BBD 03.06.14 The Backfire Effect (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
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03.06.14
The Backfire Effect
He made a pit and dug it out (a trap), And has fallen into the ditch which
he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing
shall come down on his own crown. I will praise the LORD according to His
righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. - Psalm
7:15-17.
Though his hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness will be revealed
before the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a
stone will have it roll back on him. - Proverbs 26:26-27.
back·fired, back·fir·ing, back·fires meaning to, “produce
an unexpected, undesired result.” I believe
this is a frequent, unwanted occurrence in the living of life. Take, for
example, the two brothers in Nevada who came home to find that a burglar had
broken into their apartment. They did what most people would do; they called
the police to report what had happened. However, when law enforcement arrived
to investigate they found some marijuana, along with psychedelic mushrooms,
cocaine, handguns, an assault rifle, and drug paraphernalia. The call to report
a burglary has backfired on the brothers as they are now the ones in jail.
In another example, a woman tried to make her adult
daughters leave her home by setting the house on fire. The woman, Belinda, 47
years old, wanted her daughters to give her money to buy cocaine. A spokesman
for the Sheriff’s Office, James
Hartman, said that Belinda “had returned home after an all-night drug binge and
insisted they give her money to acquire cocaine.” Instead of forcing her daughters to give her money, she
has ended up in jail. She knows what it is like to have something backfire on
you.
The Bible indicates that the backfire effect is exactly
what people are up against who plan evil, who plan to hurt others, and who plan
to cheat others. You see it happen over and over again. Just this last Sunday a
man was arrested in Iowa for trying to sneak into a house by going down their
chimney but instead he got stuck and arrested. I have lost track of the number
of times this happens - it must be almost once a month. I wonder if anyone ever
succeeded in doing that?
Instead of planning to cheat, steal, deceive, or some
other evil thing what should we do? We should act with honesty and integrity
with not just our interests being considered but also the interests of others
being considered as well (Philippians
2:3-4). We should obey the second great commandment,
which Jesus says is, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39).”
To keep things from backfiring on you do what the apostle
Paul says in Ephesians 5:8-10, “For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of
the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is
acceptable to the Lord.” Paul gives us a good
example to follow in Act 24:16, “So I strive
always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”
Remember if you set a trap for someone, you may just end
up experiencing the “backfire effect.”
Copyright © 2005 - 2014. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
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