Our priorities sure are out of whack!

WARNING, THIS IS YOUR ONLY RANT WARNING! You have been warned.

Earlier this week on my news feed a friend retweeted (chirp, chirp I don’t twitter) “In the world of perpetual outrage, people cannot see the difference between deflated footballs, a dead lion, and dismembered babies.” Retweeted Kevin DeYoung (@RevKevDeYoung)

Isn’t that the truth (I warned you about the rant)! Our media is going on and on about deflated footballs from last year. What Tom Brady knew and what he didn’t know. How his image is tarnished etc. It is a football game after all. In the same breath we spend time (the most valuable resource) about one lion killed when over 800 are killed each year (half by Americans). Yet, not but a few words on the Planned Parenthood practice of selling tissue from dismembered babies until a new video comes out. Where is the outrage?

This summer we have heard and seen the clamor over officer involved shootings. Yet each night here in Savannah and in other cities I suspect, there is another shooting. Both parties are 14-25 in age yet the community fails to tell what it saw and heard. Earlier this summer a 15 year old was shot and killed during a robbery by another 15 year old and 13 year old. The accused murdering thieves got a cell phone and $10. There is going to be, if this continues, a missing generation. They will be incarcerated or buried. Either way absent from culture. Where is the outrage over this?

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled same sex marriage a constitutional right in all 50 states. The outrage raged on and on and continues to simmer almost at the boiling point heated by passionate high moral ground. Yet, the rate of heterosexual couples cohabitating (living together) without marriage continues to rise and there is no outrage, no high moral stance regarding the same sin as homosexual marriage namely fornication. I warned you of the rant. Where is the outrage over this?

As of today there are 18 candidates for the republican nomination for President. Eighteen, I would assume we all agree is too many. Consider the vast sums of money that will be spend on campaigns, hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions (yes with a B) all to become president of the United States with an annual salary of just over $400,000. What if that money went into the hands of people so outraged that they do something? How would that money change hunger in America? How could it eradicate sex-trafficking? How might it end substandard housing or families choosing between buying food or medication? Where is the outrage over this?

Christians have led the call of warning over many of these areas claiming outrage because of our faith. Yet we are guilty of being outraged but not doing anything about it. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world James 1:27 HCSB. Do we love people enough to do something about the out-of-whack-priorities? To do something is to bring them to Jesus. The four friends of the paralytic (Mark 2) loved him enough to bring him to Jesus. Jesus is the one who changes worlds by changing persons and priorities. Christians our priorities are out of whack too. Where is the outrage over this?

Bro G

Someone/anyone tells you what to do...

                This week I have spent a bunch of time in doctor’s offices and Memorial hospital. Tuesday was an all day experience with 3 appointments. I finally got home at 8pm that evening. One was for me and the other two for my Dad. I have a question. Why do doctors make appointments and appointment times that have no to correlation to time as we know it? Hospital and doctors time has little if anything to do with time in the real world. Yes, I understand emergencies etc. but that is rarely the case. Of those three appointments Tuesday, only one was on time (the first one) the other two and we wait…and wait…and wait. Of course I did see the Governor of Ohio join the horse race for the republican nomination for President but otherwise it was a bust of time.

                Secondly, don’t put one of those signs at the registration desk that says if you are 15 minutes or more late you will be…whatever. When I see that I am preparing my bill for the healthcare provider being 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes late to my appointment. They just look at me but do you get my point. I am the consumer here. Sure, I don’t know all the ins and outs of how the business of medicine works. I know people make appointments and then fail to show up wasting resources (maybe they could catch up with that time) I may not be certain of all of that but what I do know is I don’t like being told what to do especially when the issuer of said order fails to follow through. I like people to say-what-they-mean-and-mean-what-they-say. I think that is universal to people.  

