Why is it that some people, from the time they are very young, will tend to want to see just how much they can get away with? Exactly how far they can push the limits in life before there is a repercussion? While still others are able to be satisfied from an early age with following the rules they are given. These tendencies or character traits exist for many well into their adult lives and are often lifelong. Case in point: I have always been somewhat of a rule follower. The "goody two shoes" in the family who did what she was supposed to. Never skipped school, didn't cheat on tests, didn't do drugs, didn't even let a boy "past First base" until I was 19!My younger brother, on the other hand, has always been an extreme risk taker. He has continually gone out of his way since childhood(which he is still in... at age 33) to break all of the rules with absolutely no fear of any consequence. He is always metaphorically "playing with fire". We are two completely opposite personalities! Don't get me wrong...I love him very much, but I sometimes wonder how we even came from the same womb! I mean... we definitely had the same parents and lived under the same roof with the same set of rules and the same punishments for disobedience. But after all of these years, I am still the one pretty much living life on the straight and narrow, while my brother lives his life on the edge. And I mean really REALLY close to that edge, where he may eventually fall into a hole so deep that nobody will be able to rescue him. I sometimes wonder if this is really what these types of people, like my brother, are secretly longing for. They feel that they just have to keep playing with fire until they get burned. And then of course...when they do get burned...it wasn't their fault....NO of course not! Someone else is to blame.
I guess the only thing that gives me some solace when I think of my brother's fate in life, is the knowledge that the Bible is filled with unsavory characters who managed to be redeemed. Several of which were even found right in the bloodline of Jesus. Amazing!! Who knows? It may just be all of those irresponsible, limit testing- rule breakers that get into heaven someday, while all of the prideful, brown- noser's are left behind!
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
"Note this: some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."
LUKE 13: 30
Has it got to do with conscience. Lack of which allows you to do anything without fear of repercussion. Yet they lived a rather adverturous life at the expense of others. While the rest of us are so plagued with conscience, that we are so afraid to step out of our boundaries and continued on that straight, narrow and sometimes boring path. Perhaps God may be saying, "I gave you a life and that's all you did with it"?
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