Trouble or Honor

Romans 2:9-10 - "There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.* But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile." NLT
One of the funniest things I have ever seen is a dog chasing its tail. No matter how many times he runs around in circles, he never is able to catch his tail. The next day the dog seems to have forgotten what it learned yesterday and goes through the whole ordeal again, never achieving his goal - catch that tail.
Now, I don’t want to compare human beings to dogs, that is not my intent, but the actions of humans really doesn’t differ too much when you consider their lifestyles. I have watched humans who do very much the same thing. Every day they go through a routine that looks something like this - I know I sinned yesterday, I asked God to forgive me, I don’t want to do that again, today is a new day, bummer, I did it again. It is an endless cycle similar to a dog who can never catch his tail.
The Word says, trouble and calamity will come to those who keep on doing evil. Have you ever wondered why it is you seem to experience trouble and calamity on a daily basis? May I suggest you read the Word. You are living in exactly what the Word says. Sometimes we just do stupid things that have some built in consequences. But too often we experience trouble and calamity because we keep doing what is evil in the sight of God. As an example, did you know that envy can rot your bones? Proverbs 14:30 - "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." NIV I am not saying that just because you have arthritis in your bones you are full of envy, but it causes us to take a look at what we are practicing in our hearts. Are we at peace in our hearts? If not, we may be causing damage to our health. Proverbs 3:7-8 - "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." NIV
I am glad the Word doesn’t stop with a curse. This portion of scripture ends with a blessing - but there is glory and honor for those who do good. A good accountability question for us to ponder today is this - what am I doing? Do I continually chase my tail by doing evil over and over again or am I doing a good thing by honoring and loving God? Most of the time the evil we continually do is nothing more than a bad habit that has taken over our hearts. It is time to develop a new habit - get serious with God, repent, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you strength to break the old routine and begin seeing "tail chasing" as something worthless. Understand that God wants to bring honor and glory to you from Him by chasing Him, not your tail.
You are loved, Pastor Roger