          He [Jesus] spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars. ²³ Suddenly, while still in the meeting place, he was interrupted by a man who was deeply disturbed and yelling out…^25-26 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out.^27-28 Everyone there was incredulous, buzzing with curiosity. “What’s going on here? A new teaching that does what it says? He shuts up defiling, demonic spirits and sends them packing!” Mark 1:21-23, 25-28 The Message

                Here it is people amazed, “a new teaching that does what it says,” go figure. Yet what is also true is you and I bow up at it if we did not like it or it was hard. We are like that because in the end we want to be God, all of us. Eve was tempted by the serpent with the forbidden fruit “you will be like God.” I-want-what-I-want-the-way-I-want-it and guess what medicine does it like medicine wants it and I don’t like that. Computers do it like they are programmed and most of the time that is not how we want it. That is true in our relationship with Jesus. He commands us to love God and love our neighbor period. And yet, we spend most of our time trying to figure out how to do that like we want to. We want to be God until the wheels come off and then it’s ok for God to be God.

I’m not really crucified with Christ quite yet at least not all of me. My salvation is a process.

Lord forgive me/us when I/we fail!              

Bro G

Why we need evil!

              A conversation Sunday sparked thoughts and questions of good vs. evil. Why is there evil? Why is there good? God being in control, why then does he allow evil to continue? Why does evil seem to have a free hand in this world? Why is he allowed to exist at all? If I had thrown him out of Heaven he would not continue. Oh, so you too? But that is not what God did. He allowed evil to continue even after daring to challenge God. Why?

I know it is the question of the ages. I’m not the first nor will I be the last to consider this. Just ask any parent grieving the loss of a child. They know these questions and thousands more. Just ask a spouse who has just buried their soul mate and parent of their children at an early age. They know these questions. The families of: the Charleston 9, marines killed in Chattanooga, nursing students on I-16, we could go on and on listing the grief and the questions regarding good and evil.

Jesus was approached by a person and addressed as “good teacher,” he stopped them by saying, “only God is good.” God is good is a common phrase. “All the time” is the response. God is good and the evil one is…well…evil. Ok, but why? Why do both exist? Why not just the greater? Is it because the greater (God) cannot defeat evil? Then he is not greater. Or could it possibly be that God IS greater but allows evil to continue for some purpose. If that be the case, what purpose could that possibly be? What if WE, you and I, need BOTH. Huh?

We need both. Hear me out now, we cannot know what high is until we know low. We do not know what bright is until we have been in the pitch dark. We do not know beauty until we have witnessed ugly. We can never conceive of salvation until we know we need saving. I need both good and evil. They balance me not each other. I need the dark days to rejoice in the light days. I need the hard times to appreciate when life is easier. If life was easy for me, I would come to believe an easy life was my right. I am entitled to it at least in my mind. That is so far from the truth but I would believe it. We see it today in children and teens who believe a cell phone or car is their right. It is so easy for us to reinterpret blessings as rights. It is so easy for us to believe we are entitled to that which was really “extra” or “gravy.” The presence of evil helps keep balance and reinvigorate humility and responsibility for our material lives and our faith lives.

“It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me,” is what we sing but we don’t really believe it. We think we are entitled to more. Really? I must admit at times I think that. How about you? Are you entitled to more? No, you are not. It has become my belief that the evidence of a follower of Jesus maturing in faith is the recognition of the depth that sin permeates to our DNA. That’s the evil. It is also a sign of maturity in a believer having recognized the unending depth of sin within oneself to then acknowledge the absolute need of Jesus Christ to erase that sin. It can be accomplished no other way. In other words as we recognize how evil our nature is we then also can see how good is the nature of God. That is the sign of maturity. Why do we need evil so that the Glory of God can be seen for what it is much brighter and amazingly spectacular than ourselves? In turn Grace becomes all that much more amazing in our lives, a free gift.

                     

In HIS Service and Yours!

Bro G

I don't need to...

 I cannot count the number of times someone has said to me, “I don’t need to go to church to worship God.” It has typically been said by one who preferred to fish, hunt, golf, camp, vacation etc. on Sunday morning. I have to say I knew one man who went to the deer stand and memorized scripture. That man was at church to worship week in and week out he went hunting during the week.

