Can I Live As I Like?
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they
saw fit. Judges 21:25 (NIV)
Most of us today make our choices and live
our lives according to personal philosophies that frequently can be boiled down
in one of the following ways: If it makes you happy, then it cannot be that
bad; If it feels good, do it; or Life is short, so grab all the enjoyment you can.
When we looking around ourselves and the world we live in today, everyone
seemingly wants what he or she wants right away.
In his book "The Reason for
God", Tim Keller records the comments of a young New York artist named
Chloe who expressed her view of Christianity in these words: "A
'One-Truth-fits-all' approach is just too confining. The Christians I know
don't seem to have the freedom to think for themselves. I believe each
individual must determine truth for him or herself."
The Book of Judges concludes with the sad declaration:
“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The saddest portion of this
statement was that “everyone” was a description of those who should have known
better: God’s people. If any group of people should have known the devastation
that can come from holding on to a self-centered, God-rejecting approach to
life, the Israelites should have known. As a nation without a king, they also
rejected the one-and-only King of kings and decided to live according to their
own individual standards, declaring themselves wise in their own eyes. They let
their own hearts govern their lives rather than allowing God to govern them.
Do we know what God's word says about our
"own eyes", about doing what is right in our "own eyes"? All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but
motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2) Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
(Proverbs 3:7) Wisdom according to our "own eyes" always seems to be
connected to evil. God is very clear about our true condition "when there
is no king". We are blind. We are deluded. Spiritually we are impaired and
incapable and incapacitated.
Making choices and decisions in life based
solely on our personal preferences and emotions can be so easy, never giving a
second thought to considering what God has to say about the situations we face.
In a society with an absence of a governing authority, evil will prevail. The same
is true individually. In the absence of a governing authority in our lives,
evil too will prevail. Above all, spiritually if we do not stand for God and
let Him govern our lives, we will fall for every lie whose core is the notion that
we can do as we please. This choice rejects God’s rule as King over our lives.
Let us not live as though no boundaries,
and no consequences exist, when, in fact, absolutes, boundaries, and eternal
consequences are a certainty for the choices we make today.
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