“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (KJV)
Behavior – Consequence – Effect
We make choices every day; good choices, bad choices, inconsequential choices – just choices, or so we think. “I’ll do what I want, it’s my life.” I’ll do what I want, it’s my body.” It is your life, it is your body, but it is not a separate and disconnected entity.
Drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, thrill seeking, the momentary pleasures that grasp a life and start a domino chain of destruction that spider webs into the lives of countless people you never even consider. Then there’s suicide, the final decision a person makes that they feel will end the pain in their life, and in that moment of final silence, it devastates tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people.
Choices. Addictions. What happens to the person caught in the addiction trap? At first it may be fun, pleasurable, then consuming, overwhelming, controlling, and then . . . . . our choices lead to consequences.
People begin to avoid you, your work product begins to fail, if you ever get up and go into work. Your family, as much as they love you, begins to avoid you. Spouses leave, keeping you from being with your children. Your friends, who have always been there for you, refuse to talk to you. Those who completely trusted you are no longer there. The respect you had earned disappeared. Still you spiral down and down and it’s everyone else’s fault, so you say.
If you are fortunate enough to be stopped by law enforcement and given the chance to get clean of those addiction, given another chance at life, given another chance of proving you can be that original amazing person, it will take years. Years incarcerated, years working twice as hard as others to earn back the trust, the respect, the joy of reuniting with friends and family.
As you fight to regain back what you once had, do you see the effects of your consequences on others? Do you recognize the emotional battle your family and friends fought as they watched you fail, struggle, grow, fail, struggle, grow? Do you see their tears and the guilt they feel, wondering if there was something that they could have done to have kept it all from happening? Do you see the money and time and emotion spent every month to be sure that you have a way to stay in touch and have a few treats. Do you recognize the nights they spend in prayer and tears, hoping and believing that when this part of your journey has completed that you will find your restoration and not be tempted to give up the struggle to fight back to wholeness and fall back into the temptation of an old lifestyle.
I suspect that you may recognize the consequences of your behaviors, but have you taken the time to understand the wide spread effects of your consequences on so very many others? Family. Friends. The kid next door. Co-workers. Police Officers. EMTS. Nurses. Prison Guards. The person who found you near death, or worse, dead. The person you hurt in a violent rage. The person you killed in a car accident you don’t even remember having. The person you stole a precious family heirloom from, to sell for that next “fix.” The person you pulled into you addiction whose life is following your same path now.
Please hear my heart, in love. Lord please let my words change the path of someone, many someones, who do not recognize what the consequences of their actions could be, and what the effects of those circumstances will be. Turn them back.
Behavior – Consequence – Effect
Linda J. Humes 