CONSEQUENCES

 

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” – The Apostle Paul, Romans 7:15

In the context of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, I certainly agree and can relate to what he’s saying here.  We must battle the world, the flesh and the devil if we are to follow Christ as He expects us to follow.  But when I consider what Paul says in this verse, I would amend it just a bit.  Indeed, people do what they may hate to do, but only after they’ve done it.  In the moment people do exactly what they want to do…or they wouldn’t do it.

 

You may argue that people do what they don’t want to do all the time because they have no choice.  But, people always have a choice.  Therefore, people often do what they don’t want to do even though they do have a choice. Your spouse asks you to take out the garbage.  You may not want to do it, but you have a choice…nonetheless, you better do it.  The alarm goes off Monday morning and you don’t want to get up and go to work. You want to stay in bed.  You have a choice.  What do you want more? To keep your job or stay in bed?  Ultimately you will do what you want to do in that moment.  That’s why some people don’t get up and some do.  In either case, the person is doing what they want to do.

 

People do what they want to do even when it’s not in their long-term best interest.  You say you don’t really want that second bowl of ice cream, but you’re lying to yourself.  You eat that second bowl because you want to eat it, and in that moment, you’re not seriously thinking about what’s best for you in the long-term.

 

People do all sorts of self-destructive things because they want to do it.  Drug addicts use drugs because they want to.  They want to because they are addicted.  They may hate what they are doing, but they are doing what they want to do.  And they have a choice.  It’s a hard, painful choice, but they do have a choice.  Young men join gangs and do bad things even though they may say they really didn’t want to.  No, they had choices.  None of those choices may be all that great or easy to make.  But they did what they wanted to do in the moment.

 

In today’s world we have made the mistake of telling people to make decisions based on their feelings.  You do you.  Live your truth.  What a crock.  There is right and there is wrong and if you don’t believe that, at least believe there are consequences.  You feel like taking out student loans to get a degree with little or no monetary value?  There are consequences.  A kid puts all their efforts into trying to become a highly paid professional athlete because that’s what they want to do and they choose not to get an education or have a plan B.  But things don't work out.  There are consequences.  A young girl wants to be loved and gets pregnant? Consequences.

 

You want people to do better? Make sure they understand the consequences of their actions.  The “Universe” doesn’t care what you feel like doing.  Go on “you be you”, “live your truth”.  But know that life is not fair.  Don’t make it worse for yourself.  There are always consequences.