I’ve heard too many sermons filled with a certain degree of cynicism directed toward our tradition of New Year’s resolutions. Many remarks are made about the arbitrary nature of the New Year. But I can’t help but look at the turning of the calendar as yet another opportunity to seek refreshment and renewal in my life. It’s seems that as I get older (and there’s another arbitrary number for you), I see more opportunities for growth and for good in the secular holidays we observe, and I find myself feeling more and more distant from the attitudes I had toward them in the past. Sure, most resolutions are left unkept, but does that mean we shouldn’t try?

In the midst of one of his most sorrowful pieces, David writes in Psalm 51:7-13:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

David is confessing sin and pleading for forgiveness in these verses, recognizing how far he has fallen from God’s presence and begging for mercy. He calls for his spirit to be renewed, and he resolves to rededicate himself to following after and teaching God’s word. With renewal comes resolve. The two are inseparable. It only makes sense, then, as we reflect on the coming of a new year that we would want to resolve to better ourselves in some way. The question is one of meaningfulness. Can we resolve ourselves to be better in more than superficial ways? Can we have that same resolve David expresses in Psalm 51?

Romans 12:1-2 sees Paul also addressing renewal:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul says our minds are to be renewed, and that such a renewal will completely transform us as individuals. He also states that this renewal will be tested; it is not something that happens once and is finished. Our transformation and our resolve as followers of Christ will be continually strained, but we can remain perfect and acceptable in God’s eyes. There will be times that our resolve falters, and like David, we may fall away from God for a time, but the separation does not have to last. We can always pick ourselves up. We can always reach out to God for forgiveness. We can always seek renewal and refreshment from Him.

Whether or not you view New Year’s resolutions as a worthwhile activity, you can make every day a day where you resolve to be closer to Christ. Walking in His footsteps is an unending effort, but He is always there to help us. Our fellow Christians are always there to help us. So as we turn the page on another year, let’s all resolve to renew our spirits and to renew our efforts in His work. Drawing closer to Christ and reflecting His light in all you say and do is the best resolution you can make, and it’s a challenge you’ll spend every day of your life trying to keep. The world may look the same one year to the next, but my outlook on this life can change when I renew my spirit and resolve to draw closer to God.

That’s the world, though. It doesn’t have to define me, and it’s not really my place to look down my nose at others. Instead, I should be taking a good, hard look in the mirror and asking myself: what am I celebrating?

Self-Righteousness?

Growing up in the church of Christ, I’ve heard sermon after sermon condemning Christmas as a secular holiday unordained in the Scriptures. After all, the probability of Jesus being born in December is remarkably low. The only observance set forth in the New Testament is that of the Lord’s Supper, commemorating the death (not the birth) of Christ. I’ve heard the arguments that Christmas originated as a pagan holiday, leaving hollow the calls to restore, “The true meaning of Christmas.” I can recite ad nauseam every reason Christians should reject Christmas, and I even know a few Christians who do.

I once heard a brother say that we spend all year trying to get people to focus on Christ, and then we spend the one time of year that they are focusing on Him diverting attention from Him as much as possible. And it’s true. You’d have little problem finding preachers proclaiming the evils of Christmas from the pulpit during any given December. I’ve seen whole series on the topic. I wonder, though, who is actually benefitting from these lessons. I wonder whose minds are actually changed by these exercises in. Instead, I think these lessons merely serve to satisfy our own self-righteousness. “We’re not dumb enough to think Jesus was really born December 25.” I used to eat that stuff up, but now it just seems empty. I’m sure it has a place; I’m just not sure what that place is.

Unspoken Materialism?

We can quote the Sermon on the Mount and I John 2 as much as we like, but we have to admit that we Christians in the United States still tend to be pretty materialistic. We like our cars, our houses, our phones, our computers, our Internet access, our cable, our running water, etc. We take our stuff so for granted that I honestly think we fool ourselves into thinking we are being selfless when we drop off a couple cans of beans at the local food kitchen or when we donate some clothes we don’t want anymore to Goodwill. We feel we are going far when we drop a check in the collection plate equal to 1/100 of our annual income…because it’s from the heart.

I think we should enjoy our blessings – don’t get me wrong. But are we celebrating stuff during the holiday season? Do we get impatient or frustrated with incorrect or “missing” gifts? (Why did mom get me the black iPod touch when I clearly said I wanted the white one?) Do we get overly excited about the gifts we see and unwrap? Are we turning a season of thanksgiving into a season of thanksgetting? While we are busying ourselves with not celebrating Christ during a pagan Christmas, we should be careful that we are not merely observing a celebration of materialism in His place.

How About a Little Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Here’s where I am right now:

• While I understand Jesus was likely not born on December 25 and that the date formerly belonged to a pagan Roman holiday, I don’t really care. No one celebrating Christmas these days understands the significance of or the imagery surrounding Sol Invictus. The once pagan icons and symbols have taken on other meanings. Observing Christmas does not, by default, turn someone into an idolator by association.
• The stuff is not important. We should be taking this time to teach about self-sacrifice and giving of one’s self rather than participating in the culture of getting. We should be encouraging people to think on peace and kindness, mercy and forgiveness amid the themes prevalent during this season.
• Jesus is the best example of these teachings. Let’s stop trying to tear people’s thoughts away from Christ because we want to win some religious-political argument. Let’s take advantage of the season to show people what Christ was really about. Let’s use this time for teachable moments – not opportunities to prove our own intellectual self-righteousness.

For me, Christmas has become a serious Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8 issue. Some of my fellow Christians set aside time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Some refuse to acknowledge Christmas at all. I won’t judge either way, for I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas for me is a celebration of family – a celebration of the families into which I was born and later married as well as the family of believers into which I was baptized. And, if I’m celebrating my Christian family during this season, then I can’t help but be thankful that Christ came to this world, was born miraculously, lived a sinless life, and died so we can all become adopted sons and daughters of God.

Jesus us the reason I have a spiritual family to celebrate, so far be it from me to erase Him from that celebration. He is more than the reason for a given season. He is the reason we have hope. He is the reason we are a people, a chosen generation, a nation of priests. I’ll then take every opportunity I have to share Him with others, even if it means I need to put on a little Christmas spirit once a year.

All light takes time to travel. Even when you look up at the sun, what you see is what the sun looked like eight minutes ago. Even my talking to you is happening in the past. You are hearing and seeing everything I do after I do it. Nothing is truly simultaneous. We perceive nothing instantaneously. Even if the delay is imperceptible to our senses – for we have thoroughly adapted to the lag in which we live – it still exists. Every piece of stimuli in our environment has happened in the past, so we can’t help but live in the past.

Unfortunately, we probably spend too much time living in the past emotionally and spiritually. We still react to mistakes, stumbles, frustrations, and obstacles that should now be light years behind us are still clearly in our sights. Imagine if Paul had dwelled on the past. How crippled would he have been as a servant of Christ? Here was someone who had fought against Christianity, who had helped torture and kill Christians, who took pride in the harm he would inflict on Christians.

