Scott Anthony Gomez Jr. filed a lawsuit against jail officials in Pueblo County, Colorado alleging among other things that they failed to take security precautions to prevent him from escaping. He said that, after his first escape, he had told then-sheriff how lax security was, but that no "improvements" had been made. In the second attempt, He seriously injured himself when he fell 40 feet while scaling a wall. I do not know about you but a forty foot fall sounds like a serious preventative measure. But this man, like so many, falls under the mistake of blaming other for their wrongdoing. This is exactly what James warns about in chapter one verses thirteen thru fifteen of his book, “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." Whether it is our parents, authorities, or even God Himself that we blame for our sin, the responsibility lies in our own heart.
In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Comments
Post a Comment