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Allen Domelle

Found Wanting


Daniel 5:27

TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. As a boy, he had seen how God dealt with his father because of his pride. He saw his father lose his mind and taken from the throne. He saw his father graze in the wilderness like an animal for a length of time. He saw his father get right with God and was given his throne back because he gave God the glory for everything that had happened in his life.

However, Belshazzar did not want to serve or worship God. Belshazzar chose another path to walk. Belshazzar put on a feast and invited many dignitaries to this drunken feast, where they drank from the instruments that his father brought from the temple of God when he invaded the land of Israel. In the middle of this drunken feast, a hand wrote a writing on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This writing troubled Belshazzar, and he called in Daniel to have this writing explained. One of the words in this writing was TEKEL which meant, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. God was saying that Belshazzar knew better. God said that he weighed Belshazzar’s actions in the balances and found that he did not do right with what had been given to him. God judged Belshazzar for this wickedness because he had been given a great example to follow, but he chose not to follow it.

To whom much is given is much required. God does hold some more accountable than others because of the examples they had growing up as a child. A person who knows what is right but refuses to do right is held to a higher standard than a person who does not know any better. It does not matter that you don't like the example given to you; God holds you accountable for what you do know.

Let me explain. I was raised in a godly family and had a great example of how to live for God. God holds me to a higher standard than the child who was not raised in a godly family. I could choose to live a worldly life just like the child who was not raised in a godly family, but God will judge me for living this life and not the child who was raised in an ungodly family because I know better. God never condones sin, but He does hold those who had godly examples as children to a higher standard than those who did not.

My friend, you can try to destroy your Christian heritage by maligning the character of those who gave you that heritage, but you are still accountable to live by the heritage given to you. Maligning the character of those who handed you a Christian heritage does not take away your responsibility to live it. We live in days when people want to attack the character of those who gave them their Christian heritage, but it is amazing how those attacking their Christian heritage are living worldly lives. If they are so right about the character of those who handed them their Christian heritage, why are they not living a godly life? Just because you discovered the humanity of those who handed you your Christian heritage does not excuse you from living a holy life.

God does put your life in His balances, and He does weigh your life that you are living to see what you do with the heritage handed to you. Are you lacking in your life because you have chosen to live the way of the world? You are accountable for what you do know, and what you do with what you do know is what God holds you accountable to.

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