Here was his approach, though, in I Timothy 1:12-17:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Paul makes some similar statements in Philippians 3:7-11:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul recognized his past. He recognized how he got to where he was, but he didn’t live there. His past could not be escaped, but he put it light years behind him so he could focus on the future. It should be the same for every one of us. We all have our own baggage, our own issues, our own histories. But those pasts are not what define us any more than the reality of a star 18,000 light years away is governed by what we see from our perspective here on Earth.

Instead, we should be reaching for a future ahead of us, a hope that nothing else can offer us. That future should be our reality. It should be what defines us, and that should be what motivates us every day.

Unfortunately, many influences around us teach us ingratitude – whether we’re talking about marketers who want us to look for the Next Big Thing™ or personalities who will panic us about the failing dollar and how we should be investing in gold; whether it’s the one teaching us to hate those more fortunate than us or those who instill spitefulness in us toward those who rely on our generosity. We must put aside much if we are to truly live gratefully.

In Colossians 3:12-17, Paul writes:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The grateful life is one typified by humility, by kindness, by patience with others. It is a life that seeks after Christ’s teachings rather than that of man. It is a life of praise rather than a life of self-centeredness. Take a minute and think about all God has done for you. Most of the time, when we are feeling discontented, it comes down to money. Where is my money going? How can I get and keep more? Who deserves to receive my money? How much money will I have in the future? We grumble about the hopelessness of this world. Grateful living, however, sets that aside.

Jesus, in Matthew 6:31-33, reminds us:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God never promises us a fair life. He never promises us a luxurious life. He never even promises us an easy life, but, if we take a moment to count them, we’ll see our lives are full of blessings. If we can acknowledge that, we have to put aside anything that would make us live ungratefully in the face of those blessings. We have to stop worrying so much about secular matters. We have to stop worrying about who is and is not deserving of our mercy, for would any of us be saved if God demonstrated the same mercy we do? It’s easy to let worldly definitions of fairness and justice cloud our gratefulness, but we can rise above that.

Our God does so much for us, and He has given us a hope beyond anything this world can offer. Let’s resolve then, as we set aside time to reflect on all we should be thankful for, to live lives reflecting that hope and that gratitude. When others see us, they should see a people unaffected (or, at least, minimally affected) by the trials of this world. They should see a people reaching for something better, and that hope will be evident in our lives when we learn to live our gratitude day by day.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

We’re good at keeping away from the larger blemishes, the outright sins we are warned against from childhood. We are in little danger from conformity when it comes to sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence, theft, or other such obvious sins. The things we need to be most wary of are those little distractions in our daily lives that keep turning our attention off of God and back to this world. These are what prevent us from completely turning our thoughts over to praise and our steps to worship. These distractions leave tiny, almost unnoticeable, blemishes on us that keep us from being truly pure living sacrifices.

Philippians 3:12-16 records Paul speaking of his life as one that is pressing upwards toward a goal. He has focus and direction that helps guard him from distractions. Hebrews 12:1-2 says something similar, telling us to lay aside our burdens and encouraging us to keep our eyes set on the goal before us. It’s a fairly simple principle, whether you’re talking about finishing a race, completing a large project, or undertaking a long trip. You blank out as many distractions as you can and focus wholly and entirely on the goal – which is great until you find yourself playing games on Facebook while you’re supposed to be researching solar radiation for a big report. The principle is simple at face value. Putting it into practice is something else entirely.

There are realities of this world from which we cannot entirely hide – debt default, economic crisis, threats from hostile sources, health issues, challenges on the job, pressures at school, and many other cares of this world. Some are real and pressing. Others – like political arguments, conspiracy theories, personal soapboxes – are largely self-manufactured. The stresses and outward pressures outside our control will be there regardless of what I do, and the distractions I impose on myself speak to the priorities I hold dearer than my spiritual health.  The question is not one of my control over these factors. It is one of how much control I will let them have over me. If we’re fretting our time away, trying to take control of issues and decisions that are out of our hands, then we know we’ve given them too much control. We’ve become distracted.

That is yet another reason why time spent together worshipping God and studying from His word is so valuable to our sacrificial lives. That is another reason family Bible study is essential. It is another reason we should be checking everything we say, tweet, update, participate in, watch, read, or endorse against this simple metric: is it helping me reach my goal? Does it make me more spiritual or less spiritual? Is this party I want to attend, this radio talk show I listen to, this television program, this website, this argument, this anything helping me press toward the upward goal? If not, it’s sidetracking me and distracting me from where my focus should be. It’s leaving me blemished in God’s eyes. Let’s reaffirm our focus on God every day, and let’s allow nothing to distract us from worshipful living.

One of the best talks I think Steve Jobs ever gave was not a product announcement or a press conference. It was a commencement speech delivered at Stanford University in 2005.

It was a speech filled with frankness about his own mortality. He says:

Death is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life.

And:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

We tend to view this life as permanent. Even when we acknowledge our own mortality, we always see death as a very far away thing, but we must all realize that it is an appointment we will all one day keep. It is seldom expected. Rarely is it welcome. Still, it’s hard to listen to and read those words without thinking that Steve Jobs’ mortality was very much on his mind, convinced that he did, in fact, take his own future death very seriously.

James 4:13-15 tells us:

Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

And Peter very much had death on his mind when he penned the opening chapter to Philippians. Chapter 1:18-23:

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

This is the same person who, in Romans 14:8, wrote, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” When it comes to the big choices in our lives, we have to keep in mind that those choices are temporary but may have eternal consequences. If we die, we should hope to die in Christ, and, as long as we live, we should be living for Christ. We only have a short time on this world, and we all know it. Death is certain. When it may come is an unknown, but we are all under a time constraint. We all know our time is limited. We all know we have but one chance at this life. Let’s use it wisely.

Filed under: Christian Living, Fundamentals Tagged: death & dying ]]> http://simplygospel.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/the-single-best-invention-of-life/feed/ 0 simplyrobert http://simplygospel.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/knock-knock/ http://simplygospel.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/knock-knock/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:57:21 +0000 simplyrobert http://simplygospel.wordpress.com/?p=1589 Keep reading →]]> I saw this performance the other day:

As someone who teaches in a low income, urban setting, I can’t even begin to describe what this poem means to me. As someone who still thinks racism is alive and well, as someone who wants better for the next generation, as someone who sees the struggle Mr. Beaty describes unfold every day – words fail me. But I also started thinking about our own spiritual imprisonment and the freedom we have in Christ, so I thought I’d share those thoughts, at least.

