Are You a Criminal?

Did you ever consider how close you may have come to doing time, real time? Now, I know you are saying, "How ridiculous is that?" But, I can think of some very sticky situations you may have found yourselves in that turned out all right but may have turned out very badly. I have been considering how "bad" the "bad people" really are lately, and I am very happy that my life did not go sour for some reason or another. Criminal behavior, in any sense, is wrong. Just how much can you flirt with disaster? Certainly, the less, the better. Here are some questions to consider that involve situations that may have gotten you into serious trouble. 1. Did you ever avert your glance while driving a car on a two-lane road and find that you had gone way left of center? Then, you shivered as you realized you could have hit someone head-on. 2. Did you ever lose your temper and push and/or hit someone as you got into a fight? Later you realized that serious injury or death could have occurred. 3. Did you ever corn cars when you were younger and scare the driver nearly off the road? 4. Did you ever buy fenced goods from someone even though you suspected they had been stolen? 5. Did you ever knowingly and purposely cheat on your income tax because you thought the government was crooked? 6. Did you ever have a passenger with you and drive your car as fast as you could to see how it would run? 7. Did you ever give a ride to a stranger or to a casual acquaintance who may have been concealing illegal drugs? 8. Did you ever act completely out of your mind when drunk or high to the point that you followed a bad crowd that was acting illegally? 9. Did you ever date someone you suspected (or didn't suspect) was underage? 10. Did you ever mistakenly pass a bad check? If you have done any of these things, you may have committed a criminal act. Fate and better judgment may have prevented you from getting into a lot of trouble. You learned from a terrible experience and adjusted your behavior. But, what if? The Bible, Luke 23 ³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" ⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." ⁴²Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ⁴³Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."