Here I sit with a handful of rat poison. My wife, the woman who loves me, the love of my life for over fifty years, brought it to me with a glass of water. She is encouraging me to swallow it. The question is quite Shakespearean. Should I take it and be or not take it and not be? Coumadin or its generic, Warfarin Sodium, is often used to kill rodents. Once ingested, it can cause the animal to hemorrhage to death. However, if used judiciously with humans, it can retard the formation of blood clots, contributing to a healthy recovery from surgery.
One of life’s great lessons is the realization there are very few absolutes in life. When I was young I had difficulty with Solomon’s comments in Ecclesiastes 3 regarding there being a time for everything. Surely, I thought there could not be a time for things God declared to be sin. As the decades have swiftly raced by, I have come to realize the key is understanding the definition of sin. Sin isn’t merely breaking the ten commandments. Sin can be eating a gallon of ice cream before going to bed. There is no mention of that on the stone tablets. Sin is anything that harms. Love is anything that fosters ultimate goodness. Most of the world’s great philosophers agree there is one ultimate ethic. It is to do the loving thing. Paul grasps this in I Corinthians 13 where he says, “Though I give my body to be burned, if I do not do it for love it is useless.” Thoughtful motive is everything. This is why Jesus forbids us from judging each other. We have no ability to properly evaluate the motives of another. Only the God who knows our every thought can do so with justice.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 22, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org