One of the hardest things to overcome is the past. We sometimes joke about the Freudian tendency to blame everything on our childhood while we silently act on those lessons and influences of that childhood every day. We are who we were shaped to be, and it can be very difficult to break out of the mold in which we were cast as children. If we were raised in a house where terrible influences were prevalent, our homes will likely be similar. If we saw our parents in bad relationships, we will likely be in bad relationships. If we were in a house where yelling and abuse were prevalent, we may yell and abuse. It can be hard to leap out of those footprints left by our parents or whoever else raised us, and, no matter how hard we try to be individuals, we all have those realizations where we say to ourselves, “Oh my goodness, I am just like my dad (or mom).”

But, if our families were poor influences, we don’t have to suffer those same choices and consequences. We can choose to be better. We can choose to be different. Remember Ezekiel 18:5-18. (I’ve truncated the text below.)

If a man is righteous and does what is just and right…commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully — he is righteous; he shall surely live…

If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery…He shall not live. He has done all these abominations…

 Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise…obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live…

Yet, as hard as it is to leap free from the trenches dug by the footsteps of those before, harder still is it to escape from our own worn paths. We know, however, that we can. With Christ, it is possible, but it takes effort and dedication. When we convert to Him, we leave behind our former selves. “We may be our fathers’ sons and daughters,” Daniel Beaty proclaims, “but we are no their choices.” Likewise, we may have been one type of person in the past, but we are no longer defined by those values, those priorities, those choices. We are someone new. We have a fresh start. We have a chance to begin again.

Romans 12:1-2 says,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We see this transformation in effect with the church at Corinth in I Corinthians 6:9-11 (emphasis mine):

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

At some point, we have all been guilty of murdering Jesus on that cross with our sins. We have all been enclosed in the prison of our sins, isolated from our brothers and sisters, isolated from our God, alone and sad. Every day, Jesus comes into our prison, and he approaches that glass barrier separating Him from us. Knock knock, he says. Knock knock. Unlike the Daniel Beaty’s father, however, we can respond. We can allow Him to remove the barrier. We don’t have to live in isolation. We don’t have to remain a prisoner. We can seek pardon and forgiveness, but we have to make sure we haven’t built up security walls of pride and resentment that will indefinitely keep our Savior out.

Knock knock. Will you answer the call? Knock knock. Will you let Him into your heart and your life? Will you submit to His word? Our Savior is watching and waiting. He is always there, patiently knocking, patiently inviting, patiently waiting. But every one of us is on his or her own death row; we only have so long to respond, and we don’t know when the end will come. Won’t you respond to His invitation? Won’t you let Jesus take you out of prison? Won’t you free yourself from the worn paths of sin and worldliness. You have but to submit to His word and reach out to Him. He will tear down the walls of your prison. He will lift you from the beaten path. He will redeem. Knock knock.

We seem to be a species with short memories, but I’ve come to the conclusion that there is one standout exception. We have long memories when it comes to things that hurt us. I may not recall that my wife got me my favorite cupcakes on December 7, 2003, but I’ll sure remember that Preacher Joe said something from the pulpit that will make me never want to worship with him again. Also, I may quickly forget how I wronged someone ten years ago while their own faults pop into my mind whenever I think of them.

The same goes for events on a grander scale. Few probably know that September 11, 1940 was the first time in history a computer was operated remotely. That date in 1944 marked the first U.S. troops entering Germany. September 11, 1971 saw the signing of the first Egyptian constitution. San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit System opened September 11, 1972. The first East German refugees contained in Hungary were allowed to escape to West Germany on September 11, 1989. In fact, September 11 will be remembered in various places and by numerous people for several reasons – both good and bad – but those of us in the United States define it by one event.

In remembering the tragedy of September 11, 2001, we have borrowed the refrain used for decades in reference to the Holocaust: “Never forget.” It is a pain easily brought to mind for those of us who lived the events, but I fear we also honor the unsaid portion of the refrain. “Never forget. Never forgive.” What’s worse is that we find ways to justify our unforgiving attitudes by appealing to secular standards of justice, to patriotism, or by even misapplying scripture. We seek to have elephant-like memories about the pain in our lives, and we refuse forgiveness while holding to those hostile thoughts.

Forgiving to Be Forgiven

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus says:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

- Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus says similar things in Mark 11:20-25, and Jesus emphasizes the importance of forgiveness for forgiveness in Matthew 18:21-35. Here, Jesus makes His famous seventy-times-seven statement, and He follows this with a story of a servant who could not pay his debts to his master. The master forgives the debt, but the servant then goes to one who owes him a debt and has that person thrown into prison for not paying the debt. The master learns of this and turns his anger toward the servant he had once forgiven. The lesson to us is simple – if we expect forgiveness from God, we must first be willing to be forgiving. This includes those who hurt us, use us, and intend harm upon us.

We all know the things taught in Luke 6, but read them and consider how we must look at the events of September 11 with a Christian mindset.

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

 If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

- Luke 6:27-38

Forgetting for Forgiveness

We must forgive, and, if we do so, we have to be willing to put some things behind us. In a post about Jewish author/illustrator Rami Efal, Marc Sobel of The Comics Journal writes:

Returning to the graphic novel, Efal tells us on the back cover that the book’s title, “Never Forget, Never Forgive,” was a mantra he heard repeatedly by his parents, who are Holocaust survivors, while growing up in Israel. This attitude…is a viewpoint shared by many Jewish citizens in Israel, particularly those who were survivors themselves, or children raised by survivors. These men and women are, sadly, a generation poisoned by the war’s after-effects, unwilling to “forgive” the perpetrators of the atrocity, and unable to “forget” the memory of their extensive loss.

Later in the post, Rami Efal is quoted as saying:

If I perpetuate anger, violence, and confusion within me, then I perpetuate anger, violence and confusion in the universe, period. I am interested in leaping out of this cycle.

We have to ask ourselves what is more important to us: holding onto a pain that is dear to us – holding onto the anger, the animosity, the hatred – or letting go and embracing the perspective God expects from us.

Wisdom; Not Emotion

As painful events melt into the past, whether they are personal or collective, we can find opportunity to release the negative emotions that seized our minds and clouded our judgment when the events were fresh. There’s is no reason we should lament the fact that we are not as angry or impassioned about events that happened a decade or more ago. It gives us chance to allow wisdom to better inform our decisions and our feelings. If we can finally lay anger aside, if we can cease to let anger cloud our judgment, then we can fogive as God would have us forgive. In turn, we will be letting God’s forgiveness back into our own lives as well.

I can’t help but think of Jesus hanging on the cross, in excruciating pain, mocked by rulers and by His own countryman, left to die by those closest to Him, an innocent victim of an unjust and cruel system, the sacrifice to a bloodthirsty crowd. At a moment when any of us would have longed for vengeance, would have felt justified hoping for the deaths and condemnations of those inflicting such pain, Jesus calls for their forgiveness. His love overrides animosity. His wisdom drives out vindictiveness. He forgives when forgiveness seems impossible.

