Month: August 2016

I saw something today I don’t understand.  Maybe someone can help me on this.  I saw a house with solar panels covering the entirety of a roof.  What puzzled me was the house was densely shaded on all sides by very large trees.  How effective are those panels? 
 
I thought of someone trying to be a Christian while continuing to feed on media not only projecting popular secularism but in many cases overtly teaching and promoting immorality and soul-destroying values.  He/she goes to church each weekend but then spends the other six days filling their mind with violent and sexually charged materials.  Are they not countering their one day in church?  Are they not panels seeking and needing sunlight but creating a shady barrier to the nourishment of the Light of the World?
 
I realize unless one chooses to be a social hermit one cannot block the world’s ever present presentation of secular values.  To accomplish that one would have to watch no television, listen to no radio, nor read any magazines or newspapers.  That is neither practical nor desirable if we seek to be relevant.  I am speaking more about the absence of spiritual feeding.  If we have an hour or a half an hour each day to feed on some entertainment should we not at a minimum counterbalance that with time spent in God’s word or some other up-lifting material that espouses the values we want for our children and ourselves? 
 
A solar panel shaded will (according to my limited understanding) produce little electricity.  A Christian shaded from the Light of the World will produce little character development.  The very name Christian means Christ-like.  To be like Him one has to know Him.

Our dog is amazing.  Thunderstorms boom and flash all over our neighborhood and she never lifts even an ear.  It is no big deal.  We can go out into the yard and feel the coolness of an approaching storm pushing away the heat of the day and she lifts her head into the wind and sniffs as if it were Eau de Summer.   Last night the light show overhead was intense.  At one point a bolt zapped and sizzled over the house so close one could smell the ozone.  She never flinched nor seemed startled but instead she quietly came over and laid down on my feet while uttering a deep sigh. 
 
Hearing her contented sigh I could not but think of a song I grew up with. 
 
“Under His wings I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.”
 
Just now as I am writing she is lying in front of a fan but I can see the whites of her eyes and I know she is watching me.  Should I make any indication I will be getting up she will immediately stand to accompany me.  “Anywhere He leads me I will safely go.”  (Another great old hymn.)  I should be as faithful to my God as she is to me.  I should trust Him as much as she trusts me.  When life gets difficult and harsh, it has and will again, I should sink into my favorite place with a deep sigh.  She knew all was well as long as I was not afraid.  I know all will be well as long as Jesus is not afraid and, of course, He never is!

It’s been a bit dry in New England.  Our city has asked us to only water our lawns and gardens every other day.  But today one of our neighboring cities has banned any lawn and garden watering.  So the question is how do you know when someone is cheating?  Someone could go out at 1:00 AM and no one would catch them.  But it wouldn’t take long before everyone would know.  By their green ye shall know them.  I am reminded of the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70.  If someone wasn’t losing weight like all their neighbors everyone knew where the missing neighbors had gone!  Children were advised to stay away from anyone who wasn’t gaunt and skinny.
 
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”   But is that always true?  Do we sometimes prejudge people based on traditional stereotypes?  This afternoon on my way into our local mall I passed a guy well tatted with a heavy metal chain around his neck.  He had hardware hanging from his ears and was smoking a doobie. Did I make some quick assumptions?  Yeah, I did.  Could I have been wrong?  Absolutely yes.  While I doubt that he was a brain surgeon, he could have been a university professor!   Note I said, “could have been.”
 
Sunday afternoon we sat near a mom and dad with four well groomed, nicely dressed teens.  In the dictionary under the word “wholesome” they should have this family’s picture.  I assumed they just came from church.  Could dad have been a yegg?  Yeah, he could.  But I truly doubt it.  Jesus knew what He was saying.  We send all manner of messages to people without opening our mouths.

There is a tiny (really tiny) ant on my white kitchen countertop. What should I do? Should I leave it alone?  If I don’t call it an it but instead call it a he or a she I am beginning to personalize her which colors what I will do.  Should I get her to walk onto a piece of paper and then carry her outside?  Should I give her a name?  Naming will begin to anthropomorphize her and I will begin a relationship with Sally.  Sally is very tiny.  She will not harm anything in my kitchen.  I don’t know of any diseases transferred to people from ants.  But the issue is Sally, if left alone, will not stay alone.  Soon there will be Albert and then Trina and Tommy.

