Manning Pastor Sam Livingston: Just because

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In this life, we are confronted with a plethora of things that we witness daily that simply do not make any sense at all. People commit some of the stupidest crimes one can think of. Some of the acts result in unsolved reasons while others are assigned reasons but still don't make any sense.

I remember going to the various schools within the counties serviced by the utility I worked for at the time as a presenter. Oftentimes a student would get caught doing something he or she should not have been doing. When asked by the teacher, "Why did you do that?" they would shrug their shoulders and say absolutely nothing. After countless attempts by the teacher, the student would often say, "because." The teacher would then say, "because what." The final statement from the student then becomes, "just because." This type of attitude at an early age needs to be tapped into and corrected.

A just because attitude not explored and dealt with at an early age can result in too many fatal outcomes later in life. Just because a person signed a waiver form before surgery doesn't give a physician the right to go beyond his or her level of expertise during surgery. Just because a kid is the smallest in the class doesn't give the bully the right to pick on him or her. Just because you are the person leading a group of people doesn't give you justification to speak to them in a condescending manner.

Parents are the only ones who can unofficially use the term "because I said so." I know that's debatable. The people we respect the most, however, are those who took the time to add explanatory substance along with "because."

Remember Moses? He came into the presence of God on the side of the mountain called Horeb. In Exodus, God said, "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt": Exodus 3:10. God could have easily said, "Go do this because I am God," but instead he explained to Moses that he would be with him in this journey. God told Moses what to say when asked who was sending him to Egypt. He even told Moses about the signs and wonders that he would perform before Pharaoh. If the ruler of the universe God almighty just doesn't do things just because, we should follow his lead.

People run off the road to hit an animal or a person just because they think that they can do whatever they want to. We all must remember that life is circular. The things that we do to others will eventually make their way back around to us. God is an excellent record keeper. Every deed that we perform, be it good or bad, is recorded in his book designed especially for each of us. We can hide money from the government. We can sneak around and be unfaithful to our spouse. We can deceive some of the most intellectual people in the world. There is, however, one thing that we must always remember. We will never be able to deceive the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is an all-seeing, all-knowing God. A thief can study the placement of cameras, place when people enter and leave the premise, and he can even trick the alarm system. The same thief can study the word of God for the bulk of his life, but he will never be able to pull one over on God.

Do the right thing all of the time, just because God is watching us all the time!

In God We Trust

Sam Livingston is pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Manning.