Sep 26, 2018
Jesus displays his
immense patience in sinners as an example for those who would believe in him
and receive eternal life. 1Tim 1:16
God is not absent or
weak in dealing with evil, but giving people the chance to repent.
These days, there is a lot of effort to stop bullying and
protect people from violence or aggression.
But back in the day, bullying was often overlooked as a natural part of the
childhood experience. Not that it was
appropriate, but it was a way of “toughening up kids”, or considered “just kids
being kids”. But every kid knew instinctively
it was an exercise in finding the pecking order of the group.
One gym class, we were playing a popular game called dodge
ball – with these thick rubber balls that stung when they hit you. If you were on someone’s bad side, it was not
the game for you! Bullies loved the game
as a legal way to take out their aggressions and establish their dominance. One of those kids was in my gym class and
decided today was the day he would prove his superiority over me. He POUNDED me in the first match, and I was
grateful to be “out” away from the line of fire. But in the second match, I threw a lucky
toss (or maybe it wasn’t so lucky), and it caught him directly on the side of
his face. I knew I was toast, because
later when the teachers weren’t looking, he tracked me down and used his fist
instead of a ball to knock the wind out of my stomach. Apparently I was taught a lesson. It always bothered me that God would allow
this guy to get away with stuff like that.
However, later in high school, I saw this guy’s life spin out of control,
and the sports and success he had as “top of the heap” came crashing down. The boy who dominated everyone found himself
dominated by drugs and alcohol. I
remember later feeling a little sorry for him (and yes, I also had feelings of superiority
at times). His behavior had caught up
with him, and it wasn’t pretty.
God has a way of dealing with things in a different timing
than ours. For this guy, I believe God
was giving him room to repent or change his ways, and delayed the consequences
as long as possible. In the Bible, we
see God do that often. He delayed
punishing Adam, the Israelites, Goliath, Saul, David, and many others. Some repented, some did not. But God’s delay didn’t make him less
powerful, He just gave people every chance to change.
Sometimes we believe we are better than the system, or the
exception to the rule, or are good enough and deserve better than the
consequences promised. But if we’re
messing with any evil, it will eventually come back to haunt us (ALL of us!). These days – that’s not just true in bullying
or drugs or alcohol – it’s true for immorality, pornography, abuse, anger,
unforgiveness, and much more. There are
MANY ways to assert our aggression, and all of them are eventually punished. Choose today to stop acting like a bully when
it comes to the things of God. Repent
and turn back to Him … before the results catch up with you.
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