It’s Your Choice, and Your Consequences

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It’s the consequences that go unconsidered. As a result of one inattentive left hand turn, my son-in-law died, and a woman is charged with that death. Although there was opportunity for them to meet where she worked selling BBQ, and he frequently bought his lunch at the same place, we do not know if they met. Right now, there’s no one we can ask, either. However, there is no doubt that she did not choose him to die, though that was the consequence of her choice to turn left in front of him.

How deadly are the consequences we face? Most are not that deadly, but most choices are made without considering the worst possible consequence. A man under the influence hits wife, one more time. The consequence is that she no longer trusts him – in many ways. The consequence is the death of the family unit.

For the wages of sin is death;

Paul is explicit. The consequence of sin is death. There’s no doubt about it. It isn’t immediate, as Adam and Eve discovered, but it is explicit. Additional information in the Bible indicates it is also eternally irreversible – with one exception:

but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23 KJV)

That’s the choice faced every time someone asks timeless evangelical question, “Do you know where you are going when you die?” This is ignorable, and most people shrug and answer, “I’ve lived a good life, I think God will understand.”

That answer bothers me because I’ve heard too many people tell me I have my God, and they have theirs. Only one of them offered to tell me about their God – claimed it was the same as mine – and told me about his holy book, the Quran. Unfortunately, we don’t worship the same God, because mine inspired:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

His “begets not, neither is he begotten.” The difference between the two attitudes causes confusion, and I’ve been taught:

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV)

Before we discuss consequences, let’s revisit how to get rid of our sins:

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:8-9 KJV)

Saved from what? Death. But not from the consequences of our sin. The thief that confessed he believed Jesus, and Jesus told him he would be in Paradise with Him, was not delivered from the consequences of his thievery. Also, as much as He prayed for the cup to pass, Jesus was not delivered from the consequences of our sins.

What can happen, however, is there are no more consequences to be faced. Lives can be changed by the person living them. The inattentive driver can become a carefully aware driver for the rest of her life. The drunken abuser can refuse to use addictive substances and treat women with respect. No one else can do it for them – it truly is their choice, and we may never face those decisions ourselves.

Everyone makes the choice about what their God is. What did you decide? I confess, I chose years ago to study the Bible and accept God as described in Genesis 1:1 and following verses, questioning verses along the way, trusting answers will be provided, and I accepted His gift of salvation.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 KJV)

Any failings are mine – not His – and I’ll live with the consequences.