Not Me!
He had received numerous warnings and tickets for racing trains through the crossings. Now he lay critically injured, the only surviving member of a family whose funerals he wasn't even able to attend.

Not Me!
Clutching the steel bars, a once-handsome young man tries desperately to remain upright. He didn't need to be warned: he "knew" what drugs could do--they weren't going to ruin his life! He insisted on keeping company with those who did drugs regularly. Now he can barely stand as the pangs of addiction claw at him.

Not Me!
The doctor shakes his head as he reports to the family. His patient? A young woman in a coma whose friends repeatedly warned her that the places she hung out were frequented by those involved in sex, drugs, and violence.

Not Me!
Stunned, the parents cannot believe their children beat and tortured the elderly couple just down the street. They hadn't been raised that way---just unsupervised in the sadistic, satanic tv programming they watched, the music they were allowed to buy, the friends their parents never met.

Not Me!
The young lady has just received confirmation from the team of specialists that she has a fatal disease, but from which of her frequent partners? What will be the final tally on ruined lives? How many has she been with before she knew?

Not Me!
The sobbing mother stands against the cold window of the county morgue, waiting to identify the body of her child. She had wanted to be her child's friend, insisting on the rights of the child to the exclusion of parental authority.

Not Me!
The barely-teen friends scream and work furiously to awaken their pal, aerosol can and plastic bag at his side. This was not the first time they had huffed---but it would be his last.

Not Me!
At the last stop on his delivery route, he's become friendly with patrons in the bar over the past several months. A soul-winner for Jesus, he allows himself to be persuaded to return on several occasions to "counsel" some of the patrons. He doesn't seem to notice that the conversations have become more and more intimate or the teasing to "have one" more insistent. Then it happens: he staggers to his car and somewhere between there and home, head-ons into a tree, dying instantly.

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Many years ago I was taught by a very wise man: when I decided to purchase a product, I should talk to the repair people, not the salespeople. It was from the repair people that I would get a truer sense of what to expect from that purchase. It always worked---when I applied that advice.

For years, I ignored that advice and it very nearly cost me my son's life and him his eternal soul! I was guilty of both: complacency---allowing myself to join right in with all the other "lazy" Christians who put off doing what they have been called to do and excusing it by saying, "You have to wait until he's ready". And, I wanted it MY WAY. My way very nearly devastated my entire family!

We have the "repair people" not only talking to us, but screaming at us: "Don't! Don't do it! Don't!" Still we choose to disregard their warnings. Why? Because we are caught up in what we want at the moment and the end results are not factored into our decisions. We know the warnings---we know the consequences---it's always the other person who will get caught or injured or killed. We keep forgetting: to someone else, WE are the other person!

"It wasn't supposed to happen this way!" Truthfully now, just how many of us do not know the dangers of the actions we take or fail to take? Can we truly plead ignorance? No!

It's the INFALLIBILITY FACTOR, also known as the NOT ME Syndrome. It's one of the most powerful weapons satan uses against folks today---lulling them into a false sense of security: "See? Nothing happened that time! What's to worry???"

Our society has become so complacent, so apathetic, that we readily accept the statistics: this year "X" will die on the highways because of drunk drivers; "X" will die from suicide; "X" from unloaded guns; "X" from drug overdoses or fights over drugs.

Those who profess to be "Christians" are just as complacent as the rest of the world! Don't think so? Then what would you call the attitude of, "Well, you just gotta wait 'till he's ready to change", or "Well, they have to sew their wild oats first", or this one: "Well, you know how young people are these days."

Depends on who's doing the changing---you or God? If you're the one trying to change him (or her), he (or she) may never be ready to listen to you or meet your standards. However, if you're depending on God to make the needed changes in that loved one's life, what excuse do you have for not fasting and praying for that person already???

"I just pray she'll turn her life around before Jesus comes again!" Would you really dare to risk your loved one's eternal soul that lightly? She (or he) doesn't have that much time to risk---there's the matter of the next heartbeat that might not be there, or that sudden, unexpected accident or any number of a thousand other ways for that soul to go into eternity without salvation. Are we truly so foolish as to "bank" on the notion that there will always be time for them to "make it right with God"?

"Well, I just can't witness to people." No, but we sure can gossip, can't we? It is a cowardly habit and doesn't require the boldness of witnessing. The Bible tells us in Matthew 12:36, But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Yes, we Christians disregard the facts---otherwise we would be about the Lord's business. Oh yes, Christians, too, have the "Not Me" syndrome. We forget about our record-keeper. We figure if we don't receive the immediate punishment of Jonah with his "Not Me" attitude, we've gotten away with something. We haven't. There will come a day of reckoning and then none, not a one, of our feeble little excuses is going to be adequate to God. What then?

(all emphasis on scriptures, such as bold, underline or uppercase, is mine)
"Not Me" Copyright © 1998 by Patricia Dillon.
All Rights Reserved.

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