Accountable Actions
18/05/08 21:21
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion
of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring
every deed into judgment, including every hidden
thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Eccl.12:13,14
Just as the man who forms the idol in his mind before he sculpts it in stone, so the man has thought wrongly before he has committed the sinful action. Too many times we think only of our actions as those things that are displeasing to the Lord, yet, in actuality, it is our attitudes and feelings, prior to these actions, that God is concerned about.
Think about it; the man who forms an idol has thought wrongly about God before he set his hand to the work. The sin in the man’s heart is only seen when the idol is finally cast. A man with a hot temper is only manifesting what is already in his heart. Wasn’t it Jesus who said that it is what comes out of a man’s heart that makes him unclean?
“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
Matt.15:18,19
So doesn’t it stand to reason that if a man can be accountable for his feelings and attitudes, he may fare better to live righteously? Absolutely!
In the last few decades, I have seen that men and women do not want to be accountable for their actions. It seems there is always something that justifies them. There is always a reason or an excuse for what they do. Our courts are full of litigating crybabies who have demanded that they be excused for their immoral actions. They blame others, the society they live in and their upbringing.
Just recently, a seven year old stole his grandmother’s car and took it for a joyride. When he was finally stopped, after numerous accidents, the media interviewed him. This little fellow showed no remorse but plenty of defiance. Where do we go from here? How does one punish someone when that someone thinks he did nothing wrong?
Do you want to know where this sort of thing started? It all began back in the seventies when there was a little saying that went, “If it feels good –do it!” Then there was the song that went like this: How could it be wrong if it feels so right. And another: If loving you is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. We have been duped, my friend, by evangelists from the other side. They have programmed us to just ‘go’ with our feelings rather than deal with them. Now we have a whole generation of people who think they must act on their feelings no matter what that might entail. They don’t consider if what they feel is wrong (and so change the way they feel), they just act.
These days we might find a man who is angry but with no justifiable reason. Yet because he is angry, he thinks he is justified in what he does in his anger. This is just plain ludicrous! If it is pointed out that he was wrong –he just chalks it up with: “Sorry, that’s just me; that’s just the way I am. That’s how I roll.”
I think that we are even more accountable for our feelings and attitudes than our actions. When I realize that I have done something wrong I can always trace it back to wrong thoughts and feelings. I’m like the man who lived in Chicago, who started out for San Francisco, but ended up in New York! When he left Chicago he just felt the need to walk east. He should have brought his feelings under some sort of judgment. He should have investigated to see if what he was feeling was right.
We should all do the same when feelings rise up –we should be accountable for our feelings; for you can be certain that we will be accountable for our actions!
The Lord bless you this week!
Pastor Jim
Just as the man who forms the idol in his mind before he sculpts it in stone, so the man has thought wrongly before he has committed the sinful action. Too many times we think only of our actions as those things that are displeasing to the Lord, yet, in actuality, it is our attitudes and feelings, prior to these actions, that God is concerned about.
Think about it; the man who forms an idol has thought wrongly about God before he set his hand to the work. The sin in the man’s heart is only seen when the idol is finally cast. A man with a hot temper is only manifesting what is already in his heart. Wasn’t it Jesus who said that it is what comes out of a man’s heart that makes him unclean?
“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
Matt.15:18,19
So doesn’t it stand to reason that if a man can be accountable for his feelings and attitudes, he may fare better to live righteously? Absolutely!
In the last few decades, I have seen that men and women do not want to be accountable for their actions. It seems there is always something that justifies them. There is always a reason or an excuse for what they do. Our courts are full of litigating crybabies who have demanded that they be excused for their immoral actions. They blame others, the society they live in and their upbringing.
Just recently, a seven year old stole his grandmother’s car and took it for a joyride. When he was finally stopped, after numerous accidents, the media interviewed him. This little fellow showed no remorse but plenty of defiance. Where do we go from here? How does one punish someone when that someone thinks he did nothing wrong?
Do you want to know where this sort of thing started? It all began back in the seventies when there was a little saying that went, “If it feels good –do it!” Then there was the song that went like this: How could it be wrong if it feels so right. And another: If loving you is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. We have been duped, my friend, by evangelists from the other side. They have programmed us to just ‘go’ with our feelings rather than deal with them. Now we have a whole generation of people who think they must act on their feelings no matter what that might entail. They don’t consider if what they feel is wrong (and so change the way they feel), they just act.
These days we might find a man who is angry but with no justifiable reason. Yet because he is angry, he thinks he is justified in what he does in his anger. This is just plain ludicrous! If it is pointed out that he was wrong –he just chalks it up with: “Sorry, that’s just me; that’s just the way I am. That’s how I roll.”
I think that we are even more accountable for our feelings and attitudes than our actions. When I realize that I have done something wrong I can always trace it back to wrong thoughts and feelings. I’m like the man who lived in Chicago, who started out for San Francisco, but ended up in New York! When he left Chicago he just felt the need to walk east. He should have brought his feelings under some sort of judgment. He should have investigated to see if what he was feeling was right.
We should all do the same when feelings rise up –we should be accountable for our feelings; for you can be certain that we will be accountable for our actions!
The Lord bless you this week!
Pastor Jim
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