by Don Emmitte |
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Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to
live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the
Lord. Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the
special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up
among you, for whenever it springs up, many are corrupted by its poison.
Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau. He traded his
birthright as the oldest son for a single meal. And afterward, when he
wanted his father's blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for
repentance, even though he wept bitter tears. You have not come to a
physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and
whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai when God gave them his
laws. See to it that you obey God, the one who is speaking to you. For if
the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses,
the earthly messenger, how terrible our danger if we reject the One who
speaks to us from heaven! (Hebrews
12:14-18, 25 NLV). It is so
easy to become oblivious to our surroundings. All of us have learned the
art of tuning out things that go on around us.
The following story is a wonderful example of how dangerous that
may become: Jim
Davis, a grocery store clerk who loves his job, prides himself on his good
work. One of his pet peeves is out-of-control toddlers and parents who
yell at their kids but do nothing to correct their children's obnoxious
behavior. One evening, Jim was checking out a customer who had a shopping
cart full of groceries. While ringing up the sale, a child behind him
began screaming very loudly, and an angry man responded by shouting,
"Get down!" What a jerk, thought Jim, without even looking up.
He kept on calling out prices and moving the groceries past the scanner.
The kid behind him was still crying, and again he heard the man yell,
"Get down!" Sheesh. Talk about poor parenting, thought Jim. This
guy is a total jerk. He kept on checking groceries without looking up.
Finally finishing the customer's cart, Jim looked up and said,
"That'll be $89.95, ma'am." Seeing no one, he looked around and
noticed that everyone, including his customer, was lying face down on the
floor. He turned around just in time to see a gunman leave the store. The
checker behind him, still lying on the floor, calmly said, "Jim, you
know the second time you heard 'Get down,' his gun was pointed right at
your head." 1 We can get
so accustomed to the noise of our culture and the distractions of the
world that when we hear someone warning us about our behavior, we ignore
the warning completely. We go on with business as usual. This is true in
the physical and the spiritual world. God calls us to repentance in many
ways. Don’t get caught being oblivious to His call. The time will come
when there'll be no more opportunities to act on the message. Now is the
best time for you to turn your attention to God’s grace and love. 1.
Hot
Illustrations for Youth Talks; Rice, Wayne; Copyright 1994, Youth
Specialties, Inc. |
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