Have you ever read any of the warning labels attached to the items you purchase? They are CRAZY! But you KNOW in order for that label to be on there, some person has done it at least once.

I read the warning on a hairspray bottle and part of it reads, “Do not spray on an open flame…”I can tell you right now who this is written for. It’s written for boys and men who haven’t quite grown up. LOL “Avoid spraying in eyes.” Who would purposely spray their eyes with hairspray?

When I was in high school, my family took a trip to Colorado. We turned on a road with a sign that read, “Travel at your own risk.” What did we do? We took it! That’s a whole different story.

There is one warning label that I’m confident most of you have never read or have read and ignored. Do you know which one that is?

Q-tips.

And I quote, “Do not insert swab into ear canal. Entering the ear canal could cause injury. If used to clean ears, stroke swab gently around the outer surface of the ear only.”

Some of you are living life on the dangerous side cleaning the ear canal with Q-tips. My question is, what are Q-tips used for if not for cleaning the ear canal?!

If you ignore a warning label, is it the fault of the manufacturer if you are injured as a result of your own stupidity? They told you not to. You chose to go against their advice.  You deserve what you get.

In Deuteronomy 6:10-12, there’s a warning that is just as applicable today as it was when it was given. The Lord was going to be giving the children of Israel the Promised Land. He was going to give them large and beautiful cities they did not build, houses full of all good things which they did not fill, hewn-out wells they did not dig, vineyards and olive trees they didn’t plant.

Have any of you physically built the cities you live in?

Have any of you cut down the lumber, mixed the cement, and built your own home?

Have any of you grown all of your own food including the meat you eat?

Have any of you dug wells in your yard for water?

Just checking to make sure this is relevant for you…

Because now comes the warning.

“Beware lest you forget the Lord…” (Deut 6:12a)

Self-sufficiency. We think we can handle this ourselves. We think we worked to earn the money to buy this or do that, when in fact it is the Lord who gives us the ability and the strengths we possess. It is the Lord who puts each and every breath in our lungs. It is the Lord.

In one phone call or e-mail, you can lose your job, income, health benefits and retirement.

In one phone call or e-mail, you can suddenly be thrust into a health crisis.

In one phone call or e-mail, your finances can be in total ruins.

So how do we heed the warning? How do we not forget the Lord?

Deuteronomy 6:5-8, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

1.     Your focus whether you are sitting, walking, lying down or getting up is God’s Word.

2.     Write down the Scripture. Put it where you can see it. Put it on the screen of your phone or computer. Use vinyl to put it on the walls of your home. I’m thinking about putting the verse about not complaining in my kids’ bathroom.

3.     Talk about the Scripture. I’ve quoted Scripture in business meetings. If they aren’t Christians, they may not know it, but it’s in there.

4.     Start a gratitude journal. On our way to school in the mornings, part of my prayer is thanking God for running water in our home, flushing toilets, air conditioning, separate bathrooms and bedrooms, etc.

Where there’s a warning there are consequences. If you don’t love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, what happens? You are walking through life without Him. You are doing life in your own strength. That’s exhausting, speaking from personal experience. And the things that follow from living outside God’s will are too numerous to write in a blog.

So my question to you is, “Will you heed the warning?”

One last thing, did you know that if you use a Q-tip in your inner ear, you are actually pushing the wax down further into the ear and packing it in? You can cause loss of hearing if the wax becomes too impacted. How about that for a consequence? I bet you didn’t know that, did you?

That’s the thing with consequences. You don’t always know the ramifications for ignoring a warning until it’s too late. Choose wisely.