Human Nature, the manner and way that people act or react, is one of the three things in life that never changes.  Together with Sin and God these three remain the same today as they were in biblical times.  That is why people always repeat the same foolish mistakes that their forefathers made and why most children grow to be almost identical to how their parents live and act.  We as humans only know what we know and for the most part don’t want to learn a whole lot more.  You see, it takes a lot of extra time, energy, resources, and effort to continue learning, whereas unproductive playing is a lot more fun.  Usually it is not very profitable, but admittedly a lot more fun.  The fact is that laziness is much more interested and involved with playing than it is with working and learning.

God calls the lazy person a sluggard.  That is a lot tougher word than just lazy isn’t it?  God calls the person who has a drinking problem a drunkard.  Again God’s choice of description is much stronger and pointed.  God calls a person who continually overeats too much food a glutton.  That is a tough highly descriptive word.  The words God uses are always meant to cause a changed effect or action, not just a describe an existing situation.  That is why His Words are tough words, thought provoking words, and action causing words.

There is no such thing as a little white lie.  Oh no, a statement of less than the truth is, in fact, a lie.  The actual size or impact of a lie does not increase or lessen the fact that it is still an untruth,…it is still a lie!

Lies, like the truth, all carry consequences.

As societies and their related cultures grow and change over lengthy time periods, so do the words they use and the meaning that attaches or defines  those same changed words.  Slang words tend to pop up in regional jargon or dialect.  Understanding all such changes are as natural to the growth and development of human beings as light is to day, never lose sight of the fact that change is inevitable and will always be in existence.  Never lose sight of the fact that ,God, Sin, and Human Nature never change.  That is exactly why people, these wonderful necessary things that God created, have always been and will continue to be totally predictable.  Because human nature never changes, and because people have been around on the earth for over 7,500 years, a thinking type person can pretty well predict what the reaction of the people will be to any given or artificial man-made stimulus.  

That is precisely the basis for every law concocted and passed by the government of any country.  Passed laws are predesigned to direct the actions and behavior of the affected masses of countrymen.  Laws influence and impact the activities of people.  Government officials know this fact.  Enacted laws will trigger the desired actions of the masses of people.  You can thereby direct people’s actions by creating and passing laws that will cause people to act in such a way as to accomplish what the government officials want to happen.  This can all be done from “behind the curtain” where the masses of people never know who it was or is who redirected their behavior.

A case in point is if you as a government official want to bless another person or legal entity, i.e. a corporation, simply enact laws that benefit the legal entity of your choice and their produced products or services. Simultaneously pass laws that hinder, damage, or even punish the competitors of the favored organization.  People who don’t know or don’t know how to think for themselves will always be manipulated and controlled by those folks or institutions who, rightly or wrongly,…do think for themselves.

That is precisely why God gave everyone their own brain and exhorted them to use it for their own best interest while maintaining a godly and obedient lifestyle in the own behavior.  Think and grow rich…..not grow rich at someone else’s expense….not grow rich by redistributing someone else’s earnings…not grow rich by taking from the achiever and giving to the non-achiever. 

Every human being was given their own free will of choice.  What you choose to do with your freedom of choice will provide the type of lifestyle you live and enjoy.  If what you now have is really what you want, good…hang in there, keep it up, charge on.  If you don’t like it,….change….go back to work.  It is not your position in God’s creation to be taken care of by anyone other than yourself with extra assistance from your Creator.  If you want help,…the best place to look first for it, is at the end of your own arm.  Even the most minimal knowledge of history reveals that this is the way all the great nations in the world reached their pinnacles.

Clergyman, author, and teacher, Charles R. Swindoll once told the story about himself growing up as a youth in Texas.  The story captures the essence of what we are discussing.  He once mused:

“I remember back when I was in my early teens, one of my earliest jobs was throwing a paper route.  I threw the Houston Press for a couple of years during junior high school.  It was a good job and kept me out of mischief, but it got tiring.

After a long afternoon of folding about two hundred papers, throwing my route, and turning toward home on my bike, I remember coming back to the back-yard of a large home at the corner across the street from our house.  I thought to myself, “I’m tired…no need to go all the way down to the end of the street and around this big yard.  I’ll just cut across and be home in a jiffy.”  It was a quick and easy shortcut.  The first time I did that I entertained a little twinge of guilt as I rode my bike across that nice plush grass.  You need to understand, this was a beautiful yard.  To make matters worse, our neighbor was very particular about it.  I had watched him manicure it week after week, Still, I figured it wouldn’t hurt just this once.  Late the next afternoon I came tooling down the same street, thinking, “I wonder if I ought to use that same shortcut?”  I did…with less guilt than the first time.  Theoretically, something told me I shouldn’t;  but practically, I rationalized around the wrong.  

In less than two weeks my bicycle tire had begun to wear a narrow path across the yard.  By then, I knew in my heart I really should be going down and around the corner, but I didn’t.  I just shoved all those guilt feelings down out of sight.

By the end of the third week, a small but very obvious sign appeared near the sidewalk, blocking the path I had made.  It read:  “Keep Off the Grass–No Bikes.”  Everything but my name was on the sign!  I confess, I ignored it; I went around the sign and rode right on over my path, glancing at the sign as I rode by.  Admittedly, I felt worse!  Why?  The sign identified my sin, which, in turn, intensified my guilt.  But what is most interesting, the sign didn’t stop me from going across the yard.  As a matter of fact, it held a strange fascination.  It somehow prodded me on to further wrong.”

Whenever you know not to do something that is wrong to begin with, what is your response?  Do you obey the warning signs that come up in your life?  God is not a traffic cop.  He wants your good and proper and moral behavior…nothing less.  Only you can be accountable and responsible for that.  

As a believer you belong to God.  You are to obediently live your life as a good example for all who are watching.  Consequently, you are commanded to obey all of the warning signs that come up in your life.

Seek And You Will Find………..