THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever eaten something rotten? How did it taste?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 1:31. therefore [the fool] shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.
Have you ever heard the proverb that says, “You made your bed, now you have to lie in it”? What about the proverb, “You reap what you sow”?
One of the most important lessons you can learn growing up is that every choice you will ever make has a consequence. Solomon calls those consequences fruit. The more you make bad choices over and over, the more fruit of those bad choices you are going to have to eat. Also, the more bad choices you make, the harder and harder it will be to change your way. The more lies you tell, the more you will have to keep lying to cover up. The more you cheat in school, the more you will have to keep cheating because you’re not learning anything.
Look at the second phrase in our proverb – have their fill of their own devices. This is describing a person that is so used to their bad choices that they actually enjoy being bad. This person likes their sin. They are happy that they are a fool. They are like a person eating rotten fruit but they are so used to it that they think it’s really delicious.
In the New Testament it says that the worst punishment God can give us is to let us do whatever we want. He lets us eat our rotten fruit. Here’s how the Apostle Paul says it in the book of Romans:
Romans 1:24. Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts.
Sometimes when we make bad choices over and over again, God will just let us keep going down that terrible path until our lives get so bad we have no other choice but to turn back to him. Sometimes God says, “You made your bed now you have to lie in it.” When God does this it isn’t because he hates us, it is because he loves us, and he wants us to see just how bad our sin is.
But remember, when your life is connected to Jesus you have a brand new heart full of brand new desires. Because Jesus loves us we will want to love him and love others. Yes, we can still be fools who get sucked into our sin. But that sin, that fruit, will always taste rotten to someone who is trusting Jesus.
Because of Jesus we don’t have to be stuck in our foolish choices.
With Jesus our sinful choices will never satisfy us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch the Veggie Tales episode Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space (it’s on YouTube). It illustrates the “reap what you sow” principle nicely.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, I don’t want to be a fool. Help me make good choices that show I trust you. Amen.
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