Christianity Oasis Forum

[logi bear]

A devotional from my church!

Don't Look Through the Fence


A story I read went like this: There was a guy walking on the sidewalk, across the street from a mental hospital. It had a large fence all around the yard, and he could hear people shouting from the other side. Upon getting closer, he realized they were shouting, “thirteen, thirteen, thirteen,” over and over and over again. So he sees a small hole in the fence, and he went up to the hole to see what it was that they were shouting about. He peeks into the crack of the fence, and he looks to the other side, and all of a sudden a stick comes through the hole and pokes him right in the eye! He quickly backs away and he notices that the people stopped shouting. But all of a sudden, they begin to chant again, “fourteen, fourteen, fourteen.” And that’s what it was—they were numbering the fools who were looking into the yard, and they were poking their eyes with a stick.

Although curiosity can be a good thing, it can also cause great danger in our lives. When you start being curious and wonder, “What’s on the other side of the fence?” and wanting to be in-the-know of what’s going on, it’s not usually a good thing. It’s good that we don’t always know the things that we want to know.

We can so quickly wander outside the will of the Lord. Half-hearted obedience is the place where trouble is born. If you are only half-way obeying the things that the Lord has revealed to you, through His written Word, then you are in full-blown rebellion. You’re in a place where trouble can quickly develop. It will only get worse and worse until you come to God and say, “I surrender.”

There is no, “Well, I’m kind of Christian.” Even though society offers that option to us, it doesn’t exist. You can’t “kind of go to church” or “kind of read your Bible” or “kind of believe in Jesus.” No, either you are with Him, and for Him, or you are against Him. That’s what the Scripture says. Because, if He’s not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all.

We like the part about Jesus being our Savior, but we’re not too crazy about Him being Lord. We will experience so much more of the richness of His glory when we surrender. Do we want every moment of our day to belong to the Lord? The only thing that you can truly give God—which He longs for—there’s really only one thing: And it’s you!

But the problem with sin is that sin is never private, is it? Any act of sin that we decide to commit, will always affect the circle around us. Our sin affects so many people. When we begin to want to know what’s on the other side of the fence, it starts out with innocent things. We just want to see what the world is up to. Once we decide we are going to sin, and be outside the will of God, we become hard-hearted.

In Genesis 34:30 we see Jacob saying, “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites… “ Sin is so selfish. We look to blame others. Talk to God about your own sin before you talk to others about their sin. (Matthew 7). So much can unfold from our single disobedience because our sin is not personal. Our sin is an open scandal in Heaven. God sees it. He’s aware of it. It’s not “poor me,” “woe is me.” Our own actions bring about consequences.

He is the one who started the work in you and He will be faithful to complete it. Surrender all to Him. God doesn’t need anything. He has given everything to you. But He gives us the gift of free will and the only thing that He can’t really have, that you can give to Him, is you. Give Him a surrendered heart. Say, “Here I am, Lord. Take all of me.”