Grab Bag

Do you remember the grab bags we used to get as kids? You know, the brown paper sacks full of shiny trinkets and colorful little toys that we blindly dug through to find the best? We couldn't wait to reach our curious hands blindly into the bag to choose a treasure. No peeking. We never knew what we would pull out, but typically the toy wasn't as exciting as the suspense. We might get a bouncy ball, a race car, a pack of gum, a rubber snake to scare grandma, etc. the possibilities were endless!
There is an element of sin that is a lot like a grab bag at times: you never know what consequences you are going to pull back into your life as a result of a poor choice. As Christians, when we choose to sin, we are reaching into a world that is enemy to our purpose. We might have fun digging around in the bag while satan conceals the consequences, but what we pull out can be devastating.

1 John 3:4 describes sin as "lawlessness." If sin does not abide by any law or any set of rules, neither do its consequences. If you are prone to rebellion like me, then you know that the best thing about sin is we can do anything we want! No limits! But the worst thing about sin is that its consequences have no limits either.
Like the grab bag, we can reach our hands into satan's sack and pull out all kinds of horrific consequences that we did not expect. I am going to assert three basic categories of sin's consequences:

>Temporary
>Lifetime
>Eternal

Temporary consequences are probably everyone's first choice next to no consequences at all. This category can refer to many different time frames but no permanent bearing. It can mean uncomfortable aftermath that lasts for a few moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and possibly a few years. At worst these consequences are a lifestyle disruption, at best an inconvenience.

Now a lifetime consequence is a different story. It is a little more severe than our favorite temporary blunder. It is a result of our sin that stays with us the rest of our days on this earth. It may be tempting for some of us to blur the lines between temporary and lifetime in some situations. For example, if a one night stand results in unexpected pregnancy, that would see to fall into the category of lifetime consequence, yes? Some might choose to challenge that however by applying a temporary fix. Abortion might come to mind as an option. One might be tempted to think, "Hey I didn't sign up for this part! I can't handle a kid right now so I just won't have it, problem solved." Whether or not one chose to terminate the pregnancy, wouldn't she still have to live with the decision? Lifetime consequences. I am by no means attempting to argue the topic of abortion, but in continuing with this example, terminating a pregnancy doesn't mean you were never pregnant. In the same way, we might be able to alter the situation sin has left us in, but we cannot send the consequences back altogether. Sin leaves its mark. Period.

Eternal consequences are of course the ones we should be most concerned about. Sometimes it is easy to believe we might have actually gotten away with a little rebellious spell or two. We don't get struck by lightning so we think God must have been in a generous mood when we screwed up and chose to overlook that little white lie, or that little affair, or that little shoplifting spree, or that little bit too much Vodka, etc.
Before I was saved, I was of the "lightning" mentality. I thought that punishment was supposed to come directly after the offense and when it didn't I became even more daring. It wasn't until I truly met Jesus that I saw how dangerous that thinking is, I was constantly on thin ice and didn't even know it! Eternal consequences are often overlooked by some of us. We get so wrapped up in the here and now that we refuse to submit our will in preparation for a future we cannot yet see. But the Lord never goes without giving us a heads up. In Matthew, Jesus spoke of the wickeds' fate by comparing sheep to goats. He said, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (25:46). Those who refuse Jesus now may be in for a titanic shock when the Lord is separating the sheep from the goats. I have to say that I would be in shock right beside them if Jesus hadn't saved me when He did.

Haven't we all found ourselves in heaps of unanticipated trouble? We get a little too close to satan and a little too far away from Dad and we become a pile of ashes in no time. And aren't we typically shocked when this happens? We find ourselves screaming at an innocent Dr. "An STD?!?! You have GOT to be kidding! How did THAT happen?!" As if the physician had just told Mother Teresa she needed to be treated for herpes. We of course seem to forget in that moment about our weekend rendezvous with Larry, Curly, and Moe at the frat party. Then we begin to tattle on satan for making us sin. Excuse me? No. WE are the ones that stuck our curious little hands into the realm of destruction- why are we so surprised when we pull out some hideous end? Job 4:8 tells us, "As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it."

No matter how cute, how slick, or how invincible we think we are, sin has no favorites and no mercy. The truth is, as Christians, if we know Jesus and still stick our hand in hell's grab bag, we deserve the trouble we pull out. We have been amply warned by our Father that sin's consequences are as real as His love for us.

