I was in a training class for a new job. One day the teacher mentioned that we had been exposed to strep throat because someone who was in the class had it but she decided to go home and the teacher didn’t have the time to disinfect everything in the room before the whole class got there. As we went on with the lessons she repeatedly showed concern that she might get sick and seemed to be sincere in her concern for avoiding illness and she wasn’t the only one in the class concerned about it.
Later in the day however there was an opportunity for those in training to get free snow cones that were being served in another part of the building during break. If you don’t know what snow cones are, those are a frozen desserts made with shaved iced mixed with a sweet tasty syrup. Most of the class including, the health concerned teacher, got some although I opted out to avoid sugar due to health concerns I already had to begin with. But that wasn’t really what I want to point out.
When we all returned to the class the teacher didn’t try to teach and eat at the same time and while trying to finish the lesson she dropped the spoon. She was disappointed and tried to eat the rest of the dessert out of the cup without it for a bit, but wasn’t making much progress. So she eventually picked the spoon back up off the floor, attempted to wipe it off, and said we can judge her about it but she was going to use it and was getting to the tasty part of the treat.
It was kind of funny to see how far she would go to get that dessert, but eating with a spoon that fell on the floor might have exposed her to much more problems than a sore infected throat she seemed concerned about earlier. It was not very shocking to learn a few days later that she wasn’t feeling very well and told the class that her stomach was upset. I can’t say it was solely due to using a spoon that was on the ground but that couldn’t have been the best idea for someone trying to avoid being sick. She was concerned about being unwell until her desire for pleasure outweighed her desire for logic.
However, when I look at the Jewish Bible and compare my life to God's word's I can’t laugh at her because while I may not willingly use a dirty spoon from the ground to eat a sugary treat after claiming to care about my health, I will admit I have behaved similarly with spiritual things. We may claim to want to avoid sin and we may talk about how important the Torah and the commandments are for Jewish life and then when we are tempted to disobey the God of Israel we willingly ignore not just what could potentially go wrong but guaranteed consequences of our actions because we want to enjoy sin temporally. “For all souls belong to Me. Both the soul of the father and the soul of the son are Mine. The soul who sins will die.” Ezekiel 18:4.
It really isn’t any more logical for some who professes to believe in God to trade righteousness for sin than for someone who professes to be concerned about getting sick to eat desert with a spoon from the ground while claiming not to want to be sick. We need to follow the Bible. The Jewish teacher Paul said, “By trusting, Moshe, after he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose being mistreated along with God’s people rather than enjoying the passing pleasures of sin. He had come to regard abuse suffered on behalf of the Messiah as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes fixed on the reward.” Hebrews 11:24-26.
We too should be like Moses and give up the temporary pleasure for the eternal good. God is not holding out on us by telling us not to do wrong. The Jewish Bible says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11. We just need to wait on God and walk in His ways and in the long run it will be more than worth it even if it doesn’t always look like it. Don’t use sick logic with God and assume you can profess to believe one thing while your actions show something else. If you believe in God and really want to be righteous your actions should make sense and reflect that.
Picture originally found here