We have to be able to forgive, even those who we feel have hurt us the most, even those we feel would never repent of their actions, even those who set themselves at enmity with us. Returning to the words of Rami Efal, very reminiscent of that sermon by Jesus recorded in Luke 6:

Whom will one forgive if not one’s enemies?

Hebrews 12:1-2 give us some instructions on beginning that journey:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Too often, I defeat myself at the beginning of some task because I refuse to clear my proverbial plate of other distractions. I want to get this assignment done, but, in the meantime, I’m trying to juggle other deadlines. I know that if I would just lay aside everything else, and focus on my work one task at a time, I’d be getting somewhere. Likewise, we can’t run a spiritual race while being pulled in other directions by the world. We have to begin by setting aside all else and focusing solely on the cross.

Paul describes the process of this journey in Philippians 3:12-14:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes I think I’ve done all I need to do on a project only to find out I’m far from finished. Then I just want to give up. I thought I was done, but I’m not. I thought I had planned well, but I hadn’t. Our Christian journey is a lifelong commitment, and we have to undertake it knowing we will never finish it during our lifetime. There is no point at which I’ve arrived at perfection. We have to be willing to continuously press toward the goal of spiritual completion and the promise of a rest to come.

Finally, Paul expresses the peace of knowing he is close to finishing his journey in II Timothy 4:7-8:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

I’m quite terrible at beginning what I started, but our Christian walk is worth seeing through to the end. It’s the greatest undertaking we will ever endure, and it offers greater rewards than anything we can pursue in this world. It’s a challenging journey, but it’s far from impossible. We just have to lay aside distraction, keep our eyes on the prize, and endure to the end. We are promised so much in the next life, and the efforts we put forward and the sacrifices we make in this life will seem insignificant in comparison to an eternity with the Father. Let’s help each other finish this race we’ve begun.

Galatians 6:10 is a verse I revisit time and again in my spiritual studies:

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

I used to teach from this that we should make it a goal to improve someone’s day every day. I’ve changed my mind, though. I don’t think we should be making someone’s day better everyday. I think we should try to make everyone’s day better – well, at least everyone with whom we come in contact. There is not one person we run into who shouldn’t come away from the exchange feeling better about their day, whether that person be a close friend or a telemarketer.

• Did they mess up your order at dinner, or forget to refill your drink? Then you’re the most gracious person to correct an order all day.
• Did they mess up your name during a telemarketing call that interrupted dinner? Then you are still the most polite person they speak to that day.
• Did they tap your bumper at a stoplight? Then you deal with the issue with the most patience they’ve seen all day.
• Did their child run headlong into you while tearing around the grocery store? Then do the unexpected and avoid making a big deal out of it.
• Did the drive-thru operator stumble through speaking English? Then you patiently repeat yourself if need be (without raising your voice), or be complimentary of their efforts.

The world expects nastiness. They expect impatience. They expect callousness. They expect rudeness. They expect to be berated for every minor offense they happen to commit. We should not be that way. We should be the unexpectedly merciful, kind, patient, loving, and understanding. That loving attitude will separate us from the world and draw a distinction between us and everyone else. If we act like the world, what’s to motivate anyone to look to any of us for spiritual guidance or answers? It’s tough to make everyone’s day a little better, but it’s worth it.

We’ve been studying about worship the last few weeks at our congregation, and we’ve emphasized time and again that worship is more than what we do when we gather together with our congregation. It’s more than singing songs, mouthing prayers, listening to lessons, and partaking of the Lord’s Supper – even when we do these things in complete truth and with a sincere heart. Worshipping God is something we do in how we conduct ourselves everywhere. Hebrews 13:15-16 and Romans 12:1-2 both call on us to be living sacrifices, reflecting God in our lives. In this lesson, we’re going to look at the school community and how we worship God in our conduct both as students and as parents.

The Power of Example

The most powerful tool of worship we have as students is that of our example. We’re familiar with I Timothy 4:12 that tells us to be an example in speech, in love, in conduct, in faith, and in purity. We also know Ecclesiastes 12:1, reminding us to serve our Creator in the days of our youth. What do others see in you at school? What kind of example are you setting in front of your peers, your teachers, the custodians, instructional assistants, and anyone else with whom you interact? Does your speech, your attitude, your online conduct, your choices, your work ethic cause them to despise or respect your youth?

I Thessalonians 4:1-2 is an admonition that we know how we should be living. The fact is we just have to do it, and this includes at school. Unfortunately, parents, this applies to us too. We adults have to ask ourselves what our child’s peers see in us. Do they see parents who conduct themselves in a Christlike way? Do they see a family that puts spiritual matters before physical? Would they guess your spiritual affiliation by the conduct they see when you are at a school game, picking up or dropping off your child, when they visit your home? What do the teachers of that school see in you? The example you set will greatly inform the example your child is able to set themselves.

The Power of Choice

Right up there with the power of our example is the power of the choices we make as students and parents. My wife, when she was young, had a sign posted to her bedroom door that read, “I am the most powerful person in my life.” It served as reminder to her that she had the final say in what she let herself get drawn into. It reminded her that no friend – casual or romantic – could control her. It reminded her that no one makes her do anything, nor could any troubling external factor take control of her life.

As students, we choose who we hang out with, and I Corinthians 15:33 simply states that bad companions will drag us down. Yes, we might believe we can change someone, that we can be the example they need, but we also have to realize when the burden is becoming too heavy to bear. II Corinthians 6:14 warns against being unequally yoked with unbelievers. If our companions are dragging us away from Christ, despite our best efforts, maybe it’s time to choose different friends. Still, We can’t always choose who we’re going to be around because our classes are set by others. The teams, clubs, and arts we choose will dictate who we are around a great deal of time, but that again comes down to choice.

Coming back to parents, we need to be involved enough with our kids’ lives that we can see when something is bringing them down or influencing them in a bad way. We need to have such a relationship with our children that we can talk about such things with them and be able to offer advice and guidance. At times, we have to be able to nudge them to reach the right conclusions themselves, and we need the wisdom to know when our kids need to handle something themselves before we exert our influence. We would all do well to remember I Corinthians 10:12-13 that assures us we can overcome any struggle or temptation or discouragement laid before us. It comes down to the choices we make.

Worship in Practical Conduct

Students

• What is your work ethic at school? How do you act when in a class you don’t want to take? Do you, as Paul instructs Ephesians 6:5-7, work as if you are serving God?
• How do you treat those you don’t like? How do you treat teachers you don’t like? Do you participate in making fun of others when your friends get going?
• How do you respond to those who are mean to you, teacher or student? Matthew 5:38-48 teaches we should never return evil for evil.
• What activities and social events are you participating in? Parties where you know there will be drinking? Dances where you know you’ll feel pressured to conduct yourself in an improper way? Clubs that will perpetually take away time you should be devoting to God?

