Enthusiastic?

Something new! A new project, new object you feel compelled to buy, a new way of doing something you have done many times. New job, new relationship, new diet, new you! Man, you are sure excited, and you can hardly wait to start this new adventure. You are sure that going this direction will change the course of your life for the better, and so you jump in with both feet. This is it!
Isn’t that what we are told to do? Jump right in, grab the next new thing, take life by the horns, seize the day! Solomon, to whom God happened to give the gift of wisdom, describes how we should respond to life in a completely different way. Listen to what he says, “Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins. A person’s own foolishness leads him astray, yet his heart rages against the Lord” Proverbs 19:2-3 CSB. Wow. Solomon is contradicting what we have been told so often. But, did you notice what he did not say? He did not say to move slowly. He did not say that you should not be in motion. He did not say that you should be paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision. He simply said movement without knowledge will get you in trouble. He is reminding us to do our homework. Put some brain power behind your decision making, be sure to think through your move, remember there are always consequences for every action. So, can you live with the consequences? You see, what often happens to us is we think of something, we get excited about it, and we jump right in. Then, when things go sideways (and they will) we blame God. We say things like, “I can’t believe God allowed this to happen to me,” or “Why do bad things always happen to me?” When the reality is that it was our own choices that put us in the situation we are in. It was motion without thought that got us into trouble.
Let me finish today by asking a few questions. What is the next thing you are thinking about doing? Have you done your homework? Have you looked into the consequences ? Most importantly, have you asked God his opinion of your idea?

-Pastor Tim