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Have you ever had someone give you the sage advice, "You should..."? It seems like everyone knows exactly what you should do. Who you should be. If all of these geniuses are so wise, how come they don't take their own advice? How come their life is such a mess?
The reality is that "You should..." is always unsolicited advice by people who don't have a clue. Some of them may even be well-intentioned. They might actually believe that they are trying to help you. But the reality is that their advice is worth as much as Satan's advice to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Does that sound harsh?
Think about it. Satan deceived Eve (Gen. 3:1-6) and gave her advice for his own purpose. Often times, free advice is for the same purpose: The other person is trying to get you to do something for their gain. This isn't always sinful and evil like it was in the Garden of Eden, but bad choices from bad advice always have long-term consequences and always impact more people than just yourself. Do you ever wonder why Eve didn't ask the serpent any questions? Do you ever fall into the same trap with people and just believe what they are telling you, never asking a single question to test the validity of the advice giver?
What if when Satan said, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the Garden'?" Eve would have answered, "Why wouldn't He let us eat from any tree? That doesn't make any sense." And then quoted what God did say.
But instead, what did she do? She started answering Satan's questions, being led down the path he wanted her to go never stopping to think about what he was doing, or where he was leading her.
After she sinned and was later confronted with her sin by God, what was her response? The devil made me do it! (this isn't exactly what she said, but it is the essence of what she said) In this instance the serpent was punished for his role in the fall, but Adam and Eve also felt the consequences. One moment of selfishness tainted all of God's creation for the rest of time. Every person who has ever lived, and who will ever live, get to feel the consequences of Eve's moment of self-indulgence.
Sadly, we see that same thing play out in our lives, and in our world, everyday. People don't think! They don't think about the immediate consequences of their actions. They don't think about the long-term ramifications of the choices. They certainly don't give any thought to who else is going to be effected by their choices and actions. In our sinful, self-indulgent world people relive this incident from the Garden of Eden everyday in their own life:
Satan and his servants attack God's Word.
People step into his snare and, like Eve, begin to question God's Word.
Their own desire gets the best of them.
They indulge their sin for a moment of pleasure.
They abort (murder) their child.
They get fired from their job.
They end up in jail.
They end up dead and damned.
Satan laughs with evil glee the entire time.
The reality is- our choices have consequences. The consequences aren't just for us, they are for the people in our sphere of influence. They are for generations to come.
None of us lives in a vacuum. So none of our choices only affect us alone.
Sadly, sometimes we think that we can outsmart God and indulge our sinful nature and "get away with it". There's only two problems with that:
- God is all-knowing.
- God is present everywhere, all of the time.
Nothing that happens in the world happens without God knowing about it. In fact, He knew about it before you were even born, before He created the world. You aren't getting away with anything. Even if it were possible to "get away with it", God has put the Law of Cause and Effect in place in our world. There would still be consequences for your sinful behavior. It would still hurt you, and the people you claim to care about.
We need to give careful consideration to the choices we make in our life...to the choices we make every day. Our choices don't have to have negative results. Through faith in Jesus Christ we are empowered to make good choices. We have been given the ability to live lives that please God and make decisions based on God's commands. Through the Holy Spirit, we have been given the ability to positively affect our world. We have been given the ability to leave a Godly legacy.
Thankfully, this is possible because Jesus fulfilled that promise that God made to Adam and Eve:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.
-Genesis 3:15
This promise was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified on Calvary, to pay the price for all of our sins, and then was raised to life again on Easter morning.
Graciously, Jesus lived a perfect human life, died for our sins, and raised from the dead to redeem us from the power of sin, death, and hell.
Thankfully, God has given us His Word to measure all of those You shoulds against. He has given us His Word; it's our responsibility to read and study it every day. Do you want to start making better choices in life? Study God's Word and do what He says.
If you don't know why you believe what you believe, you will fall for Satan's lies every time. The devil may make you do it, but you will still be held responsible; the consequences are still very real.
God bless.
Jason Fredrick
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