I’m not saying here that you can only have friends who are Christians. I’m not saying you are eternally lost for attending prom. I’m not saying you can’t be in band, orchestra, on the football team, in theater. What I’m saying is this, though: be careful that your choices do not make your spiritual walk unnecessarily difficult, and always remember that God comes first in your extracurriculars. There is always a way to do the right thing.

Parents

• How do we conduct ourselves around our kids’ teachers? Do they see us arguing with or undermining those teachers? How do you think that will affect their effort and behavior in class?
• Do our kids hear us badmouthing their school and their teachers at home? Again, how will this affect their attitude at school if they see a bad attitude from us?
• Do we accidentally send messages to our children that we don’t value an education by letting them miss school for reasons of convenience – maybe for vacations or other things we don’t want to schedule for personal time? If your kids see you don’t value their education, how much will they value it?
• On the other hand, do we send a message that we don’t value God because we let every practice, concert, school event, program, or big assignment take priority over worshipping God and studying from His word with our brothers and sisters?
• Are we familiar with the friends our children choose and the activities in which they participate? Do we take the time to discuss the challenges they face?

I think the biggest challenges we face as parents are those raised by our inherent protectiveness. I’ve had parents call me up, call me names, use foul language, and then end the conversation with, “Have a blessed day.” We also have to realize that we are only ever getting one side of those stories that trigger our protective instincts, and, whether they intend to do so or not, our children’s versions of events are biased for themselves. We have to be calm and Christlike in the face of school challenges, and we have to show we value their education as much as we want them to value it.

Conclusion

By the time you graduate from your senior year in high school, you will have spent at least 15,120 hours at school – that is, if you don’t start until first grade and never participate in any extracurricular events ever and your school day is only seven hours. We will come in contact with hundreds, if not thousands, of individual souls during that timespan, and every one of those souls we have a chance to bring closer to Christ. If we choose to walk in Christ’s footsteps, even if we would rather do things that would take us away from Him, and even when we are around people we don’t like, then we can worship God through our conduct in our school communities.

Let’s try to be humble, rational people; truth needs no help from mockery and laughter in its defense (even if we are surrounded by those who agree with us that an opposing viewpoint is false)…Mockery says, ‘I am better’…and what better way is there to cloud judgment than to be prideful?

I remember that a congregation I once attended offered a World Religions class during Bible Study time. The teacher, I think, did a fine job trying to teach us about other belief systems as respectfully as he could while comparing and contrasting those systems to the Bible. Many of the class members, however, were far from respectful. Every class, people would make jokes about aspects of another faith they thought was silly, and all I could think was, “I hope we have no visitors who believe that.”

We do the same when it comes to Intelligent Design versus the Big Bang and evolution and a million other differences between you, me, and others. The fact is, we ridicule other peoples’ seemingly outlandish beliefs so we feel better about our own leaps of faith. We are building ourselves up by tearing others down. We might call it “all in good fun,” or “just a joke.” In my line of work, we call it bullying, and I don’t appreciate it in my classroom. I appreciate it even less when other Christians are engaged in it, or, even worse, I find myself roped into it.

Think of the Samaritan by the well in John 4. When she started asking about details of worship, Jesus doesn’t ridicule her for following different traditions than His culture. Instead, He points her mind away from physical matters and toward spiritual matters. In Acts 17, when Paul visits Athens, he doesn’t make fun of them for all of the gods they worship. Instead, he finds common ground in their religious practices to begin teaching them about the Christ. Even when Jesus is harsh with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, he doesn’t stoop to mocking them while pointing out their hypocrisies.

It’s easy to mock. It’s easy to make someone else’s beliefs sound ridiculous. For example, I once saw Christianity explained thusly:

The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil source from your soul that is present because a talking snake convinced a rib-woman to eat from a magical tree.

How do you feel about that description? Does it amuse you? Does it make you angry? Do you want to sit down with the author and explain your views in a less ridiculous way? Does it make you care about their perspective or resistant to it? Now how do you think ridiculing the beliefs and convictions of others does any good for the cause of Christ? It doesn’t. It just makes us look bad.

Let’s remember that we are to watch our tongues (James 3) and that we should be striving to – that is putting a great deal of effort into – living peaceably with those around us (Romans 12:18). Let us put away ridicule and mockery and seek more open and honest dialogue with those around us.

In 1942, the population of the United States was still reeling from the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 that led to our country becoming more active in World War II. In 1942, the Wannsee Conference in Berlin concluded to pursue a “final solution” to the perceived “Jewish question.” In 1942, the war that had already been ravaging much of Europe suddenly seemed much closer to home. Schools practiced bomb drills. The idea of an air raid became reality. Gasoline rationing began in the United States. And, in the midst of all of this, a composer by the name of Robert Emmett Winsett published the well-known hymn “Jesus Is Coming Soon.”

I’m not personally fond of the song being used in worship because of its strong pre-millennial overtones in verse two:

Love of so many cold, losing their homes of gold,

This in God’s word is told, evil’s abound.

When these signs come to pass, nearing the end at last,

It will come very fast, trumpets will sound.

In fact, I suspect (though cannot conform it) that Winsett was one of many Christians who believed that World War II was a sign of the end times, and that the war would only end with Christ’s return. This is one of those hymns that is strongly influenced by the culture in which it was written – much like you can pretty reliably spot songs written around the time of the Great Depression – and that cultural influence is evident from the first couple lines of the song.

Troublesome times are here, filling men’s hearts with fear,

Freedom we all hold dear, now is at stake…

Last time this song was led at our congregation, I found myself wondering what freedom the composer was writing about. Galatians 5:1 tells us to hold onto our spiritual freedom and to avoid the yoke of slavery, but, continuing through that passage, it’s clear that the slavery Paul has in mind is one that enslaves the heart and mind. It is a slavery that we can only enter if we willingly walk into it – either by binding unscriptural traditions to the gospel of Christ or by returning to slavery in sin. Along these same lines, Peter draws a contrast between those who are free and those who are slaves of corruption. Finally, Both Paul and Peter – in Galatians 5:13 and I Peter 2:16, respectively – warn us against using our freedom in Christ irresponsibly, causing others to stumble.

In all of this, there is no hint that external forces can come and rob this freedom in Christ from us. In fact, Paul asserts his confidence that nothing can separate us from God’s love (and, by association, the freedom found in Him) in Romans 8:37-39:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The freedom we have in Christ can never be at stake unless we put it at risk ourselves, through our own rejection of His teachings. It seems, like many of us, that Mr. Winsett is making the error of placing the secular freedoms we take for granted on the same level with the spiritual freedom we have in Christ. We feel a deep attachment to our freedom of speech, to our right to protest, to our freedom of religion, to our fiscal freedoms, even (for some reason) to our right to carry tools of violence. We feel the rights granted to us by our Constitution and Bill of Rights are granted to us by God Himself, and we revere them as penitently as we do our freedom in Christ.

