Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

We often forget that God doesn’t punish as much as we are done in by our own sin. People accuse God of being mean, when they are very simply reaping what they have sown. (Galatians 6:7) People want guidance, when if their hearts were turned and tuned to God, they would have no question of the way to go. We tend to want a “free pass” to sin, when such a thing does not exist. The secular expression is “pay the piper,” and the Bible refers to it as “wages.” (Romans 6:23) God does deal with each of us individually, but in a sense He doesn’t have to, because our own actions have consequences. Where He gets individual is in His grace. It takes individual, personal repentance and faith for salvation, because every human being has worked up a “rap sheet” worthy of death, that is, eternal separation from God. (Romans 3:23) As Moses put it so memorably, “Your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23) That’s why God tells us what is sin, and how to avoid it. He’s not trying to hem us in, He’s trying to protect us. We are all tempted at times to put sin ahead of God. Some try to claim that our ability to be tempted is unfair to us, but it all comes back to why we were created. If we could not be tempted, we would be robots and not children. It is in facing and resisting temptations of all sorts that we grow and mature as God’s children. Parents who try to shield their children from all possibility of danger are doing them no favors, because someone who has never been tested is generally weak. Integrity is gained through consistent, small choices, and no other way. If we dismiss the importance of those choices we are setting ourselves up for major disaster.

I deal with people all the time who are confused on this issue. Just yesterday I had someone tell me, “I don’t know if God really exists,” when they have not made God a priority in their life, for all their professed Christianity. The Lord enabled me to deliver a strong Word in love to that person, telling them of others who are in far more difficult circumstances and reminding them that Jesus told us that in this world we would have troubles. (John 16:33) The point is to be faithful in daily, every-day living, because otherwise, when the storm comes we will be swept away. (Luke 9:23, Matthew 7:24-27)

Father, I am very aware of my own dependence on Your grace. Thank You for that awareness, and for Your grace. Help me convey Your truth clearly, and always in love, so that many may receive it and be set free, (John 8:32) for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!