"I Mean What I Say"
"I mean it!" Have you ever said that to someone? I say it to my children all the time. "I mean it!" is usually preceded by "Clean your room.", "Do your homework." or "Turn off the TV." The "I mean it!" is also preceded by a failure on the part of my children to respond immediately to what I just said. They know that if they don't respond to "I mean it!", there will be another response from me that they don't like, so most of the time, it does the trick.
As I was thinking about my last post on grumbling and gossipping, I thought about how many times God has commanded us to do certain things such as "Do all things without grumbling or disputing.", or "Pray without ceasing." or "In everything give thanks." How many times have I simply brushed those commands aside as not that important or thought, "I can do that later." Unlike my children who get punished very quickly if they don't obey me right away, we do not always see the immediate consequences of our failing to disobey God's commands, but there are consequences, both immediate and future.
When my children fail to clean their rooms or do their homework or continue watching TV, the long range consequences are actually far worse than the immediate punishment they might receive from me. If they do not clean their rooms or do their homework, things will soon pile up to the point where they cannot handle it. In the case of watching TV, well, it would take an entire article to cover those consequences. The consequences of our failure to obey God's commands, especially what I will term (for want of a better term) "daily maintenance" commands, are similar. When we do not do as God commands, the consequences are far reaching.
Sadly, as my children often view my "commands" as bothersome, we often do the same to God's commands. "What difference does it make," we think, "if I just say one bad thing about my fellow brother in Christ." Or, we tell ourselves that if we let out our complaint, we will feel better. What we fail to understand is that God gave us those commands for our good and especially for our continued fellowship with Him. When tell our children to do their homework, we know the benefits they will glean from studying, otherwise, we would not bother to tell them to do it. In the same way, God tells us not to gossip and grumble, because He knows the harm that will come from doing it and the personal fellowship with Him that will be broken as a result. When God tells us to do something, He means it!
As I was thinking about my last post on grumbling and gossipping, I thought about how many times God has commanded us to do certain things such as "Do all things without grumbling or disputing.", or "Pray without ceasing." or "In everything give thanks." How many times have I simply brushed those commands aside as not that important or thought, "I can do that later." Unlike my children who get punished very quickly if they don't obey me right away, we do not always see the immediate consequences of our failing to disobey God's commands, but there are consequences, both immediate and future.
When my children fail to clean their rooms or do their homework or continue watching TV, the long range consequences are actually far worse than the immediate punishment they might receive from me. If they do not clean their rooms or do their homework, things will soon pile up to the point where they cannot handle it. In the case of watching TV, well, it would take an entire article to cover those consequences. The consequences of our failure to obey God's commands, especially what I will term (for want of a better term) "daily maintenance" commands, are similar. When we do not do as God commands, the consequences are far reaching.
Sadly, as my children often view my "commands" as bothersome, we often do the same to God's commands. "What difference does it make," we think, "if I just say one bad thing about my fellow brother in Christ." Or, we tell ourselves that if we let out our complaint, we will feel better. What we fail to understand is that God gave us those commands for our good and especially for our continued fellowship with Him. When tell our children to do their homework, we know the benefits they will glean from studying, otherwise, we would not bother to tell them to do it. In the same way, God tells us not to gossip and grumble, because He knows the harm that will come from doing it and the personal fellowship with Him that will be broken as a result. When God tells us to do something, He means it!
"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." (I John 5:3, ESV)
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