Our secular rights and freedoms are not unalienable in God’s eyes. We should be grateful that we have them, for, with them, our mission of seeking and saving the lost is far easier than if we were living in a more oppressive culture. We must remember, however, that losing those freedoms could never change our relationship with our God. Only we can do that. We must not idolize our freedoms, nor can we afford to re-enter spiritual slavery under the pretense of preserving or upholding those secular freedoms. While it is appropriate to be thankful for these freedoms, and we may even feel a need to celebrate those freedoms and the individuals who helped lay their foundation, we must remember that the only freedom we should truly hold dear is the freedom from sin found in Christ.

And that is a freedom no one can take away.

And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. “And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.”

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!”

And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”

- Luke 15:21-32

When we read the story of the prodigal son, we may see ourselves in either of the sons’ shoes. We may know of the sorrow associated with separating ourselves from God, or we might now the self-righteousness of the faithful son. One abandoned his father, and the other remained loyal. Yet both wronged their father. The prodigal’s sin is evident – wasting an inheritance, immoral living, outright defiance of his father’s expectations. The second son’s sin is much more subtle – that of jealosy and hatred toward his brother and, in turn, an unloving attitude toward the father he accuses of being unjust.

See how the father deals with both, though. He celebrates the return of his lost son. Despite the weeks or months of rebellion, he rejoices to see that son return. Great challenges will await the family as they strive to reknit relationships. The son’s return may even create some financial burdens, some additional sacrifices on the part of the father, but he is still glad to see the boy. His love and concern for his lost son – and his joy over that son’s restoration – outweighs anything else.

Look at the father’s conversation with the older son, the one who grows bitter and resentful over the attention showered upon his returning brother. Does the father rebuke him for his attitude? Does the father make a point of his ingratitude, his misplaced priorities, his almost whining appeal for a party of his own? On the contrary, the father commends his older son for his years of faithfulness; he rassures the son of the confidence he has in the older boy. He takes a discouraging situation and turns it into opportunity for edification.

In all of this, the father loves his sons equally and without reserve, regardless of the good or bad choices in their past. What matters is that they are faithful now. And this is the same mercy and forgiveness our Heavenly Father gives to us. If pride and self-righteousness have overtaken us and have caused us to be filled with bitterness and animosity, He can lift us up. If we have wasted a portion of our lives, He can wash us clean and help us leave all of that behind us. He is forgiving beyond measure. He is a Father whose love never runs out.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

- I John 1:9

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

-Romans 8:14-17

I’m going to let you in on a secret. My wife and I were almost adoptive parents until we were blessed with our daughter last year. We had all but given up on having children of our own, so we were starting to look into adoption options shortly before we discovered we were pregnant. One friend was even encouraging us to investigate foster-to-adoption programs, herself having fostered several children prior to having her own daughter. The thought was both daunting and humbling, and we found we had to get our hearts into a certain place before we could seriously pursue the option.

In adopting a child, you are taking one who is not your own and investing in them as if they were. You are giving of your time and resources to provide for one given up by another. You are giving the gifts of love and family to one without those things. It is a great sacrifice. The risks and the unknowns involved can be overwhelming, and it is a leap of love relatively few people are willing to take.

This, however, is what God has done for us. He has brought us in from the cold and loneliness of sin. He makes us joint heirs of His promises. He reaches out to all of us who have willingly separated ourselves because of our sin. He restores us, and He provides of us. So on this day where we honor our earthly fathers, let’s not forget our heavenly Father, who has adopted us out of darkness and who has provided an eternal home for us at His side.

What can separate us from our relationship with God? Immediately, most Christians would say, “Nothing,” and go on to cite passages like Romans 8:35-39, where Paul addresses persecuted Christians thusly:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We quote this. We’ll testify that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, but do we really believe that? Do our lives – our attitudes and our conduct – betray otherwise? Does our fear of the things in this world lead us to act like we actually are concerned that those things Paul writes about really could separate us from God’s love?

We look around, and we see several things to fear – some are worthy while others are things we are taught and conditioned to fear by those who seek to benefit from our fears. We’re taught to fear the scary secular progressives who supposedly want to take our right to worship away. We’re taught to fear the scary Muslims who supposedly want to kill us all. We’re taught to fear scary authority figures who supposedly want to take all of our money. We’re taught to fear the scary New World Order that’s supposed to do…something scary. We’re taught to fear the scary immigrants who are supposedly up to something equally as scary. All of this is exacerbated by a fear-driven media we hungrily consume while forgetting the peace we should have in Christ. For, if we live in fear, we have no hope; we have no peace.

Fear in God’s Word

God repeatedly calls upon His people to “Al Tirah” several times in the Old Testament. That is, to “Fear not.” He does this over a hundred times. Some examples of God or one of His messengers telling His people not to fear include Genesis 15:1, Genesis 26:24, Genesis 50:19, Exodus 20:20, Deuteronomy 1:21, Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 8:1, Judges 6:10, I Samuel 12:20, Isaiah 41:13-14, and Daniel 10:12. The list could go on and on. As consistent as the message to “Be holy as I am holy” is this theme of God’s people trusting in Him and avoiding submission to base fears.

Fast forward to the New Testament, and we see Jesus and His disciples playing a similar tune about fear.

• In Luke 12:4, Jesus says: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.”
• Luke 12:32: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
• Paul, in Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”
• II Timothy 1:7: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
• Hebrews 13:6: “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
• I Peter 3:14: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.”
• I John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
• Revelation 2:10, regarding coming persecutions: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Defined By Fear or Faith?

Again, this list could go on. This is not to say we will never experience fear. Even Paul admits to being afraid at times in II Corinthians 7:5. Rather, this is about what defines us. Despite his fears, Paul still lived a Christian life. He still spread the word. He did not let fear define his attitudes, actions, and outlooks. When we succumb to the fear-mongering marketed by cable news networks, by talk radio jocks, by political figures, then we are allowing un-Christlike influences into our hearts and minds. We become centered around secular concerns, and we begin behaving like Christ never took us from this world at all.

What are we allowing ourselves to be frightened by anyway? Revocation of our freedom of religion? How could we possibly have it worse than those First Century Christians? Last I checked, I haven’t been too worried about being used as a human torch or as lion food. If they could persevere under such religious persecution, surely we could do no worse if we are truly dedicated to God. Do we fear those who can take our money? Since when do Christians care about their treasures on Earth? Money can’t buy salvation. Do we fear those who may kill us? Again, Jesus said not to, for they can’t claim our souls. In the vast majority of cases, what we are taught to fear centers purely around our comforts and conveniences. We fear that being a Christian might one day be truly difficult. That true spiritual living is hard is the point of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 10:34-39.

Put even more simply, if Christ could face the cross, we can face anything this life throws at us. We don’t have to let fear rule us.

