As a child, my mother and I would make our own clay to shape and mold designs. I actually have a recipe: flour, salt, creme of tartar, water, corn oil and food coloring. It was fun to play with and all I had. Our girls played with homemade clay and then purchased play dough (which by the way has the ingredient, wheat). We were all told not to eat it, not that it would kill us, but it was just not a good idea. Why is it that when we are told or asked not to do something, we instantly wonder why it is forbidden and then automatically want to do it? Romans 7:15 says: “For I do not understand my own actions. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that my moral instinct condemns” (AMP).
This is where my story actually begins. My 2 year old grandson was playing with play dough at the kitchen table while my daughter was doing her morning chores around the house. She peeked around the corner of the hallway into the kitchen to see how the little guy was doing and she observed him taking a bite of play dough. She was not quick to scold him, waited a moment to see what he would do and his response was, “Don’t look at me.” Her response then was, “Gus, please don’t eat the play dough,” and again he repeated, “Don’t look at me.” There was no need for an urgent correction, however my daughter, much to my grandson’s dismay did put the play dough away for later, when he was a little older and more understanding of “Don’t eat the play dough!”
The Bible is full of instructions or commands from God on why we should not do some things. It is also full of stories with sad endings when people did not heed God’s directions. Do we ever tell God, “Don’t look at me,” hoping that God won’t see us doing hurtful things to ourselves? God tells us that bitterness is harmful. Hebrews 12:15 says, “Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look after one another, to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s spiritual blessing, in order that no root of resentment shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it” (AMP). But do we hold on to bitterness against family members or neighbors? God tells us to not fear. Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever leans on, trusts in and put his confidence in the Lord is safe and set on high.” God tells us not to worry. Matthew 6:25a says, “Therefore I tell you, stop being anxious and worried about your life;” and Matthew 6:27 says, “And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure to his span of life?” Matthew 6:34 says, “So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble” (AMP). Do we hope that God “will stop looking” so we can have our own way? Did you know that many medical conditions are rooted in bitterness, fear and worry? Jesus, “The Word,” is the answer.
Just as my daughter wanted the best for my grandson, God wants the best for His children. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome” (AMP).