The above statement is true. I always ask in response, “Do you?” If we are not intent to honor God from our gratitude, our pain, our joy, our all, then do we? An honest answer is no. There are too many distractions from without and within. It’s too easy to stay at home in the bed, too easy to have a late brunch, too easy to…well you fill in the blank. Other people hold us accountable.

Another statement is, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” Again true, as Jesus guarantees your salvation and entrance into heaven. It can also be said you don’t need to live in the same house to be married. Again that is true as well. In both cases I would like to explore the nature of the relationship stated. How close do you think that man and wife are if they don’t spend time together? Living together as man and wife is where the rubber meets the road. It requires each to defer personal preferences for the common good of the relationship. If you are not living together you don’t have to do that. You can continue to be how you want and not be challenged as to who you are now or who you hope to be in the future. In both cases church attendance and marriage, failing to be there creates a vulnerability for evil to exploit.

Corrie Ten Boom, Christian and Ravensbrück death camp survivor writes:

“When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.”

Be sure that evil will exploit your vulnerability. It is always slow and methodical. One step follows the other until you realize you are lost with no relationship to speak of except the fact you are married and/or a Christian. That is no relationship on either account.

Those statements while being true seem innocent but their practical application reveals an underlying sin problem. The same old one. We want to be God. We want to be in control. We want our cake and to eat it too. One example would be the couple who are “married” but their relationship is more like friends with “benefits” or the believer who lives how they want to everyday because they are “saved.” In both cases we might ask if there is any kind of relationship at all. The relationships lack any real intimacy. They also lack the blessing of intimacy.

I myself have at times wrestled with “why the church.” Church people can be so aggravating. Come to think of it so can spouses. You know I’m right. Why? Because they don’t act like I want them to. Did you see that? “Like I want” like I’m god or something. Come to think of it I don’t act like I want to often. An ongoing relationship with the church and a spouse can teach us to love people like they are, to love them in spite of their “problems,” just like Jesus loves. Ugh, I need my wife more than I thought and the church as God is using both to shape me into the image of Jesus here and there.

 

In HIS Service and Yours!

Bro G

Independence Day!

I love that movie. The alien invasion defeated by a rag tag air force made from a group of misfits’ led by the President. They use a stolen alien ship to insert a virus into the shield system of the alien armada so that the earth weapons can be effective. Another alien invasion movie War of the Worlds ended with the defeat of the alien force not because of any weapon system earth had to offer but because of a virus killing the aliens. In both instances it is the little unaccounted for entities that seal the victory.

July 4 is on the calendar in every country in the world yet we celebrate it because of the declaration of a principle of government that had never been tried. It worked and is still working. This country was founded on principles in the word of God. Principles of equality for all men, freedom from government religious oppression, representative legislatures and a fair judicial system to balance the power of the executive and legislative branches. We have taken great pride and comfort in that system and I might say justifiably so. However, recent events may have shaken some of that confidence.

It has been easy to live in a culture where Christianity is dominate. We have become so accustomed to it that we have begun to believe it is our right. If I’m an American I am a Christian. Many would disagree with me there from other belief systems but they are aware of the dominance. That assumption is like a virus. It has crept into our thinking so easily after all it is inherent in our nature.

Our nature is to want to be God. It started in the Garden of Eden and continues today. We know what’s right (remember high school). We know where we are going (plans of mice and men) We are in charge and control after all we are “Master of my fate: The captain of my soul” wrote William Earnest Henley at age 25 in his poem Invictus. With this foundation we often allow others or entities to take charge. We allow them authority over us. Israel to keep up with surrounding nations wanted a king other than God. God protested through Samuel and yet allowed them to choose Saul. Jesus addressed the danger of such an action 14 generations later.            

You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ. Matthew 23:8-10 The Message

We are so funny. We rail against authority. We war against control yet allow the virus of complacency to infect us so that others rule and reign in our lives. All the while we have it good. Independence is only found in dependence upon God. True independence was paid for at the cross by Christ alone for the whole world for all time.  We have no other King but Jesus and He brings independence through dependence on him. He alone is the only effective antibiotic to the virus of sin that infects us all. This Independence Day let’s celebrate our dependence on Him!    

   

In HIS Service and Yours!

Bro G