A Personal Addendum

Now I’ve been criticized of being “naive,” “shallow,” “short-sighted,” “stupid,” “ignorant,” and a bunch of other things that basically amount to, “You contradict my favorite talking head,” because of this view. The argument usually descends to something like this: “Well, your mom had cancer, so you should know better than to discount small things that can lead to greater disasters,” or something like that. First, leave my mom out of this. Second, I HAD CANCER TOO, so, you know, you could go there. It would make more sense. It wouldn’t sway me (because such arguments are complete non sequiturs), but it would still almost be more compelling…if it wasn’t so non-compelling.

Cancer may have threatened my life, but it could not threaten my soul. It may have inexorably separated me from an internal organ, but it could not separate me from Christ. It may have made me physically weak, but it could not touch my strength in the Lord. Cancer may have reinforced my mortality, but it could not steal my immortality. Yes, it was difficult at the time, but my refuge in God was stronger. Likewise, no terrorist, political ideology, financial burden, or outside threat can take our hope in Christ. When we let those things insinuate themselves into our being we cease living as those with a hope in Christ, and we become no better than those who refused to enter the Promised Land in Numbers 13 because the inhabitants were big and scary.

Conclusion

We sometimes sing that our God is “Mighty to Save.” Do we really believe He is mighty and can protect us in the refuge of His love? We might be afraid at times, but, if we truly believe in His power and love, if we do truly believe He is mighty to save, we do not have to live in fear.

When news of wars and terrorism assail us, Al Tirah – fear not.

When natural disasters strike, Al Tirah – fear not.

When disease threatens our health and our families, Al Tirah – fear not.

When crime and violence touch our neighborhoods, Al Tirah – fear not.

When markets tumble, and banks collapse, Al Tirah – fear not.

When society seems destabilized and our lives seem chaotic, Al Tirah – fear not.

When our bank balances are low and the pantries are bare, Al Tirah – fear not.

When godlessness and immorality prevail in every corner, Al Tirah – fear not.

With that in our minds, let’s end where we began this lesson:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

- Romans 8:37-39

I guess something needs to be cleared up first, though. What do I mean by “throwing people away?” It’s simple. Someone says, or does, or condones, or writes something we don’t like, and that’s it. Suddenly, that person is trash. They are anathema. It may be something they said in a planning meeting; it may be a comment they made in Bible class; it may be a political view they have; it may just be that they had the audacity to disagree and hurt our feelings. Whatever it is, we hold onto that event like a precious treasure, and we then cut that person out of our lives.

We effectively throw people away for the various petty reasons we have, and it has to stop. People see these behaviors among us, and they don’t see a people of peace. They don’t see a nation of priests. No, they see Pharisees. They see fools. They see a people of hate and resentment, and who would want anything to do with that? What do we do to ourselves? When we start throwing people away, we start throwing away the divine. We remove the Prince of Peace and Mercy from our lives and instead enthrone an idol of bitterness and hatred – an idol that is much harder to serve than our Lord of forgiveness.

Disposable Individuals of the New Testament

There are a few people in the New Testament about whom I have to wonder: if they did these things to any of us, would we toss them aside?

John Mark. In Acts 13:13, we see John Mark abandon during the first of Paul’s missionary journeys. We aren’t really given a reason, but we can see Paul is still upset about it in Acts 15:37-39, even to the point of parting ways with Barnabas. That could have been the end of the story. We could look at that and feel justified in our eternal feuds, but that’s not the end. Some time later, in II Timothy 4:11, Paul calls this same deserter “useful to me for ministry.” We might have disposed of John Mark as “weak,” as “spineless,” or as “useless,” but Paul found the time to restore their relationship and gained an encourager in Christ.

Peter. We could look at a few events in Peter’s life where you or I might have given up on him, but my mind returns time and again to Jesus’ conversation with him after those terrible denials. We know the story of Mark 14:66-72, how Peter denies Christ time and again in the temple courtyard, even to the point of cursing and swearing. When Jesus restores Peter, in John 21:15-19, Jesus doesn’t demand an apology. He doesn’t wait for Peter to make the first move. He simply reaches out to one that we might have considered a backstabber and heals their relationship and Peter’s faith.

Onesimus. Onesimus, in the book of Philemon, is one we might not even realize we would dismiss, but consider this: Onesimus was an “illegal.” He was on the run from his master; he was not a true Roman citizen; he was a law-breaker; he deserved imprisonment and perhaps worse. In verses 8-16, Paul reveals to Philemon that Onesimus is now a brother in Christ and encourages him to treat the slave accordingly. Here’s what he didn’t do: he didn’t send Onesimus packing. Paul didn’t write Onesimus off because of his secular citizenship. He was more concerned with the slave’s spiritual citizenship. Where we might have turned Onesimus over to the first Roman guard we saw, Paul, instead, turned him to the love of Christ.

Whether we’re talking about wanting to throw someone aside because of their history, or if we’re wiling to toss them aside because of some way we feel they affronted us, that’s not the conduct we see reflected in the lives of Christ and His apostles. My friend Derek once told me that we tend to judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge others only by the consequences of their actions. Let’s think about showing others the same amount of mercy we show ourselves.

Setting Down the Weight

The problem is, when we look at people, sometimes we have a great deal of access baggage we are carrying around that we blame on them. We call these grudges. And these grudges needlessly weigh us down. There’s an old Zen proverb that illustrates this burden:

One day two traveling monks reached a town and saw a young woman waiting to step out of her sedan chair. There were deep, muddy puddles and she couldn’t step across without getting mud on her silk robes. She impatiently scolded her attendants, who were burdened with heavy packages.

The younger monk walked by the young woman without speaking. But the older monk stopped and picked her up on his back, carrying her across the mud. Not only did she not thank the monk, she shoved him out of her way when he put her down and scurried by him haughtily.

As the two monks continued on their way, the younger monk was brooding. After a long time, he finally spoke out. “That woman was so rude but you picked her up and carried her! She didn’t even thank you.”

“I set the woman down hours ago,” the older monk responded. “Why are you still carrying her?”

That’s what it comes down to, then, doesn’t it? We throw people away because we can’t unburden ourselves of the weight of our own grudges. We choose to bear the weight of our anger rather than the weight of friendship.

We put our strength and our efforts into holding onto our grudges rather than humbly letting them go. In Matthew 18:22, Jesus tells Peter (and later demonstrates) the innumerable times we must be willing to forgive. Colossians 3:12-14 calls on us to put on love, compassion, kindness, patience, and forgiveness. Finally, Hebrews 12:1-2 admonishes us to lay down those weights that slow down our run of faith. Jesus and His followers were able to lay aside the weight of grudges to pursue and share the hope within them. Why are we still carrying them?

Again, Perspective

Again, it comes down to what we see when we look at others. If we look at each other the way God looks at us, we won’t see each other as disposable commodities to be casually thrown away when suddenly inconvenient. Matthew 18:1-4 calls us to become as little children if we are to be of His kingdom. Romans 8:15-17 calls us adopted children of the Father, and I John 3:2 again says we are now God’s children, waiting to see Him in His glory.

