Ahhh, Consequences

I remember growing up, that I was often called upon to confess my wrong doing. Not in a church setting or in a spiritual setting - just in my "everyday kid life" – I was doing things I should not have done and thought I could get away with it. When I got caught, I was sorry. Well, sorry that I got caught, anyway. So I behaved sorry; I said "I'm sorry"; I even tried to make amends sometimes (when I was made to).

But did I really think about what my disobedience was costing me? Time away from friends – for sure. Missed events – that hurt. Sometimes penalties that cost me money – no fun. But I don't think that I usually allowed the enormity of my behavior to sink in regarding how it affected others.

You see, I thought that if "I" chose to do wrong (to sin) that it was "MY" decision and that IF "I" got caught then it was "ME" that had to pay the consequences. If I was willing to risk that to have a little "fun" then I would go for it. After all, it was only me anyway – not anyone else.

I don't know when I realized how wrong that self-centered concept was. MY sin, MY risks, MY behavior, MY disobedience – all MY choices because I can. But almost all of those choices had an effect on others, too. I broke my mom's heart the day I got caught egging a house and some cars. I hurt my sister when I called her horrible names because I was mad at her. I hurt a girlfriend by saying something about her that was unfair and did not need to be shared. I hurt a friend by spreading something he shared without thinking that he trusted me to keep it quiet. I hurt a teacher by spreading things that were not true about her. All in all, I was a little sneaky and wherever possible I would deny it or at least deny it was intentional. Deep down – I was selfish – I thought that my actions only affected me and I discovered (and cared) way too late in life that the consequences of my sin affected more people than just me. My sin caused deep hurts and when I realized that it made me think a little more before I made those bad choices.

There are other consequences that are far deeper, too. Sometimes we think that we can just walk away if we "confess" and "say we are sorry" without having to pay the price. However, sometimes – even when we are truly sorry and intend to repent and walk away from our sin and stop behaving that way – there are still consequences that cannot be avoided or averted. Things like an unexpected teen pregnancy, an arrest that leads to a permanent record, an injury that changes the course of a life, a death that rocks your world or even a friendship that is destroyed because trust was broken. Sometimes there is no going back.

Two things to remember – most consequences are deeper than you think and EVERY act of disobedience to God has consequences that affect more than JUST YOU. It is not all about you – it IS ALL about God! Sometimes the consequences help bring us back to reality and we are compelled to change our focus off of ourselves.