lean on our own understanding or ourselves.[3] This is very difficult for us because we know and trust that “old man”. Let’s face it he shares all of our secrets, all our good times, and all our hurts and pains. We have been with him through thick and thin. And now just because I say so you are suppose to just trust in God who you can not see. I know it sounds crazy, but it is your only hope. If there were another way I would tell you, but all I know is Christ and Him crucified for you and me.
All I ask is for now is that you take fifteen minutes a day out for God. Take fifteen minutes to read His Word and to pray. I guarantee it will change your life. That still leaves you with twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes to yourself. I know with all your "busy schedules" it will be difficult, but you and your family are worth fifteen minutes. Just consider all that God has done for you. If you love your children are you passing along the life that you want them to live? I have a young daughter and if I had continued to live the life-style I was living, I might as well have given her the addiction I had right then. Is this what you want for your children, your cousins, or your nieces and nephews? Read a chapter of the Bible a day; remember if you do not like the change in your life you can always go back to your old life. How are things going right now in your life? What do you have to lose?
No comments:
Post a Comment