If God sees us as His little children, we should see the same in each other. How easily do you stay angry at a small child? Against which children do you harbor long-lasting grudges? Are there any children you seek to cut out of your lives, that you give dirty looks to, that you assume the worst of the moment they enter the room? Of course you don’t because that would make you a pretty terrible person, don’t you agree? Wouldn’t you be a sad case if you couldn’t get over the fact that a five-year-old clumsily broke a vase in your home? What kind of person would you be to hold that over their head for the next several years, even if the break was the result of carelessness or malice? Yet, this is how we treat each other. Just like that younger monk, we can’t seem to lay aside the burden of our indignation, and we let those burdens weaken us. Gandhi said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

Galatians 5:13-15 warns us against biting and devouring one another. We have many euphemisms for this: we say we are “calling it like it is;” we may feel someone needs to be “put in their place” or “taught a lesson;” we may say that we are “saying what needs to be said;” but all we’re doing is consuming each other in fits of temper. We also consume one another when we bear grudges instead of bearing each other’s burdens. We devour relationships. We decide our personal feelings are more important than a person’s soul. This must not be. Once we see each other the way God sees us, we have no choice but to tear down our idols of bitterness, indignation, and self-justification. We have no reason to carry around the weight of grudges and resentment. Once we unburden ourselves of these, we will have the strength to carry one another’s loads and to bear each other up in love and mercy, and we will finally stop throwing people away.

But I won’t be joining the festivities, and I would discourage anyone wearing the name of Christ from celebrating the death of this man.

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.

- Ezekiel 18:32

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles…

- Proverbs 24:17

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

- II Peter 3:9

God’s nation of priests is not a bloodthirsty people. It is not a vengeful people. It is not a murderous people. Yes, Osama bin Laden did wrong in this life. He caused pain to many. He reaped violence as he sowed violence, but Christ died for him as much as He died for me. I, in turn, am no more worthy of God’s mercy than was Osama bin Laden.

Christ died for the sinful, for the outcast, for the unworthy. While He lived, Jesus sat to eat with sinners of many varieties. I truly believe God is saddened at the loss of bin Laden’s soul as He would be with any other soul lost to our true enemy, and I can no more rejoice over this death than I could rejoice over the death of a loved one. While I admit to a certain carnal sense of finality, there is no joy where no hope is found. Therefore, instead of lifting up our voices in joy over the death of a lost soul, let’s instead work to lift each other up to the standard Christ set for us in His life and ministry.

Awareness is an incredibly important step in overcoming any great challenge or problem. Twelve step programs for overcoming major life obstacles often begin with awareness – the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. The apostle Paul might word it this way:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

- Romans 12:3

The challenge comes with moving beyond awareness into meaningful action. I can be perfectly aware of a cholesterol problem while I go ahead and order a plate of cheese fries at Outback. I can be perfectly aware of the speed limit while I cruise 15 – 20 mph over it. I can be aware of a suspicious mass while refusing to go to see a doctor. I can be aware of a deadline while procrastinating my way past it. When giving a recent talk about autism awareness at a nearby elementary school, I worded it this way:

Let your awareness take you to new heights as a teacher, for awareness is nothing if it does not motivate us to discover more and do more for the sake of the children we help raise every day.

The same is true of the sin in our lives. We can be aware of the moral challenges we face day in and day out. We can admit to anger issues, problems with porn, bad language or hateful speech, issues with lying, worldly conduct, spiteful attitudes, or long-held grudges; but none of those confessions, none of that awareness, is worth a thing of we continue in those immoral attitudes and behaviors. Remember the words of James:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

- James 1:22-25

We can be aware of the changes God requires in our lives, but that is not enough. My plea to you is this: rise above simple awareness; reach beyond basic acknowledgement. Examine your life. Walk circumspectly, and allow that awareness to push you to new heights as a Christian. Be more than aware of the standard Christ set for us; strive to meet that standard. Yes, the first step to overcoming the challenge of sin in our lives is awareness. We have to admit we have a problem. The next step is to actually do something about it. Be more than aware. Press on to perfection.

Unfortunately, people actually see these things we post and share – but we forget that those things reflect on us as Christians. See, along with this great ability to share ideas and knowledge across the globe comes a false sense of anonymity. We aren’t talking directly to someone. We don’t see how our words and our comments affect others, so we grow bold in the things we share or approve of online.

For Christians, one of the more problematic pieces of the social web has been the Facebook “Like” button. If you are unfamiliar with this, the “Like” button simply allows you to add your approval to a status update, a link, a group, or an organization. It is exactly what it looks like – a thumb’s up. Here are some items I’ve seen Christians “Like.” (Some of these are mildly censored for posting here.)

• “If you’re going to burn my American flag, kindly wrap yourself in it first!” (Facebook Group)
• “Sh****t, look who’s online…LOG OUT LOG OUT LOG OUT…”Hey whats up?”…d**n.” (Status)
• “I’m not a b**ch, i just have a low tollerence for bulls**t.” (Status)
• “YOU came to OUR country. YOU learn OUR language!” (Facebook Group)

This list could go on and on. Do we forget that the things we post online reflect our hearts? What we write and what we “Like” are things we might as well be saying, and the scriptures have much to say about what proceeds from our mouths. Do we forget verses like Matthew 12:36 when we go online?

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

What about Matthew 5:22?

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire.

How about Ephesians 4:29?

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Finally, consider James 3:

Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness…It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so…

We could continue with scriptures about our Christian attitudes, about patience and longsuffering with others, about not letting the conflicts and struggles of this world interfere with out service to Christ, about meditating only on good and pure things, about how Christ should be reflected in every area of our conduct. We know these verses; we just fail to apply them online. This, therefore is my challenge to you; this is my entreaty; this is my plea – look at how you conduct yourself online, and ask yourself if anyone would even know you were a Christian based upon that conduct, your updates, and your “Likes.”

I want to close out with a couple of thoughts. First, I Timothy 5:22 warns us against being hasty to “lay  hands” upon another, lest we be caught up in their sinful actions or attitudes. Should this not apply to the links and individuals we show support to online? Second, my wife once asked me what a person on Facebook did for a living. I answered that he was a preacher, and she was shocked by that, for she had seen no evidence of that side of him based on his online activity. Would some of our Facebook friends be equally surprised that we are Christians? They may well know our political views. They may know the music, books, and television shows we like. They may know how we feel about this celebrity or that. They may know much about our dirty laundry, but do they see Christ living in us?

There is so much potential to do good online. There are so many opportunities to positively affect others, to share God’s word, to encourage and exhort one another. Let’s not squander those opportunities. Let’s honestly assess ourselves and ask, “What would Jesus ‘Like?’”