Yesterday in church we talked about David and Bathsheba. As you may or may not know, David saw Bathsheba bathing, desired her, sent for her, had her, she got pregnant, so he brought her husband from the battlefield front line so he could make it look like he did sleep with her but her husband wouldn't sleep with his wife while his men were out on the battlefield, so David then made it look like her husband was killed at war so he could make her his wife. To me, the two main sins were selfishness and deceit. I say selfishness as opposed to lust or adultery because he basically wanted something that wasn't his, he wanted it all. He already had a million wives, but he wanted that one, the one that belonged to someone else. Selfishness is something that can sneak up on us. We have probably all been guilty of it at one time or another and it's something we might not even realize is selfishness. A mother who makes her kids late to school because she didn't get up earlier or wanted to do a few more dishes before leaving the house, is being selfish because she is making her stuff more important than her kid's stuff and the poor kid is completely helpless. Or if a man is intent on buying the latest television when he knows something needs to be repaired. It's also selfishness when we take credit for something someone else did by just saying thank you and not mentioning that someone else played a bigger role. Once we get it in our head that we want something, it's very difficult to go back. My thinking is that we should think about what we really want. Do we want that television or do we want peace and harmony in the home? Do we want the credit or do we want to feel proud of/good about ourselves. Do we really want that extra 5 minutes in bed or do we want our child to miss out on an award because he was late one too many times. Parents are also being selfish when they do not take the time or make the effort to deal with a discipline issue and instead they give in to what the child wanted. How could that be selfishness? It's selfishness because the parent is basically being lazy....they are wanting to avoid the conflict at the expense of your child's character. What?! Yes...allowing a child to get away with not obeying results in kids who have no respect for authority. No respect for God, for their parents, or for the law. So the next time you are tempted to let your kids get away with having ignored you, think about the end result. Ask yourself if that is, in fact, what you want for your child.
Deceit was the other thing David did. He tried to cover up his initial act. I think my son Andrew put it best....two wrongs don't make a right. We all know how one lie can lead to another and another. We also need to remember like my other son Matthew once said, "he forgot he could make a U-turn". We need to be on guard for anything that requires hiding....and we should teach our kids Hint #1: if we are hiding, it's probably not something we are, or will be proud of in the future.
