Suggested Reading: Proverbs 19:1-8
Logan was really excited. He had just found out about an internet start-up company that had great potential and in his excitement, he jumped into the deal, paying five million dollars for this company. The deal went through and he couldn't contain his excitement. But then the first lawsuit hit. The company Logan had purchased had stolen it's primary concept from someone else and Logan hadn't done his homework. As a result, he lost everything. He was excited. He was ready to work hard. But he didn't have the knowledge he needed to make informed decisions.
This fictional example from the series Gilmore girls, mirrors a number of times in life when we make bad decisions because we are excited but we don't have all the information. We are sincere. We are eager. But we lack the necessary information and we allow our emotions to guide us. We fall desperately in love and marry or give ourselves away only to discover later that we really didn't know the person. We invest our money in an expensive item we're really excited about, only to discover its a piece of junk and all our money just went down the drain. We jump into an exciting job opportunity only to discover we missed some key details and now we live without any prospects, stuck in a position we hate.
One of the common problems we experience is allowing our excitement to overrule our better judgment. But Proverbs 19:2 reminds us, "Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins" (HCSB). Paul, also reminds us of his fellow Israelites who, though extremely zealous for God, missed salvation because their zeal was not based on knowledge and they "sought to establish their own" righteousness instead (Rom 10:3) . Being excited about someone or something can be exhilarating and sometimes we can get a thrill from just jumping into something. But acting on emotion without having all the necessary information can be not only detrimental but, according to this verse, sinful.
Don't get me wrong, there are times when God says, "Jump," and we need to obey. But if the direct command of God isn't there, make sure you have as many facts as possible before making life-changing decisions. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache.
Logan was really excited. He had just found out about an internet start-up company that had great potential and in his excitement, he jumped into the deal, paying five million dollars for this company. The deal went through and he couldn't contain his excitement. But then the first lawsuit hit. The company Logan had purchased had stolen it's primary concept from someone else and Logan hadn't done his homework. As a result, he lost everything. He was excited. He was ready to work hard. But he didn't have the knowledge he needed to make informed decisions.
This fictional example from the series Gilmore girls, mirrors a number of times in life when we make bad decisions because we are excited but we don't have all the information. We are sincere. We are eager. But we lack the necessary information and we allow our emotions to guide us. We fall desperately in love and marry or give ourselves away only to discover later that we really didn't know the person. We invest our money in an expensive item we're really excited about, only to discover its a piece of junk and all our money just went down the drain. We jump into an exciting job opportunity only to discover we missed some key details and now we live without any prospects, stuck in a position we hate.
One of the common problems we experience is allowing our excitement to overrule our better judgment. But Proverbs 19:2 reminds us, "Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins" (HCSB). Paul, also reminds us of his fellow Israelites who, though extremely zealous for God, missed salvation because their zeal was not based on knowledge and they "sought to establish their own" righteousness instead (Rom 10:3) . Being excited about someone or something can be exhilarating and sometimes we can get a thrill from just jumping into something. But acting on emotion without having all the necessary information can be not only detrimental but, according to this verse, sinful.
Don't get me wrong, there are times when God says, "Jump," and we need to obey. But if the direct command of God isn't there, make sure you have as many facts as possible before making life-changing decisions. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache.
