Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Keith Simon.

On the first day of teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, R.C. Sprole carefully explained the assignment of three term papers.

Each paper was due on the last day

of September, October, and November. The professor clearly stated there would be no exceptions. That's when

the papers were due. So at the end of September, about 225 students turned in their papers, while 25

remorseful students quaked in fear. We're so sorry, they told the professor, we didn't make the proper adjustments from high school to college, but we promise we'll do better next time.

So Professor Sprole relented to their pleas for mercy, and he let them have an extension.

But he said, be careful because I'm not going to do this again next month.

Well, the end of October rolled around,

and this time about 175 students turned their paper in on time, and about 50 showed up, empty-handed.

Oh, please, they begged. It was homecoming weekend. We ran out of time. So Sproll relented once more,

and he said, okay, this is it. No more excuses. Next time you get an F. The end of November came

around. This time only 100 students turned in their papers. The rest told the professor,

we'll get it in soon. Sorry, the professor replied. It's too late. You get an F. The students

howled in protest. That's not fair. Okay, Sproul said, you want fair? You want justice? Here's

justice. You'll get an F for all the papers that were late. That was the rule, right? Professor Sprole later reflected and said the students had quickly taken my mercy for granted. They just assumed it. So when justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock and they were outraged. I think that story parallels our

relationship with God. God is merciful and patient with us, but we take it for granted. We begin to

presume upon His grace. And when judgment comes, we're shocked. It's almost like we misinterpret God's

patience to mean that he's a pushover, or that sin isn't a big deal,

or that all the warnings in Scripture are a bit exaggerated. Today in Mark 12, we'll see that it is

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