By: Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
Have you ever done something that in retrospect you’d undo if you could? Probably, a better question is how many things have you done you’d undo if you could?
From the vantage point of time, you can now see clearly how unwise those incidents were. You’d love the chance for a do-over. But, of course, that’s impossible.
We’ve all done things we wish we hadn’t. The first time you gave in to that sin that now controls you and won’t let you go free. Your first drink. That first pornographic magazine or webpage.
The night you said yes to sex. That time you spent the money you didn’t have, and you’re still digging out of the debt it put you in. The friendship your parents said was wrong. If only we knew then what we know now, things would have been different.
Here’s a truth to digest: There is always more at stake than what we see in the moment. In every temptation. Every choice. Every decision. We don’t stop to consider the consequences.
All we see are promises of pleasures and benefits. Once we begin to experience the cost of our action, it’s too late to take it back. We all do it.
Case No. 1 — Adam and Eve
Satan emphasized to our First Parents the supposed benefits of eating fruit from the tree God had forbidden them to eat from. He contradicted God. He convinced them God was holding out on them. They ate…and all hell broke loose.
The consequences were immediate. Shame and guilt-ridden. They withdrew from God. They began to play the blame game. Man was sentenced to work and sweat for food. Woman was sentenced to having pain in giving birth. Marital tension would erupt. God kicked them out of their garden paradise.
There was way more at stake than they ever imagined when they reached for the fruit and took a bite.
Think they would have stayed away from the tree if they knew in advance what was at stake? Me, too.
Case No. 2 — Abraham and Sarah
God promised Abraham and Sarah a son through whom a great nation would come. But decades passed, and they remained childless.
With the window of fertility rapidly closing with age, Abraham and Sarah chose to take matters into their own hands.
Sarah gave Abraham her servant and urged him to sleep with her and have a son through her. Abraham went along with the plan, and a year later they had a son whom they named Ishmael.
No big deal, you think, but you would be wrong. There was a lot at stake Abraham and Sarah never saw coming… a terrible aftereffect that stretches into the present day.
Ishmael was the forefather of Muhammad, the prophet and founder of Islam, directly linking him to Muslims who are determined to eliminate Israel, who shout death to America, and who have declared a holy jihad on all non-Muslim infidels.
There was way more at stake when Abraham and Sarah chose to have a son their way.
Think they would have done things differently if they knew in advance what was at stake? Me, too.
Case No. 3 — Jesus
Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was led into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. But unlike everyone else ever born, Jesus made the right choice every time.
Maybe it was because he saw what was really at stake — the salvation of you and me and every other person who ever walked on Planet Earth.
To pay the death penalty every sinner deserves, there had to be someone who would live a perfect, sinless life. If Jesus had given in to a single temptation, he would have become a sinner, and his death on the cross would have been payment for his own sins, not ours.
There was way more at stake here than simply resisting temptation. Jesus knew what was at stake, and so he chose to resist.
There is way more at stake in most of the choices you and I make, too. May this become our prayer when faced with a choice: “God, open my eyes to see what’s really at stake in the options facing me.”
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.