3 ¶ The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.
Most of our troubles we have brought on ourselves by our own foolish and wicked behavior. I know there are people who aren’t capable of admitting that the mess they’ve made of their lives, if it is indeed a mess, is their own fault. But, if most of us would just sit back and think about the decisions we’ve made and the ways we’ve chosen to live, and if we’re honest about it, we’d see that our stubbornness and insistence upon doing wrong has led us to many of our problems. Then, some of us will compound our misery by blaming God for what we’re not happy about. This is our foolishness, to do wrong, suffer for it, and then to blame God.
Here is a Book written by how many? Forty men? Under God’s inspiration, who gave them understanding (Job 32:8) that presents the Christian the attitude he or she is supposed to pursue and the way he or she is supposed to respond to every type of situation and we reject it, pursue our own twisted way, and then complain to God or about God, or even deny Him entirely. Here is the proof, the fruit of having Christ’s Spirit inside of you.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Yet, many of us choose not to live that way, to pursue that path, to pray for these fruits. It’s much more satisfying in the flesh to live along the paths of the sentences just before the “But”.
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery (marital unfaithfulness including looking at porn), fornication (any sex outside of a lifelong commitment before God to one partner, i.e. Christian marriage, not the state’s), uncleanness (constantly focusing on sexual things, being obsessed by them), lasciviousness (acting and showing off, dressing immodest and suggestive sexually to attract attention), 20 Idolatry (placing anything on an equal par or higher plane than Christ including money, education, success, material possessions, a political philosophy or party), witchcraft (defined also as like rebellion towards God in 1 Samuel 15:23 with you trying to manipulate events and people without God, apart from Christ for your own purposes and not God’s, not just someone wearing black and chanting over a cauldron like in a movie), hatred (seems pretty obvious doesn’t it?), variance (I was told when I was young that I’d argue with a sign post. Are you argumentative and always against every decision made?), emulations (There is little more pathetic than someone trying to act like something or someone they are not, putting on airs, so to speak), wrath (Anger, when left unattended, grows into abiding wrath and wrath can kill you from the inside out, destroying your heart and body. Paul says not to let the sun go down on your wrath in Ephesians 4:26), strife (I know so many people who seem to love drama in their lives and if they don’t have any will start some and you know them, too, as you may be one.), seditions (At work and at church and in the family or among friends they aren’t satisfied unless they’re forming alliances, creating cliques, standing always opposed to everything those in responsibility decide, with every rule being an injustice, every law wrong.), heresies (Anything but the clear admonitions of the Bible, making it up as they go along, usually to suit some perverse desire for power, money, or self justification, constantly spreading lies about God and about His words), 21 Envyings (They are never happy for the person who gets the promotion, the pretty wife, the successful husband, the new car, the nice home because, after all, they deserved them more. If someone at work beats you out for a promotion, do you, Christian, congratulate them or do you just fume and vent at how you should have gotten it?), murders ( Even being angry without justification with someone in your heart is like murder. Do you foster bitterness in your mind and heart against someone? You don’t have to physically end someone’s life to have murder in your heart.), drunkenness (Alcohol was one of those vices that proved the limits of government’s ability to save us from ourselves. Are you a drinker? Do you drink alcohol apart from meals? Is drinking alcohol an end in and of itself? Many people kid themselves and say they don’t drink to get drunk when almost every time they do drink they get drunk. Alcohol is behind a great many episodes of child abuse and spousal abuse and crime in general. Is it worth it? Are you so owned by it that you can’t turn your back on it and walk away?), revellings (Party, party, party. How’d that work out for you? How’d the ecstasy, the coke, the pot, the booze, dancing that simulated sex, and sex totally without any meaning, like it was just something fun to do, work out for your life? Perhaps you have a little person you didn’t plan on as a result. Perhaps an STD that will never go away? Maybe a train wreck of a life.), and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Okay, so maybe you have wrecked your life, limited your opportunities, hurt your health, or exposed someone innocent to your wrongdoing. Now is the time not to blame God, not to demand an answer from Him for your pain because “I ain’t so bad.” Now is the time to turn to God. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour if you haven’t already and, if you are a Christian, seek the Fruit of the Spirit. Pray for God’s mercy and to be filled with the Spirit of God. And, and, and, READ THE BOOK! Pray over it. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and to teach you.
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