Pam Padgett - teacher
As we go through this life, over and over our flesh tries to rise
up and lead us in ways that are not of God. But the word God gives us to deal with the situation is powerful, allowing us to overcome the pull of our flesh in the matter. When we seek to
know what is right before God in the matter and to do that, we keep our flesh from ruling in the situation.
Many years ago I worked in the meat processing business my
parents owned. Periodically health inspectors came unannounced,
looking for health regulation violations.
There was a machine we used once in a while. After being used, it took a long
time to completely clean it. We used this machine one day and, knowing we also needed to use
it the following day, my dad told us to clean as much as
possible without taking it completely apart and then put it in a
refrigerated room called a cooler.
The following morning before we needed to use that machine my dad saw an inspector named Johnny drive up.
Seeing the machine in the cooler may cause him to wonder
why it was there and suspect it hadn't been cleaned. So we moved
it out of the cooler and set it in the work room, trying to make it look as though we had been using it that day. (At the
time I didn't recognize that we were trying to deceive the inspector, and repented
when I saw this.)
I was working nearby this machine when Johnny came in. He asked
me if that machine had been cleaned the day before. Although what
we had done was only a minor infraction and would just
be noted on a report, I did not want to say anything that would
cause this and reflect badly on my dad even in this small way. There was a temptation to lie.
But I was reminded that in the Bible that we are told not to lie, and didn't want to go against what God has told us. So I
prayed asking God how to handle this and heard to ask Johnny to
talk with my dad about this machine. When I did this, he started
laughing, walked over to my dad, and told him what he had asked
and my response saying it sure obvious I
wasn't willing to lie to try to cover this up. My dad confirmed that the machine had not been
completely taken apart and cleaned the previous day. Nothing
in this matter was hidden any more.
I learned later that as my dad and Johnny talked, my dad told him that I read
the Bible and take what the Bible says very seriously.
Later that day Johnny came to my parents' house where my mom and
I were having lunch saying he needed to know the truth about a
personal matter.
He told me that when he was in high school he had dated a girl
and fallen in love with her. They planned to marry when he
completed college. But while he was attending college, she had
decided to marry another man. Recently, however, she came and told
Johnny that she had made a mistake in marrying the other man. She
was divorcing him and wanted to resume her relationship with
Johnny.
Johnny said he had never since met a woman he loved as
he had loved this woman, so he had never married (at the time we
spoke he was probably around 35 years old).
He wanted to marry her, but needed to know if it would cause her
to sin if they married. He said he loved her too much to want to
do anything that would cause her to sin.
Hearing this story and how he said he loved this woman, my flesh very much wanted to encourage this
marriage.
But I was reminded of what God has told us in the Bible:
Mark 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband,
and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Matthew 5:32 ... whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for
the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and
whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth
adultery.
I told Johnny that they would commit adultery if they
married, and later wrote out several scriptures that show this and
sent it to him.