Follow God's Rules . . . They Are Good for You!

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL     SUNDAY DECEMBER 18, 2005
(Deuteronomy 26:16, Joshua 1:8, Exodus 19:5,
Deuteronomy 5:29, Revelation 22:14)

***CHRISTMAS PASSAGE:  So Joseph also went up
from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to
Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged
to the house and line of David. He went there to
register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to
him and was expecting a child. While they were
there, the time came for the baby to be born, and
she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped
him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn.  (Luke 2:4-7)

Because I could.  In an interview with Dan Rather on
60 Minutes prior to the release of his book, former
President Bill Clinton made a very profound statement
in regard to his affair with Monica Lewinsky. 
President Clinton said, "I think I did something for
the worst possible reason -- just because I could.  I
think that's the most, just about the most morally
indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing
anything. When you do something just because you
could.  I've thought about it a lot. And there are
lots of more sophisticated explanations, more
complicated psychological explanations. But none of
them are an excuse."  AMEN!!!

Everyday I am dealing with the very real lives of
very real people who have made the conscious choice
to sin against God.  Men and women.  Those who are
rich and those who are poor.  People of all ages. 
Regardless of what the sin is or the circumstances
involved, the bottom line is that it was a choice
that person made to disobey God....because they
could!  You see, God gave man free will to make
choices, otherwise we would be nothing more than
robots.  Everyday, many times throughout the day,
we make the choice to obey God or disobey Him.

I will never forget when I was 10, the first time I
was allowed to stay home all by myself.  It might
have been 20 minutes after my mother was gone that
I realized she was not around to see what I was
doing.  We had certain rules on what time we could
have snacks and what we were allowed to have.  As
I was watching television, I remembered thinking
that since mom wasn't home, she wouldn't know if I
had an extra snack.  So I went to the kitchen, to
the pantry where the cookies were, went to the
refrigerator and poured myself a big glass of milk,
and sat down at the table and for the next 15
minutes ate cookies.

I will never forget to this day knowing deep down
inside as I was getting the cookies out of the
pantry that what I was doing was wrong.  I am not
even sure if I was really that hungry or wanted
the cookies.  It really boiled down to the fact I
was all alone, nobody was there, and I COULD.  Oh,
something else about sin, it ALWAYS leaves a mess. 
Of course I did my best to put the cookies back
exactly where I got them ( not thinking that there
were now about a dozen fewer), did my normal poor
job of washing the glass I used for the milk and put
it back in the cabinet ( still dripping), and
cleaned the area of the table I used (but not the
floor underneath).

A few hours later at dinner, I remember that I was
not very hungry.  Normally I would clean my plate
in minutes and be begging for more.  But this night,
I had a hard time eating all of my food and had to
force down the last few bites.  I remember the guilt
as my mother asked me several times why I was not
hungry and giving her some lame excuse about not
feeling well.  It was later that evening as I was
getting in bed that my mother and father came into
my room.  As a child, you always know when mom and
dad come to see you right before you go to bed,
something is wrong.

My mother asked me how things went being in the
house all alone.  I told her everything went fine. 
She asked me what I did.  I told her I watched
television.  She asked if I did anything else, and
deep down I knew that somehow she knew I had eaten
the cookies.  The guilt was already more than I
could bear so I told her that I was hungry and
decided to eat some cookies. My father then got
involved and asked me if I realized that when I was
eating the cookies, I knew that I was breaking one
of the house rules since it was not snack time.  I
told him that I did and I was sorry.  He went on
to explain to me that one reason they had such a
rule was so that me and my brothers would be hungry
for dinner and have a good balanced diet.  The
rule was not to keep us from enjoying cookies, but
to keep us healthy.

They told me how disappointed they were and asked me
if I was sorry for what I had done.   I assured
them that I was.  My father then told me that I
would not be allowed to watch any football that
weekend and would have some extra chores to do
around the house.  Before they left, they prayed for
me.  I remember laying in my bed that night,
thinking how those few cookies weren't worth having
my parents disappointed in me, and it sure wasn't
worth having to miss football that weekend.  I was
mad at myself for doing something I knew that I
shouldn't, just because I could.

I love you and care about you so much.  I realize a
10-year-old boy eating some cookies he was not
supposed to while being home alone is not what most
would consider a horrible thing to do.  The fact
was we had rules in our home about when we were
allowed to eat snacks, I consciously chose to break
that rule, did a poor job of trying to cover it up,
was caught, and had to pay a price for my choice to
disobey.  In looking back, I wasn't starving to
death, I really didn't even want to eat the cookies
that bad.  As much as anything it was an opportunity
for me to rebel and do something I knew I wasn't
supposed to, if for no other reason than BECAUSE I
COULD!

The fact is, my parents rule on snacks was there to
make my life better, not worse.  So often we look at
God's "rules" in the Bible as being there to keep us
from having fun in life when in fact, they are there
to insure we have fun in life.  When we choose to
disobey God, there are always consequences, always a
price to pay.  After we sin, the first thing we do
is try to cover it up.  Adam literally did that
after his sin by making some crude clothes to cover
up his body.  We are foolish to even try to cover
up our sin, since God sees everything that we do. 
Sin always involves others, we don't sin in a
vacuum.  Sin is like throwing a pebble into a still
lake, watching the ripples of that initial pebble
expand out further and further. When you choose to
sin, others will always be affected in some way. 
Sadly, sin always carries a price tag greater than
we ever wanted to pay.  Sin costs my friend, and
costs much more than you ever imagined.

I will be praying for you today.  The reality is,
everyday, many times throughout the day, you have
the choice to obey God or disobey Him.  I pray
that in the coming hours of this day, these words
will ring in your heart and mind as you are faced
with the opportunity to obey God.  I pray that you
will understand that sin simply isn't worth it. 
Sin carries consequences, obedience carries
blessings.  What do you want today in your life,
consequences, or blessings?

***Instead of having to say I sinned because I
could, let your testimony be I obeyed God,
BECAUSE I COULD!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Merry Christmas!!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell