Fence Sitting

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Symbol: Sitting on fence

Lesson: No such thing when it comes to serving God.

Illustration: If you decide to build a new fence but your neighbor doesn’t agree with it, the fence needs to be built completely on your property. I once heard that it was up to five or six feet. This means that if you sat on top of that fence, no matter which side you fall, you would still be on your property.

Satan has made every attempt to keep people from serving Jehovah. As the “god of this system of things” he builds a fence designed to prevent, inhibit or discourage people from whole-hearted commitment. So while rejecting Satan and evil ways is a good thing, if that is not accompanied by active, positive action in serving God, that is figurative fence-sitting. Just “believing” in God is not enough.

Unless we have completely aligned ourselves with God, Jesus indicated that indecisiveness is like fence sitting. When the time of judgement comes or the end of our life comes, even if we try to jump off the fence and go over to God's side, it may be too late at that time. In effect, no matter what side we fall on, it is still on Satan’s property. We need to be away from the fence (of indecisiveness) and well within the midst of God's "drove."

Notes: n/a

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Hindsight Better

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Symbol: Driving, coming up on a distant landscape.

Lesson: Hindsight is better than foresight.

Illustration: As we are coming up on something in the distance, whether it be a town, a farm, or something else, we might find ourselves thinking, “I think I see what it is.” Even as we pass through it, we may still find ourselves trying to determine features about it. However, after having gone through it, we may finally have a good idea.

Similarly, on this side of an unfulfilled prophecy, we may think we have an idea of how it will unfold, turn out. Even as the prophecy is being fulfilled, we may not completely realize or appreciate it. It is not until we are on the other side, where it is now a fulfilled prophecy that we find ourselves thinking, “Oh! Yes, that makes perfect sense. I wonder how I didn’t see it in the first place.”

Notes: Even with personal decisions that may have us baffled, confused, and uncertain, it is usually after the situation has played out that we, in hindsight, say, "I wish I would have handled this differently." But this is not the case with God. He knows exactly how to handle things for everyone's best interests. His foresight is just as clear & certain as his hindsight.

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