Proverbs
7:21-23 – With her enticing speech she
caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he
went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction
of the stocks, till and arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare,
he did not know it would take his life.
Bible
Challenges and Comments
This
is a story of many years ago when the Volkswagen first came to the U.S. one of
the sailors on a destroyer I was on purchased one. We were E-6 Petty Officers
so we all shared this common bond and had a compartment on the ship called the
“First Class Mess” (no it really was not a mess, we kept it clean, just a
sailor’s way of calling isolated compartments belonging to a specific group). There
are many stories that came out of this chapter in my life so, please stick
around.
Back
to the sailor with the Volkswagen! After a few days our friend and companion
said, “This car is the best one I have ever owned. I have had it five days and
no doubt it will be another two or three days before it needs gasoline, it gets
great mileage. After he left the mess a few of us got together and made a pact,
each one would take turns and buy a gallon of gasoline each morning and dump it
into our friend’s car.
After
a few days our friend was so excited he could hardly contain himself. “Man what
a car, I don’t need gasoline yet, I think I can get another few days out of my
first tank of gasoline, can you believe it, I am working on the second week and
I still have a ¼ tank of gas”. For a total of five days we faithfully put a
gallon of fuel in his vehicle and then we stopped. Our friend after a couple of
weeks of having to fuel his vehicle became less vocal.
One
day we got together and asked him how his VW was doing. A bit unhappily he
said, “There must be something wrong with it, every week I have to put gas in
the car it is not getting the mileage it first got. Then we made our secret
known, we were looking for a good laugh, but our little prank worked just the
opposite, our friend took his time trusting us after that incident, since he
did not appreciate being the subject of ridicule.
Matthew 27:27-31 – Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium
and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a
scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on
His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and
mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him,
and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him,
they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be
crucified.
Sometimes in life, we believe that we are the familiar friend
who would do no harm to another, only to find out that while we are at face
value “friendly” it is most certainly what is going on behind the face that
brings victory or failure in relationships. Integrity is not something to be
tossed aside for the sake of a laugh and all too often our laughter is not the
best medicine. Laughter is better when it is directed at self and not at
others.
Notice Psalm 41:7-9 – All who hate me whisper together against
me; against me they devise my hurt. “An evil disease,” they say “clings to him
and now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.” Even my own familiar
friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
Yes, Satan is the Father of lies, the one who ridicules, who
blasphemies and who murders and like him, we chime in at times. We get our
cards punched so to speak and join the crowd of mockers. Yet there is a “Bema
Seat” or better understood the “Mercy Seat” here, we will see the ONE who did
lay down, “Yes HE did!” but He and NONE other; ROSE AGAIN. For believers in
Jesus Christ we should surely “rejoice” that our judgment is here at the Mercy
Seat of Christ where mocking Him will be rewarded with gifts that burn up and
smoke!
2 Corinthians 5:9-11 – Therefore
we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether
good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but
we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
You
see men and women, when our friend and companion found out that we were using
him for our mocking entertainment it hurt him to the point that when we
realized what we did, we wanted to flee from him and hide our self in shame. We
were from his point of view, unworthy of his friendship. So there is this final
moment in time when God will have another judgment over those who believe in
self-justification; isn’t that what “mocking” is all about?
Revelation 20:11-15 – Then
I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the
dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were
opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead
were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the
books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered
up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his
works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast
into the lake of fire.
At
this judgment there will be no gifts to burn up and the only object to go up in
smoke is YOU!
No comments:
Post a Comment