Consequences

       All of our actions have consequences, whether they be good or bad. Sometimes we don't see the results of our actions for many years, maybe not even until we have passed from this life. This may be the reason why so many of us are afraid of death, because deep down we know we haven't always done good things in our life and we know there will be consequences for that. It isn't a fear of the unknown, but a fear deep inside of the known. The consequences. Now of course, not everything we do does major damage to ourselves or someone else in the immediate future, but everything we do does have some type of impact.
       When we look at history, we usually can see what consequences people face. When Hitler began his reign of terror on Jews, it ended badly for him when he took his own life. Or we can see the opposite in someone such as Ghandi, who through his peaceful actions, led his country to freedom without firing a shot. The same thing can be seen over and over again in the Bible, both good and bad. Herod The Great was a perfect example of this. He was a leader, but a vicious killer as well, killing all children under the age of two years old because he heard that a future king had been born. Shortly after, he was eaten by worms and died a horrible death. Then we can look at the actions of a brave woman named Ruth, who chose to turn away from her people who were idolaters, and chose to stay with her mother-in-law who walked with God. The consequences of her actions? She fell in love and married, and a couple of generations later, a child was born from their family line by the name of David, the future king of Israel. So what does this have anything to do with us?
       There is a growing population of people today who don't believe in God. They say we are no different than animals or a grain of sand. They don't believe in an afterlife and so therefore live their lives in a hedonistic style. If it feels good, then it can't be bad, and can do no harm. They commonly use drugs, alcohol, have sexual relations with anyone at anytime, and they do this without fear of harm to themselves or to anyone else. Yet how many people die each year due to drugs (not just in overdosing, but murders as well), alcohol (drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, liver disease, murder), and die from sexually transmitted disease? Our prisons are filled to capacity because of drugs, alcohol and sex. So how does the world try to combat these issues? Well, the number one concern is the prison population, so they decide to legalize drugs, and go easy on constant offenders of drunk driving or prostitution. 58 million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade and euthanasia is now being considered in some states. Why worry about this? When we die, they believe there will be no consequences for their actions. There is little in the way of a moral compass.
       Then we have a large population of people who say they believe in God, yet still do what they wish. These people may or may not attend church, and will many times, more often than not, believe that all they have to do attain salvation is simply believe in God. Quite often we will hear something along the lines of "Our God is a loving and forgiving God, and He would never condemn anyone who believes in Him." If this were true, that all we must do is simply believe, then there is no fear of consequences of what we do in our lives, as long as you mostly do good things. They may even claim that attending worship services is not that important, and an occasional drink now and then is fine because hey, even Jesus drank wine, right? (I disagree, but that's a different topic for a different day.) This is a very dangerous and misleading belief.
       Many, if not most people, do not do a good and proper study of the Bible, and therefore do not know exactly what God wants us to do. So when someone wants to change their life, or might have questions about God, they will listen to false teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. They often will follow a minister and his teachings without knowing the Truth or even checking the Bible to see what is true. I was once having a discussion on the topic of baptism. The other party was telling me what they believed, and when I began pointing out certain verses that said something different, they immediately said they didn't know, and I should ask their minister. Friends, our ministers are not responsible for our actions, so we wouldn't it make sense that we found out for ourselves? If all we had to do was believe, then why did Peter in Acts 2:38ff tell the Jewish leaders they had to do more? They already believed, but they had to repent and be baptized and obey! Why did James tell us in James 2:18, we must have work with our faith? Why didn't God just tell us that instead of giving us the whole Bible? Because they are trying to warn us that there are dire consequences for our earthly actions.
        There of course another group of people that we should look at. This group wants to believe, or maybe even does, but are afraid to admit it for fear of ridicule or persecution from family or friends. They know there are consequences, but do not want to offend anyone, so they remain silent, secret Christians in their mind. It seems to them that God will understand their larger fear of man over Him. Deep down though, they know God will not be pleased with this, and know time is running out. None of us know when our time will run out. When it does, we will have to face the consequences.
       When we are young, we don't think much about death or the consequences of our lives. That is, unless someone close to our age and someone we know, dies. Then you might think on it some, but as time goes by, this fear will slowly fade. I know this first hand, when a classmate of mine in high school, a star football player and one of the most popular kids in school, died. He didn't die from a car accident or was the victim of a crime or disease, but was struck by lightning while on the practice field. The point is, we just simply don't know when the end will come.
       All of our actions we do in our life, no matter how large or small, affects someone or something at some time. Why would it be any different after we are gone? The difference is, we have an advantage to face good consequences if we choose to. Everything we need to know has been revealed to us in the Bible. God will judge us by how we not only live our lives, but if we live our lives according to His will. Even if we don't believe, we will still be judged.
       But here is the most wonderful aspect of all of this. Living a good Christian life, according to the Law of God, just think of what this world would be like. Though we don't like to admit it, time is running out for all of us to do what God has asked. It isn't near as complicated as what some people think, and the reward is what matters the most. Following God means peace, love, hope and salvation, not division, strife and war as some claim. Those who do these things and call themselves Christians are not being true to the teachings of God, and will face horrible consequences. God has given us a way out, a way of love and salvation. What better consequence could there be?