Do Not Be Deceived
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. – Galatians 6:7-10.
Investigators in Athens, Alabama raided a mobile home and found two small bags of marijuana in the home of Jesus Santana. Among pot smokers, there has developed a custom for some to use the pages of a Bible to roll their joints. This apparently was why Santana said when arrested, “I guess God got y’all to get me.” At least Santana was convinced that was the reason he was caught. Sheriff Mike Blakely said, “When we found his marijuana, he admitted he’d been smoking marijuana, and that he’d been tearing pages out of the Bible, rolling it.”
You would think that if your first name was Jesus, that you would occasionally think about God, and what He desires in your life. Apparently, Santana had been doing some thinking along those lines, and arrived at the conclusion that God was not going to let him get by with what he had been doing. We have a longsuffering God, and that is how God is often portrayed in the Bible. We are told in Lamentations; it is only because of the mercies of God that we are not destroyed and that His mercies are new every morning. Jesus said that the Father sends rain upon the just and unjust. Why is God so merciful and longsuffering? God tells us why along with a warning in the book of Romans, “…do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance (Romans 2:4)?” “It is not God’s will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).”
God reached a point with the church at Cornith, where he had the apostle Paul confront them with the truth of their sins. Through that confrontation, with the truth came repentance. Paul writes, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7:2-10).” Many like Jesus Santana may not have someone like the apostle Paul to confront them with the truth. However, God will use whatever is available to bring a person to repentance. In the case of Santana, God used some undercover officers conducting an investigation into illegal drug possession and use, which resulted in the arrest and interruption of the normal routine of life of this man. It allowed Santana to have an opportunity to reflect upon what was going on in his life, and whether or not God was pleased with his life.
Don’t be deceived, just because you have gotten by with doing certain things, or not doing certain things for a length of time; does not mean that God approves of what you are doing. God is longsuffering. But He is not mocked, and there will come a day of reckoning whether in this life or the next.
(God is longsuffering, but He is not mocked, and there will come a day of reckoning.)