Does What Come Around, Really Go Around?

CBN.com -- Okay, so who out there actually enjoys going to the dentist? I'll take a shot in the dark and guess maybe 5% of all viewers browsing this page. You're probably the same folks who boast about never having a cavity in your life.

You deserve those pearly whites because after all, you've worked for them! And I haven't, so I am currently on my dentist's "Most Wanted List."

I've never been able to get away with a thing. Just last week, I went to the movies and tried to conceal my water bottle in my jacket. Against my good conscious, I skipped valiantly by the ticket box office bottle and hurried to the food station to purchase a box of popcorn.

I was determined to make it through this second checkpoint. My mission was nearly accomplished, until my curiosity got the best of me. "How much does bottled water cost here," I couldn't help but to ask the check-out girl.

When I heard $3.50, I thought surely I was being a good stewart of my money. God would never want me to spend that much. My guilt-ridden conscience was slowly dissipating.

Feeling very confident, I shifted my arm to take the popcorn from the girl and my water bottle fell to my feet! Suddenly, I became the laughing stock of the entire line of movie-goers. Caught red-handed in the act, I looked at the girl on the other side of the counter and that was all the retribution I needed to last me a lifetime.

It baffles me to this day how some can slip so idlely through the system. How do they do it? I still think about that annoying kid in my high school class who never studied for an exam and yet received a perfect 1600 on his SAT's. For a first-born, this is the kind of stuff that makes me want to tattle-tale.

But who could I go tell? If John Newton were alive, he'd understand. He's the scientist who discovered the "Third Law of Thermodyamics" and believed that "for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction." I have found great comfort in this law of retribution and practically grew up on my mom's pacifying words, "what comes around, will always go around."

That is a principle that I relish! If I work hard in school, I get good grades. If I don't take care of my teeth, I get cavities. When I sneak my bottled water into the movie theatre, I get caught. I get what I deserve. I reap what I sow.

And, when I see others breaking the rules (or "my" rules) and getting away with it, I get extremely frustrated. Life isn't always so cut and dry. Even the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon complained about the unfairness of life. He was tormented that the wicked seemed to prosper more than the righteous. Having worked very hard to build a Kingdom, he feared leaving his inheritance to those who were undeserving.

"For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great fortune" (Ecclessiastes 2:21, NIV).

For many, what they're getting out of this life, isn't exactly equal to their investment. It seems to be true of nature though. You throw a ball up in the air, and it comes down. You fly to the moon, and you get there. Consequences are more secure in the material universe, but when it comes to human beings, things get tricky. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why does God choose to lift up the lowly?

Since we're coming up on the Holiday season, let's take Mary, the mother of Jesus for example. She was a very young girl when the angel Gabriel paid her a visit. She's not exactly my first choice in the line-up for potential mothers' of God. By appearance alone, I'd say that Elizabeth, Mary's cousin was more deserving. Elizabeth was a much older and wiser woman who was married to the high priest, Zechariah. Surely she could offer Jesus a whole lot more.

Yet, this was not the way God perceived the situation. His supernatural plan will often supersede our natural abilities. Perhaps, Mary didn't necessarily deserve this high task and wasn't chosen because she won the "Most Godly Woman Pageant."

That is probably why she didn't get bent out of shape. Her acceptance of God's will did not depend on anything that she could give, but was solely based on God's belief in her.

"My soul glorifies in the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant" (Luke 1:46-47, NIV).

I want to be like Mary. I don't want to look around at others and think that they have it easier than me. There are a lot of things that I do get away with, but I don't think that I can continue to get away with this childish behavior of expecting a stamp on my hand every time I do something "good" for God.

God does reward those who earnestly seek Him, but the Bible admonishes us to not just fix our eyes on what He can do for us.

Colossians 3:23-24 says,

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (NIV).

Our goal is not the rewards of this life like good grades and good reports from my dentist. Our reward is in Christ.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2, NIV).

I am thankful that what comes around, doesn't always go around. If that were the case, then we would not be worthy of much. Because of our sin, what we truly deserve is Hell. Yet, God has offered a supernatural solution for this natural curse.

Romans 5:8 says,

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (NIV).

Christ suffered a torturous death, so that we might have life. How unfair does that seem? Yet, to God it is a just retribution for our sin.

Comments? Email me.

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