My kitchen counter is a nice place for Sally.  There is an occasional bread crumb, piece of cereal, or drop of jam to provide a feast for a family of ants.  But I am god.  I can determine Sally’s fate.  I know she has some kind of thoughts because she shows fear.  She flees when I place my finger in her path.  How much does she think and feel? How precious is Sally’s life in the grand scheme of the universe?
 
How precious are our lives in the grand scheme of eternity?  We are not its.  We have names and there is a plan for us.  Or are we victims of my self-aggrandizement?  Paul did write, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”   So we are more than ants!  We are His sons and daughters – princes and princesses of the universe.

The drug commercials on television are amazing the way they treat our intelligence.  They go something like this.  If your legs are restless then you might have Restless Leg Syndrome.  If you have dry eyes then you might have Dry Eye Syndrome.  If you have diarrhea then you might have diarrhea.  Really! Then comes the pitch for their product.  Talk to your doctor about Xiayaflex.  Xiayaflex might cause dry eyes, restless legs and in some cases it may be fatal.  Really!   Oh, don’t take if you are allergic to Xiayaflex.
 
So, I needed to say, “If you find yourself sinning then you might be a sinner.”  But what follows now is not an insult to your intelligence but one of the wisest things I could ever tell you.  Talk to your God about His Son Jesus.   Jesus Christ will bring relief from stress, bring calm into your life, relieve you from guilt, grant you peace, forgive all your sins, make you morally stronger, give you resistance to temptation, and extend your life (infinitely).  The side effects might be you are no longer comfortable with your old friends, family members might think you have changed into someone they don’t know and in very rare cases might cause a divorce from your spouse.  Jesus did say, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”  Matthew 10.
 
I do need to add here just because your new faith experience is alienating your old friends does not necessarily mean you are being a good witness for Jesus.  You actually might be obnoxious.  The important thing is to pray to learn to be like Jesus, kind, gentle and non-judgmental.  That never causes people not to like you.

We didn’t have any water when we got up this morning.  I’m guessing there was an abundant use of cologne in our neighborhood this morning as people headed out to work.  When I went out to pick up the morning paper I looked up the street and noticed a city employee opening a fire hydrant.  I first heard a rush of air followed by a sputtering of water and then a gush.  To get a flow of water he first had to vent all the air out of the line.  “Wow,” I thought, “just like church.  Once all the hot air is vented we get to the Water of Life.”  Actually, I wish that were true.  Sometimes the Water of Life never appears.  It is all air.
 
I worry about preaching.  Paul very politely calls it foolishness.  “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”  I Corinthians 1:21.  I am often amazed at the patience of the saints.  I have seen them sit for over an hour at times listening to a series of platitudes strung together with little or no Water of Life.  I hear the saints saying “amen” to ideas they have heard a thousand times.  Perhaps if they hear a new idea they have to process it before they can say “amen” and that takes time. 
 
And yet, as Paul says, people are saved despite our muddled efforts.  I have come to believe the gift of tongues spoken of in Acts does not have to be foreign languages.  I think it is often the gift of ears as the Holy Spirit intervenes and whispers to each what each needs to hear.  I’m almost sure of it because sometimes people thank me for saying something I know I did not say!  Lord, forgive my hot air. 

I was taken aback and almost horrified this weekend when someone asked me to pray for them because he was sure God would be sure to answer my prayers over others.  While I was a bit flattered by the compliment nothing could be farther from the truth.  God does not play favorites with anyone.  “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism.’”  Acts 10:34 Nobody gets a special hearing.  Then again if God did have favorites, I would certainly NOT be one of them.
 
