January 11, 2018

Will We Ever Learn?

Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. – Galatians 4:17-18

We have thankfully completed yet another election cycle. The ugliness was awful but not unexpected. One of the candidates has a way of stirring things up, calling himself a conservative Christian and his opponent a liberal who is light on crime.

It’s not true, of course. But he has used this platform and repeatedly been elected to political office. It’s like he has on a Teflon coat that mud refuses to stick to.

He knows exactly what buttons to push. Prayer. Pro-life. The second amendment. He conducts his campaign in churches, refusing to participate in a debate or answer questions from the media. Why should he? There are too many people who support him, refusing to believe the facts.

It’s no different than when he loudly protested his Ten Commandments monument, insisting that it belonged in front of the Judicial Building. He neglected to mention that the Ten Commandments were already on display inside. News reports pointed that out but his followers didn’t pay attention.

I wonder how many of them have read the Old Testament. How many recall the snakes and how God had said anyone who was bitten could look to the bronze snake he’d had Moses make. (Numbers 21) Later God ordered that it be destroyed because the people were burning incense to it. (2 Kings 18)

It was never about the bronze snake. It was about God. And it was never about the Ten Commandments. It was about a politician using God’s people to make a name for himself.

This same politician has been accused by numerous women of improper conduct. When they were teens and the politician was in his 30s, he would come on to them. He would have inappropriate contact with them. He would warn them that no one would believe a teen over a District Attorney.

Now they have come forward, speaking loudly. He denies knowing any of them, despite evidence that says he did. Still, his followers stand supporting him as though he is one of God’s chosen people instead of an imposter enjoying his moment of fame.

We have an obligation to look beyond party lines and really pray about the candidates. A political party affiliation doesn’t mean one person is a better Christian than another, nor does it mean that a person who claims Jesus really knows Him.

How can we be so blind? It is a pattern with us all. God’s people have always allowed ourselves to be deceived by those who would use us to gain glory for themselves. Will we ever learn? Probably not.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Let Your Heart Be Joyful

What has happened to all your joy?

-- Galatians 4:15a

This is supposed to be a joyous time of year. We are celebrating Christ’s birth. We gather with family and friends we don’t see nearly enough. We see good where normally we wouldn’t. We give to others out of our own bounty. Yet there is always someone determined to zap the joy of every moment.

Do you have one of those people in your life? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I tell myself it’s like one of those half-full glasses type of things. I tell myself to pray about it. I tell myself to feel sorry for the person who is so determined to see problems and issues where none exist. I marvel at the unhappiness of someone who needs everyone else to be just as unhappy.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul thought the Galatians might have lost the joy that came from their salvation because of legalism. Rules can do that to anyone. A person can get so caught up in doing what the rules say that she loses her joy.

It happens when you focus so much on your own inadequacy as a sinner that you don’t see how far you’ve come since you’ve been saved. Joy flies away when you repeatedly condemn yourself for falling short of the standards Jesus set rather than accepting His forgiveness and forgiving yourself.

Legalism stresses performance rather than relationships. It determines that the perfect holiday meal is the goal rather than a wonderful time of fellowship that includes a holiday meal. It makes you feel guilty rather than loved if everything isn‘t perfect. And, let’s be honest here, when is everything ever perfect?

Years ago I watched a wonderful Christian woman disintegrate over something totally ridiculous. She was heading up an assembly and one of her co-workers told everyone to sit down when they needed to remain standing. You’d have thought the world ended at that moment. Everyone could see the steam rising from her as she struggled to control her anger. Most folks would have made a joke and let it go. I don’t remember much about that evening but I remember her overreaction to something so minor.

It makes me wonder if that’s where our joy goes -- in overreacting to small things that really don’t matter. Who cares if your uncle is late -- again? Who cares if someone spills a glass of tea? Who cares if things aren’t the way they’ve been for the past 20 years? What matters are the people who gather to love one another and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.

I don’t think it’s possible for you or I to fill others with joy. That’s something that comes when they invite Jesus into their lives. It comes when they stop worrying so much about what doesn’t matter and focus instead on what does.

This is such a joyful time of year. Be still and be glad, in your heart and deep into your soul. For unto you a child is born. A Savior. Born to bear the sins of the world. Oh, what news of great joy!