Discipline

Happy “Disciplined” Weekend, Everyone!

Have you ever eaten all your popcorn before the movie started? I have! It’s called no self-discipline. There is something to be said about butter and salt on a fluffy kernel of no taste; Yummy. Admit it, you have something in your life that just overpowers your taste buds to the point of no return, right? And the hard thing about it is there is really no filter or contract to say you can’t do it again, and again.

This week’s lesson is kinda’ like that, so God had to make a contract with the children of Israel to keep them on the up and up so they wouldn’t eat their popcorn before the movie started. Haaa!

In Nehemiah 9:32 – 10:29 God makes a covenant with His people that covers any and all loopholes. You see, the people of Israel had self-discipline problems too. Verbal contracts are so easy to break that a written contract was drafted between God and His children and the wording was so that if it was broken, dire consequences could take place. First, what’s the problem that brings up this contract?

Neh 9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.

Neh 9:35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.

Oh boy, they sinned again. Isn’t that always the case? Yep.

So what’s this written contract?

Neh 9:38 And because of all this (sin) we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

Neh 10:29 They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, how serious was this contract? It was serious enough to put it in writing, and serious enough that if broken, the Israelites agreed to be “cursed.” Wow, would you sign that? I think you would if you knew it was for your best interest and that God would otherwise bless you if you kept the contract, right? Of course. God always, always, always has our best interest at heart.

Remember the old story about the couple that fell in love and got married? When they went together in the car, she would sit close to her husband as he drove. 40 years go by, they are driving down the road and the old lady looks over at her husband and said, “remember when we used to sit right next to each other?” The husband looked over from the drivers side and said, “I didn’t move, …you did.”

Friends, if there is ever a broken contract that you and I have made with God; He’s not the One that broke it, …we are. Amen?

God bless you this week. See you in Sunday School!