<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life\u201d (Romans 6:21,22).<\/p>\n
EVERY PATH LEADS SOMEWHERE. Every action in which we engage \u2014 indeed, every thought we think \u2014 takes us one step further down a road that leads to some destination.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the evil way the Christians in Rome had lived before their conversion to Christ, Paul asked, \u201cWhat fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?\u201d All of our actions, both the godly and the ungodly, bear some kind of \u201cfruit.\u201d In the case of ungodliness, the fruit is deadly. \u201cThe end of those things,\u201d Paul wrote, \u201cis death.\u201d Death is not just the arbitrary punishment of God for evildoing; it\u2019s the inevitable result<\/em> or consequence<\/em> of it. Death is simply the end of that road.<\/em> If a person travels that way and refuses to change, death is the only place he can get to. It\u2019s where that road leads, no matter who the traveler is.<\/p>\n Choices always entail consequences. Since we have free wills, we can make our choices freely, but having made our choices, we can\u2019t then choose our consequences. The consequences are unalterably attached to the choices, and we can\u2019t have the former without the latter. We may, it\u2019s true, avoid the consequences for some period of time \u2014 but we can\u2019t do so forever. Some day, there will be a payday, and when it comes, we need not be surprised.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an immutable principle that \u201cwhatever a man sows, that he will also reap\u201d (Galatians 6:7). To believe otherwise is to deceive ourselves and mock God. But it\u2019s not just in eternity that we\u2019ll reap as we\u2019ve sown; the harvest begins even before we die. There can\u2019t be any question that the consequences of our actions begin to come down on us well before the Judgment Day. Paul spoke of those who, while still living, were \u201creceiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due\u201d (Romans 1:27).<\/p>\n Are you and I ready to eat the fruit of our ways? We might as well be, because the \u201cbanquet\u201d is surely being prepared for us and we\u2019ll have no choice but to eat it when it\u2019s set before us. We can run, but we can\u2019t hide. The law of cause and effect is no respecter of persons, and it\u2019ll catch up with every last one of us eventually.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences\u201d (Robert Louis Stevenson).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n