The Bitterness of the Disobedient Life
Perhaps not everyone can identify with my title, but allow me to illustrate what I mean. Remember the feeling as a kid when you first did something you knew was wrong, out of bounds, against the rules? Wow! It was like the discovery of a planet while still remaining on terra ferma! Then if that was coupled with the right (wrong) people and a certain song on the radio, the combination could be almost lethal! I mean of course, lethal to the soul. Then if you add such things as a bad home life, a divorce, a deceased parent, being orphaned, or any number of other negative combinations, that first time could oftentimes turn into a habit that formed your life character.
That could well be a description of my early life, and, perhaps, it mirrors yours in some way. My point today is something that goes well beyond the above scenario. It involves the latter end of the process. That is the point that comes to all of us as we age and face the certainty of death and the judgement to follow. One of these days, each of us will face that inevitable reality.
Just last week, a notorious gangster from Boston named James (Whitey) Bulger died in prison. Whitey ran the most vicious Boston mob gang in the city for over twenty-five years. He had personally murdered scores of people, many of which he viciously killed personally. Unfortunately, when it came time for his own death, it wasn't just a normal death from old age. No, he died, but he died at the hands of those in prison who knew the kind of life he had lived that had earned him a place in the penitentiary. He was beaten to death with a lock in sock, and, then, before he died, his killers gouged out his eyes for good measure. They wanted Whitey to suffer before he died.
Just after Whitey had been arrested before his final incarceration and death, he stated that he was not a good man and did not deserve to be treated with any genuine respect. This statement demonstrated that James Bulger knew better but decided that he would pursue the life he chose. But oh, how he must regret that decision now! Don't be fooled. Sin's cost is always more than we imagine, and there is a point of no return.
Young people look at their teenage rebellion and disobedience as a normal art of growing up. God disagrees! In the midst of a list of the most heinous of sins, Scripture lists "disobedience to parents" (II Timothy 3:1-5). That passage says that people, without Christ, are "lovers of self." Our disobedience is rooted in love of self, or, as the Bible calls it "pride." This Scripture passage even warns us to avoid such people. This is a lesson we should be teaching our children and our grandchildren because the bitterness of eternal consequences is real.
The wise man in Proverbs said,
".....and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors." Proverbs 5:12-13
Did you hear the sounds of hell in that voice? That could be anyone of us if we hadn't come to Christ to have our sins forgiven. It could be me. But it wasn't! Hopefully, it won't be you either.
That could well be a description of my early life, and, perhaps, it mirrors yours in some way. My point today is something that goes well beyond the above scenario. It involves the latter end of the process. That is the point that comes to all of us as we age and face the certainty of death and the judgement to follow. One of these days, each of us will face that inevitable reality.
Just last week, a notorious gangster from Boston named James (Whitey) Bulger died in prison. Whitey ran the most vicious Boston mob gang in the city for over twenty-five years. He had personally murdered scores of people, many of which he viciously killed personally. Unfortunately, when it came time for his own death, it wasn't just a normal death from old age. No, he died, but he died at the hands of those in prison who knew the kind of life he had lived that had earned him a place in the penitentiary. He was beaten to death with a lock in sock, and, then, before he died, his killers gouged out his eyes for good measure. They wanted Whitey to suffer before he died.
Just after Whitey had been arrested before his final incarceration and death, he stated that he was not a good man and did not deserve to be treated with any genuine respect. This statement demonstrated that James Bulger knew better but decided that he would pursue the life he chose. But oh, how he must regret that decision now! Don't be fooled. Sin's cost is always more than we imagine, and there is a point of no return.
Young people look at their teenage rebellion and disobedience as a normal art of growing up. God disagrees! In the midst of a list of the most heinous of sins, Scripture lists "disobedience to parents" (II Timothy 3:1-5). That passage says that people, without Christ, are "lovers of self." Our disobedience is rooted in love of self, or, as the Bible calls it "pride." This Scripture passage even warns us to avoid such people. This is a lesson we should be teaching our children and our grandchildren because the bitterness of eternal consequences is real.
The wise man in Proverbs said,
".....and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors." Proverbs 5:12-13
Did you hear the sounds of hell in that voice? That could be anyone of us if we hadn't come to Christ to have our sins forgiven. It could be me. But it wasn't! Hopefully, it won't be you either.
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