Page 4 - 2017 JFBNews - July

from Pastor Tim
Burning Down the House...

about your faith decisions, your church
choice, your life priorities, your life
stance. Ironically, I have seen such
‘cage matches’ take a terrible turn. For
in the heat of anger or desire, those
same fighters can often essentially
‘throw in the towel’ and throw open
the gate. “Who let the dogs out?” You
did.
By making a decision based on
flesh, worldly passions or sudden
emotions, we thereby erase all the
council we have given up to that point,
negate all the positions we have taken,
and flush our witness (and often years
of stance and position) right down the
toilet. And sadly, the result is more
than just about eating crow! No, you
have essentially given permission now.
Come on…fess up. You know what I am
talking about! Now that person that
you have been debating and witnessing
It seems that the Titanic was like a perfect storm of stuff to for years has won the fight because you have “conceded.” You
gone wrong. There was the lack of available life rafts, the have admitted you are full of it, and in their victory, that lost soul
separation of social classes played into casualties, and of course has been given your express permission to continue in their
the general arrogance of proclaiming a ship unsinkable when, behavior, their false position and on the road to hell…
hey, it could still sink. And there was one small mistake that day You see, what we do ‘out there’ often has eternal
that in fact likely had mammoth consequences: the lookout ramifications. People now have real reason to reject your
didn’t have binoculars. Maybe it wouldn’t have been the straw counsel…all your counsel, because you ‘flipped’ on your position.
that broke the camel’s back, but I guess we’ll never know right? You lied. You went out and did what you told them repeatedly
It’s a strange thing to in hindsight consider the ramifications of NOT to do. Your actions have confirmed what they always
our decisions…the impact of our personal actions. Most of the believed…even if you never meant it to come out that way.
time…particularly with our faith walk, we tend to believe that at How’s that old saying go? The road to hell is ‘paved with good
least our actions are in and unto ourselves only. We make intentions?’
flippant remarks like “well, maybe I’m wrong…I guess we’ll find Now truth be told, if you are guilty of this, you are probably
out!” And we follow our remarks by plunging forward without not even reading this article any longer, because frankly we just
any real Christ-centered consideration as to the impact upon our don’t want to hear it. We know it’s a fact, but we still don’t want
spouses, our children, our friends, our church…God’s kingdom. to hear it! So the only response we have is to plug our ears and
And that is not to mention God Himself! hope we don’t run into that “I-told-you-so” individual in
Now don’t get me wrong…God is never surprised by our Walmart, or run into me either for that matter! Both parties are
goofy actions, and He isn’t in a fetal position someplace in to be avoided at all cost! Because to talk to these folks (including
anguish, paralyzed by our hamstringing the kingdom pursuits. me again!) is to be reminded that what we have indeed done is
But a person can sure make it hard on the rest of us earthly folks “caused a brother or sister to fall into sin” and scripturally the
that are trying to live for the kingdom and he or she can do penalty for such is serious. We know the passage! Luke 17:2 says
incredible damage to the reputation of Christianity, the street- “It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone
cred of the faithful, and to the “little one’s” who are seeking Him. hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to
Because when we fail to look beyond the moment…beyond our fall into sin.”
emotions and passions, we fail then to extrapolate the end And that my friend is exactly what you have done.
result…the possible ramifications of our decisions. And by doing I think we rarely take this warning seriously. We are honestly
so, we can essentially ‘hold the door open to hell’ for people we quite quick to excuse ourselves, and while yes…maybe our
claim to love. actions had unintended consequences, we had good reason to
Often we can find ourselves in a position where we are and do what we did. And in that heart is a symphony of reflection as
maybe have long been missionally reaching out to certain people to who we are and what we are! 2Peter 2:2 warns us of such an
around us...sometimes in ‘full combat mode.’ If you have been individual; “And many will follow their destructive ways, because
‘in the game’ for any amount of time, you know what I’m talking of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” As already
4 about. Those ‘long discussions’ with family or acquaintances mentioned, God takes such action on our part very seriously! So