Prayer is a personal experience with our heavenly Father who loves each of us dearly and will do for each of us the best thing available.  At times I have wondered why we need to pray.  If He is, as Jesus tells us, our heavenly Father, will He not give us all good things without our having to ask?  I sometimes wonder if our situation is akin to Job.  Satan is waiting to accuse God of playing favorites and somehow by our asking we give God the ethical right to give us good things. 
 
One thing for sure is prayer is not magic.  There is no mantra needed to facilitate God’s attention and care.  There are no formulas or memorized rituals that fast track us to God’s mind.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Matthew 6.
 
It is no wonder the priests killed Jesus.  He made them superfluous.  No one needed them anymore.  Bypass the human and go straight to the divine.  That works for EVERYONE.

The drama is the same.  Only the stage and cast are different.   The politics of power have raged since a time before Genesis 1.  “And there was war in heaven.”  Revelation 12:7.  “I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will be like the most high.”  Isaiah 14:14.
 
The stage changed but the battle continued.  The politics of fear mongering – “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”   The politics of practicality – “Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’”  John 11.  The politics of smear by association – “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  Luke 15.  The politics of half-truths and distortion – “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'”  Mark 14
 
Jesus said, “ . . . be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”  Matthew 10:16.  Maybe, just maybe, wisdom would be for us to recognize that our high calling is to spread the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus, and to refrain from casting our pearls out on behalf of a cause so much inferior to the greatness of God’s Kingdom.   Perhaps the best use of our email, our Facebook accounts, our tweets, our influence, would be to spread love and forgiveness and leave the ugly for others.  Paul did say, “Whatsoever is pure, … Think on these things.”  Philippians 4.

The most beautiful thing in the world is a life well-lived.  Standards and ideals of physical beauty change with the seasons of a culture but goodness and unselfishness are eternally valued. We are told by hawks that gracious accommodations made to our enemies are signs of weakness to be misunderstood by our foes and thus embolden them to aggression.  But was it not Jesus who told us to turn the other cheek?  Was it not Jesus who never struck back when He could have called legions of angels to avenge Him?  Matthew 26:53.  It was the Prince of Peace who divided history.  True strength of character is manifested in compassion and understanding.  True wisdom is quick to apologize and to learn from words spoken in haste. 
 
The Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto for a life well-lived.  Paul follows with Ephesians 4,  “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”  This is not psychological pabulum.  This is the secret of happiness.  To be quick to forgive is the power to heal one’s wounds.  Should someone take advantage of us shame on them, not shame on us for being kind.  Desires for revenge and plans for retaliation are toxins that eat away our vitality more ferociously than any cancer.  
 
I have yet to meet someone who wants to be ugly.  Yet so often we choose to be ugly by our allowing others to determine our behavior.  Some of the most physically unattractive persons I know are the most beautiful people in the universe.  They are not merely decorated but instead are fountains of eternal beauty.

If you are feeling guilty about not flossing last night I have good news for you.  According to the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services there is no research evidence supporting the hypothesis that flossing is beneficial to dental and gum health.  The counsel we have received for decades has been based on a hunch.  But, that is what a hypothesis is – a hunch.  Many reasonable hypotheses have bitten the dust through the years for lack of supporting evidence. Until such evidence is produced we accept what seem to be many good ideas by faith.  Lack of evidence does not make the hypothesis wrong.  It merely means we do not have empirical evidence to support the hypothesis as being true.  So don’t throw away your floss.
 
There are many things in life we accept by faith.  Some scientists would have us believe there is empirical evidence proving macroevolution.  There isn’t.   However, there is evidence supporting microevolution. Bacteria can morph and become resistant to drugs.  It is a huge problem.  We have to continue developing new drugs if we are to stay ahead of bacterial adaptation.  But macroevolution is accepted by faith.  There is a huge leap of faith accepted when one moves from microevolution to macroevolution.
 
Those who believe in creation by an intelligent being have not enough empirical evidence to prove our position.  We accept creationism by faith because to us it makes more sense than believing something as marvelous as we happened by chance.   We must never let anyone browbeat us into thinking our position of creationism is an inferior position.  Those who believe we are the product of a secession of favorable mutations are believers just as are creationists.