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Nothing Has Changed


                That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.
          Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 
          Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
                “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?” 
         King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows. Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.” (Esther 8:1-8) 

          The wicked Haman is dead. Xerxes gives his estate to Esther, who hands it over to Mordecai. All is well… except that nothing has changed. The king’s law is still the king’s law and the king’s law cannot be revoked. No matter how big a mistake the king makes or lets someone else make in his name. You’d think that after he gave an order that could have resulted in the death of his number one wife, he’d have learned, but he hands the signet ring off to someone else, trusting that they will be wise. Granted, Mordecai and Esther had proven their loyalties, but I’m sure he’d thought Haman loyal, too, until Xerxes went queen of hearts on him. 
          We all have times when we make regrettable decisions, and later wish we could turn back the clocks. Sometimes, there are ways around mistakes. Sometimes there aren’t. There’s a post I see sometimes on social media telling us that everybody makes bad decisions in their life, there’s no reason a person should suffer forever as a result. There is a reason. Decisions have consequences.
          Because decisions have consequences, I think it imperative that we counsel those we care for – and perhaps even those we don’t – against decisions that be believe will have nasty, long-lasting consequences. Granted, I’m not as gentle and loving as others might like me to be about it, but the notion that “if we love someone we will accept and celebrate all their decisions” is a lie. The notion that no one has a right to tell you that your decisions are wrong is a lie. I believe that love requires that we speak against bad decisions.      

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