How Many Laps Around the Mountain Will It Take?

Sometimes I watch folks struggle with the same thing over and over and over. I wish I knew what God was trying to show them. Even when I know, sometimes explaining it to them is just giving them head knowledge. I am always happy for them when they finally really get it.

Have you ever watched someone go around the same mountain again and again?

Consider what happens when a child breaks a window and the parents pay for it. The child never has to face the consequences. There are of course times in life when that is perfectly fine, but often it interferes with an important lesson that the child needs to learn.

With every bailout the rescue effort will get bigger and bigger. As the child grows, the consequences of each failure become more and more direr. The lesson that is taught is that there is always someone there to make it better. Nothing can hurt them. They answer to no one.

The government has given many a bailout. Too big to fail is an expression that just is not true in nearly every case if not in every case. Again, saving people from themselves just teaches the wrong lesson and delays a lesson that they need to learn and eventually will. Usually the longer that lesson is delayed the harder and bigger the fall.

Remember there were 2 thieves.

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Luke 23:39-43

One of the thieves had learned what God was trying to show Him. Before he learned it, he had lost everything here on this earth, but he gained all eternity with Jesus.

The other thief hanging on the cross never learned what God was trying to show Him. I have to wonder if he lived a life where there were few if any real consequences before he was nailed to a cross. Perhaps he did not expect any consequences in eternity either.

Do you ever let someone take their lap around the mountain?

Pray before you help. You want to help, but you don’t want to prevent folks from learning what God is trying to teach them. Whether God is trying to draw them to him or growth their relationship with Him, sometimes helping really hurts in the long run.

LIFE APPLICATION

Key Focal Verse:

We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19

Today’s challenge is to ask God to show you when it is appropriate to help. Ask God to show you the best way to help the people in your life. Remember that a few laps around the mountain is not always a bad thing.