It’s college football season, and on any given Saturday, there’s going to be plenty of flags thrown on the field for taunting. After catching a touchdown, some wide receiver is going to lean over his defender lying on the ground and shout something mocking or insulting and then do a dance right in his face. Or some linebacker is going to make a big tackle and then stand over the opponent, flexing or gesturing in their face. In both cases, that’ll be 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. We see it on the sports field all the time.

But we also see it increasingly in the field of life around the symbol of the rainbow. You see, we read in Genesis 8 and 9 that after God destroyed all of humanity, except for those on the ark, for pervasive wickedness, God declared that He would never destroy humanity by flood again because He saw that the intent of the heart of fallen humanity is evil from their youngest days. And so, God would have had to send a cataclysmic flood every few generations.

Instead, God chose to forbear mankind’s sin and declared that He’d never do again what He had just done. And as a promise to man, he pointed to the rainbow as a reminder of that promise. Every time we see a rainbow in the sky, we should be reminded of both God’s judgment against sin and His current forbearance of our sin. That’s what the rainbow represents–judgment and mercy.

That’s why I think it’s so strange that a certain sinful segment of our society has chosen the rainbow as their symbol. Whether they realize it or not, they are taunting God. “What are you going to do about it, God? You gonna break your promise, God? You’re nothing, God!”

Dear one, let me remind you that God will not be mocked. While He is currently forbearing sin, all sinners are storing up God’s wrath to be unleashed on the day of wrath. I pray that the rainbow, instead of hardening your heart against God, would instead remind you of the grace that was extended to all who got on that ark. In the same way, grace is extended to every sinner who will come into Christ Jesus. May the rainbow lead to your salvation. May the rainbow lead you to Christ, as it was always meant to.

Change begins in you!