Now for the good news of man's dilemma: no matter how unbearable sin's outcome, we always have a just and merciful God that never stops loving us. There is no consequence that is greater than His love for us. There is no pickle we can sin our way into that His faithfulness will not penetrate. Yes, we may have to deal with whatever awful thing we have reaped, BUT we do not have to deal alone! We serve a God who can turn the most terrible consequence into His sweetest discipline if we ask His forgiveness and choose to stand behind Christ's sacrifice. Let's thank Him today that we do not have to fear eternal consequences and that we can never out-sin His love!

L. Bailey

Growing Into Our Calling

Ella blew out her birthday candles before her guests finished singing. She was hardly concerned with cake or “pin the tail on the donkey” when she had a table full of presents on the other end of the room. She had her eye on a certain present. The wrapping was dull compared to the others. It had no ribbons or bows or sparkle paper, it was wrapped in brown shipping paper and stuck with stamps and postage writing. That present came every year in the same kind of package. It was from Grandma Minnie who lived states away. Ella was her only granddaughter so she made sure to remember every birthday and she always knew just what to send. Ella was especially excited this year, after all, she was ten. Tenth birthdays were a pretty big deal. She was in the double digits now, so it would only make sense that Grandma Minnie would send an even better present for this birthday.

After the cake was cut, Ella’s mother permitted her to begin opening her gifts. Of course she chose to open the gift her grandmother sent in her absence before any other present. Brown paper went flying to expose a tightly taped carton that concealed her prize. She dug into the sticky tape and the box opened with a pop. She peered inside and began ripping out noisy tissue paper. At last she felt cool silky fabric and pulled it from the box’s grip. A beautiful dress adorned with sequences and sparkles and every color in the rainbow emerged. Ella was certain she would be able to perform magic as soon as she tried it on. As she held the dress up, her smile faded into a frown that almost slid off her chin. The dress seemed eight sizes too big! She would never fit into it! Grandma Minnie must have grown old and senile just like everyone else’s grandma! Didn’t she know she was turning ten, not twenty-five? Ella’s frown turned into a whining sob and then a foot stomp. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Ella’s mother asked. “It’s so pretty and I’ll never be able to fit in it!” she bellowed as she let the dress fall and crossed her arms. With a sigh, Ella’s mother reached down and pulled a card from the bottom of the box. Inside, the card read, “Ella, you will grow into this one day I promise. Meanwhile, Very Happy Birthday to my angel, Love always, Grandma Minnie.”

Maybe we don’t all have a Grandma Minnie, but haven’t we all felt like Ella at some point? Like Ella’s dress, we receive beautiful aspirations at times from God, but aren’t we so quick to compare the enormous size of those plans to our small spiritual stature? We find it beautiful that God would call us according to His purpose, yet we also find it unimaginable. We usually think, “How will I ever be able to live up to that? How could I ever fill that role? Doesn’t He know all the things I have done? He must have my plan mixed up with someone else’s.” And we frown almost as much as Ella when we look at all the growing we are going to have to do in order to get into that gift. Why does He give us the gift of a calling that seems so impossible compared to our current situation? The same reason a grandmother would send a dress to a ten year old that was made for an adult- we are expected to grow into it at some point.

Do you think Ella miraculously grew into that dress as soon as the party was over? No. The next day did it fit? No. There will be many Band-Aids, tree climbs, smiles, and broken hearts between Ella’s tenth birthday and the day she is finally able to fully benefit from the gift given to her years earlier. We may have been given a glimpse into the plan God has set for us but there is so much in between that cannot be skipped. It is not about the day we finally “fit” into our role, it is about all the days and nights that get us there and how we handle the gift once we accept it.
Shouldn’t we believe then that God who is gracious enough to call us out of darkness has a purpose for doing so? Would He call us without reason? Would He burden our hearts with a desire for Him without intentions to fulfill them? Romans 8:28 says no! “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Ok, remember Moses? He had almost as many excuses for God as we do. But the Lord overrode every reason Moses had to reject the gift of his calling. “But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11. Sounds a lot like us doesn’t it? Excuses, excuses, excuses. BUT, no matter how many excuses we come up with, Proverbs 21:30 tells us that, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” We will fit in that dress if God has planned it- size is irrelevant.

So the next time we stare at that impossibly huge calling let’s remember that He gave us this gift anticipating our growing into it one day. We may not be expected to fit into it tomorrow, but growth is inevitable if we seek His will earnestly and obey. For those of us to take after Moses, remember how the Lord answered him, “And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” Exodus 3:12. He is saying that to us now, “Insert your name, I will be with you through this task I have called you for.”

L. Bailey