Religion: Just a degree

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Religion: Just a degree

By Cere Muscarella
Posted Monday, August 4, 2008

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There’s an interesting story in the Old Testament.

A gal named Miriam and her bother, Aaron, decide that their brother, Moses, needs a little humbling. “Don’t we know as much as he does? Who does he think he is?” And God heard them!

He calls all three of them to appear before Him. The Bible says that He spoke to them from a finger of a cloud. We can only imagine what that was like! After confirming that Moses really was His pick, and posing the question, “why weren’t you afraid to slam him?” God left!

As the cloud dissipated, Miriam had a full blown case of leprosy! She was “white as snow!” Aaron went into overdrive! “Moses, we’re sorry, we were stupid! But brother, don’t let her die!” Moses goes into gear, “LORD, heal her now. Oh God, I beg you!”

God replied, “If she had spit in your Father’s face she would have to bear her shame for seven days… that will work for Me, seven days, then I’ll heal her!”

Aside from the obvious points: No matter who you are, you’re not safe from criticism; You really don’t want the Lord angry when He leaves your place; There’s always someone in your life messing up the flow… there is something here that can inspire us as modern day people living in a disassembling society.

Moses’ problem here was that he didn’t want his sister to suffer, even though she made a choice that came with dire consequences! The big lesson is, “there are always people who let their compassion override God’s completion!”

We learn obedience by the things we suffer! Think about that truth. We choose to do something wrong, we get caught, cause a problem, hurt ourselves and we learn not to do it again! It’s the old hand on the stove top lesson.

But in today’s society we don’t want anyone we love to suffer! For anything! Even when they are dead wrong! Think about how this plays out. Kids are growing up without discipline because we don’t want them to “suffer.” Our teens get caught with drugs, driving drunk, petty thefts, whatever, and parents intervene in the penalty phase. They short-circuit the character building process because they’re afraid of letting the kids suffer the consequences of bad choices. It continues. Now, grown up and certain that someone will step in and save them from the penalties, they commit crimes – and if somehow they end up with time – that’s okay too, because they have just as many rights in prison as they do on the streets.

We have lost a sense of ourselves! We are moral beings! Or at least we are supposed to be! People need to be responsible for their actions and we who are close by need to love them enough to let them be. If God does it that way we should too! We need to adopt His “one degree” principle. God is one degree harder than the person who is stubborn and unrepentant… If you want to be tough with Him you’ll find yourself hugging a rock! But He is also one degree softer than the person with a softened, penitent heart. Come to Him broken, and He will gather you up in His comfort. He’s even kind to the people who just don’t know what they’re doing… Ask Miriam!

Cere Muscarella is pastor of Life Four Square Church in Angleton.