Face the music

In today’s society it’s interesting to see how people handle the consequences of their bad decisions.  Let’s face it, we are bombarded daily with evidence of poor choices, but what’s more telling is how those that make those poor choices address the realities of being found out.  Think about it … we hear of celebrities dealing with substance abuse, legal issues, broken marriages, etc.  The same is true with professional athletes, educators who attack pro-life protestors (just as an example), business executives … there seems to be a common thread in how they address getting caught.  Rarely, is it by taking personal responsibility.  It seems it’s always someone else’s fault.  Don’t get me wrong … it’s not just famous (or infamous) people … it’s us.  We’re talking about a human condition that goes all the way back to the garden of Eden when Adam told God, essentially, “the woman that YOU gave me made me do it!”

While reading through my Old Testament passages for the week (Exodus 26 – 32, Psalm 76 – 82, 1 Samuel 27 – 31, and 2 Samuel 1 – 2), a relatively familiar story was included, along with perhaps a not-so-well-known element to it.

Remember that when the Israelites were on the exodus from Egypt that they came into the Sinai wilderness.  When Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai to meet with God, the people got restless and began to push on Aaron to fill the leadership void … Exodus 32:1-3 set up the situation …

When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”  So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”  All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.  Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf.  When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

It’s one thing for a mass of people to begin to lose perspective (I’m in no way excusing it … but we see more than ample instances where the Israelites make really poor decisions, this being one), but for Aaron, who led them away from Pharaoh, and saw firsthand virtually ALL the miracles the Lord did to help free them, his capitulation is bewildering at best.  Now of course we don’t want to read anything into the texts, but at least as conveyed in writing we see not even a moment’s hesitation or push-back from Aaron.  He just says, “okay, uh, let’s pile all your gold in this fire and we’ll make a god for ourselves.”  Dumb decision.

So the people see this new god they crafted, and begin to worship it and revel in the moment, ultimately getting drunk and completely letting the proverbial train run off the tracks.  Moses is up on the mountain with God, receiving the ten commandments (remember what the first of those commandments says???), and God says, basically, “you need to get down the mountain and stop your people from the deplorable acts they’re committing before I destroy every single one of them.”  So, Moses and Joshua hustle down the mountain … Exodus 32:19-23 pick up the story from there …

When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.  He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.  Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”  “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are.  They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’  

I stop here just because the next verse is so utterly baffling as to make me wonder if God is joking around by having it in His Word … of course, I know He isn’t, but you have to literally scratch your head in wonderment … verse 24 (Aaron continues the incredibly horrible justification of his poor actions) …

So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”

Huh???  Aaron, you threw the stuff in the fire and out came a calf?  Are you for real???

As ridiculous as it sounds … and we can all agree it sounds really ridiculous … let’s not get too outwardly focused in our ire for the dumb answer he offered.  That’s because we are equally as prone to the same, albeit most of the time less outrageous, behavior.

Our normal reaction to being caught doing the wrong thing is rarely to say … “you know what, I just blew it.   My bad.”  We look to anyone else and to anything else we can and try to point the finger away from ourselves.  Of course, as the old adage goes, when we point one finger away there are still four remaining ones pointing right back at us!  It’s true.  We can’t escape the blame for our actions, and yet we spend an awful lot of time and energy trying to do so, and geometrically increase the damage in the process … to those we hurt to begin with, or to others collaterally.

In truth, all our offenses have been paid for by Jesus on the cross and as the Bible says, when we accept salvation through Him, our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west.  From an eternal perspective, then, we have no fear for our poor choices.  However, we’re not absolved from the consequences of those actions and ironically those earthly, temporal consequences are what we try so hard to avoid … when the most significant (and eternal) consequences are inordinately more crucial.

As Christians and leaders, we must remember the inescapable fact … our choices are our own, and our consequences are (like taxes) payable whether we like it or not.  No one and nothing else is to blame for the decisions and choices we make.  Of course, we all have previous experiences and baggage amassed through life that have unavoidable influence, but they do not negate the ownership we have for behaviors that only we control.  Given that, it’s best to own them, fess up to them and face the consequences like a man (or woman) … head up, bracing for impact.  Imagine the example we could be to others when we do.  Let’s not hide behind false facades that we are more than we really are … broken, but forgiven, people who make dumb choices all the time.  Of course, let’s try to minimize those, but when we inevitably blow it, let’s own it, and take our lumps if necessary.

This week, let’s ask our loving Father to show us places where perhaps we haven’t fully taken ownership of our gaffes and to give us His courage so that we can do so, righting what’s been made wrong as a result.  Truthfulness, courage, love and God-honoring behavior require no less, and our Lord will honor us in return, while perhaps still allowing the consequences that He alone can use to allow us to grow in turn.

Blessings in Christ!

MR