Covenant Church

Like a Jonah running from his assignment, my path took me in diverse directions. Called to ministry, I was thinking of a future in the FBI and had already taken a federal test to become an employee.

A season of time was spent as an employee of a state mental health hospital with 4,000 patients and 3,000 employees. I was one of twenty-six social workers. Bored and frustrated are not strong enough words to describe this work experience -- not enough work. I regularly asked for more assignment and volunteered for tasks. I took it upon myself to re-work and update departmental forms.

When all else failed in an effort to have work, I would go to the library and read case histories (which was legal in those days). One such case caught my attention. A man had been in the "mental hospital" (as it was called in those days) for years.

Very poor parents had told a doctor their twelve year old son had a terrible seizure. The doctor assumed it was severe epilepsy. The journey began that finally placed the boy in an institution. As I read the file there were significant questions. One, no medical person had ever testified to witnessing a seizure. Two, the type of seizure described was not the classic symptom associated with epilepsy.

Troubled, I took the file to Dr. Little, a Japanese psychiatrist (Buddhist by religion), who liked me. She listened to my thoughts and asked for an opinion. My conclusions were that a young boy had once figured out how to throw a "hysterical seizure" (temper- tantrum) and act in scary ways to get what he wanted from his parents. As he got older, the parents were not able to control his violent behavior.

Dr. Little continued to process the case, and the man was released from the hospital at about age thirty. He paid a long-term price for a short-term gain. Or, he ended up with a long-term solution to a short-term problem. Yet again, he paid a higher price over a longer period of time than the problem deserved.

Those who do prison ministry will affirm that many inmates testify of spending years in prison for an action taken in a moment of haste. Emotions out of control, a moment of anger, a moment of lust, a moment of greed, or a few days or weeks of being in the wrong company led to actions that cost years of imprisonment. Single crimes have cost some their life freedom or even their life.

One might wonder how many people are paying off long-term debts because of trying to cure a short-term problem. How many are paying off high interest loans because of a moment of foolish spending? How many are having surgery, or medical treatment because of illnesses or injuries obtained in a foolish moment?

Is this not the course of sin to insure that victims pay long-term while only having short-term benefits? Yet consider that Moses chose to suffer the afflictions of God's people rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25).

How many young girls have had to raise a child as the result of a few moments of what they thought was a thrill? How many have had abortions and lived the rest of their lives with guilt? How many men are paying child support, because they took privileges that were not honorable and found that the court of law required restitution over many years and with many thousands of dollars?

Is not the game of hell to make one think that the present moment is the total of life? What is done with willing heart and free spirit is pure, hell would say. Did not the Creator give the right of free will, and does not free will mean that every decision freely made stands then free of judgment? If one chooses, is not the choice inherently holy, since man was given the right of choice? So hell argues.

But the argument loses upon its own premise. Freewill allows choice, but choice is directly related to consequences. To choose evil is to inherit evil. To choose good is to inherent blessing.

Pursuit of heaven includes devotion to hope. Hope is based in the belief that Jesus will come, and we will dwell in his presence forever. Long-term hope equates to an understanding that the problems of this life are short in duration. Therefore, we never trade out long-term solutions for short-term benefits without thinking of what is right and wrong. If the short-term problem is worth solving, it must be solved biblically and in context of the promise of eternal life with Jesus -- perspective.

The immediate must ever be surrendered upon the altar of what is pleasing to God.

Prayerfully,
Pastor Bare
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).