When he found out two of his own bodyguards were part of an assassination plot against him, he threw a banquet in their honor, and while delivering a glowing testimonial to them, Capone suddenly pulled out a club and beat both men to death.

But life has a way of catching up to people, and after being sent to Alcatraz for tax evasion and eventually released, the seeds had been sown. Though he was only in his late forties, he looked old behind his years. His brain was eaten by syphilis, his face scared from earlier wars, and his body ravaged by time on the Rock.

They say his detractors had called him Scarface and his victims called him Sir. He had been public enemy number one, but now in his last days it’s said that almost every morning he shuffled out his back door to go fishing. All day he would sit in the same old lawn chair, under the Florida sun, next to the same fishing hole, holding the same rod, dangling the same hook.

But – time and syphilis had done its work – although he spent day after day fishing, the swimming pool that contained nothing but chlorine yielded up zero fish. Capone died in 1947 at the ripe old age of 48!

Galatians 6 warns us: “Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life.” That word “mock” in the Greek is to “turn one’s nose at God and treat with contempt.” Robert Louis Stevenson sagely remarked: “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

A man with no self-control is like a car without brakes, out-of-control and unrestrained. Proverbs 25:28 even tells us that “A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.” Each choice we make brings with it a consequence.

Really – everything you do is a decision. If we make wise, God-honoring decisions, then we will have positive consequences, but sinful choices lead to negative consequences. Not rocket science here!

But I also submit to you that not only do we reap what we sow, we will reap more has we sow! If a farmer plants a kernel of corn, that one kernel has the potential to produce a stalk with several ears that contain a bonanza of more kernels. If the stalk produces just two ears of corn, that would be approximately 1,600 kernels – 1,599 more than was started with!

Hosea 8:7 tells us that there are those who have sown the wind (in evil) and will reap the whirlwind (in disaster). Just as the whirlwind is much greater that the wind, so consequences of our actions end up being greater than the deed itself -think 1,500.

Years ago, our government schools said God was no longer welcome – but the devil was welcomed with open arms! How’s that working out for us? Many are now mad about the very new world they helped to create! They sowed the seeds abolishing

religious and moral standards and we are ow reaping the whirlwind of an “anything goes” society!

Are we surprised that sowing division on every front has brought whirlwinds of conflict and strife? Are we surprised that sowing greed has brought dust-devils of selfishness, greed and poverty, or that sowing dishonesty has brought in storms of distrust cross our land?! Someone once remarked, “if you wait long enough, you reap what you sow – that holds for men, that holds for towns, that holds for a whole country.”

So – what to do? Plato (428-347 BC) long ago remarked – “Your silence gives consent.” If you don’t like what’s being reaped, you need to sow different seeds, then you need to take a stand for integrity, justice, and honesty! Martin Luther King, Jr warned: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” but I think Elie Wiesel says it best with this: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” We can do this – just stand up for the good and find your voice!

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org

The post Incoming – Dust Devils appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Today though, you just might find – pro gamer, YouTube streamer, or professional cuddler – at the top of that list.

Times have changed but kids today still have ambitions. One 2nd-grade class was given an assignment of drawing a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up. One girl drew a picture of what appeared to be her mom dancing beside a pole with people holding out money for her. She wrote: “When I grow up I want to be just like mommy!” You can imagine what the teacher must have thought.

The next day the students’ mother sent this note to the teacher: “Dear Miss Jones, I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out of every single snow shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room which several people were fighting over. Her picture isn’t me dancing around a pole. It’s me selling the last snow shovel we had. From now on I will remember to check her homework.”

The Apostle Paul urged believers about having a holy ambition. In other words – make your life count for God. But truly there is also a dark side to ambition. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power.” And if you check out self-help books written about ambition you come up with titles like: Looking Out for Number One, Every Man is a King, and The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck. That’s the world’s idea of ambition.

Paul wrote in Philippians that we should do nothing out of selfish ambition. The Message translation put it this way: “Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet- talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” It’s a holy ambition to want to work toward making a difference in our world.

But it’s often challenging to get this message across to our younger generation!

There’s a hilarious story about a young college student who was being interviewed for his first job. The interviewer asked, “So what kind of salary are you looking to make?” The college grad replied, “Oh, somewhere around $150,000 a year.” The interviewer said, “And how about six weeks paid vacation, full medical & dental plus a new car leased for you every year?” The college grad said, “Are you kidding me?” The interviewer replied, “Of course I’m kidding you — but you started it.”

If your ambition is to get rich just for the sake of having riches, that’s not a holy ambition. If your ambition is to become famous just so people will know your name, that’s not a holy ambition. But when your ambition is to please God and advance His kingdom, He can use the rich and famous!!

It’s said that Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had subdued the nations of the known world. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. Alexander died at an early age in a state of debauchery, depravity, and wantonness.

Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his death, and he left this world completely unmourned. Both very sad with pitiful and tragic ambitions!

We’ve said it before but this amazing little verse deserves another look. Psalm 127:1 reminds us: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” Simply stated – commit your plans to God! Commit your finances to God. Commit your ambitions to God!

Doug Fields gives us a great perspective on all this: “I am not suggesting you shouldn’t work hard, but I am suggesting that if you are defining your value by the chase – by your ambition, your work, and your achievement – then you are simply chasing after the wind, and ultimately it is meaningless.”

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org

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