November 16, 2018

Open Your Eyes

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

– John 9:39-41

Does it ever occur to any of us that we could be wrong? Do we ever seek the Bible’s wisdom for what it truly says rather than searching for words that will “prove” what we already believe? What would happen if we truly followed Jesus rather than picking and choosing the parts of Him that feel comfortably in line with ourselves?

Jesus didn’t come to conform to our “wisdom.” He came to save us from ourselves, from the sins that fill us, from the hardness of our hearts. But He left us with a choice. We can choose to follow Jesus or ourselves. There is no room on His path for both of us.

We are quick to point out that the Bible condemns homosexuality. We aren’t so quick to say that it also condemns divorce. Why would we? In our country, an estimated 40-50 percent of all couples will divorce. We don’t want to condemn ourselves so we choose to ignore what the Bible really says.

We are quick to condemn abortion as murder. We don’t want to support the child. That’s someone else’s responsibility. We don’t want to welcome those who are cast aside for their mistakes. We want them to pay again and again under our condemning eyes.

Obviously, abortion is wrong. So is casting aside an unwed mother. Remember: Mary was an unwed mother too. Before she and Joseph married. Before anyone understood about the Holy Spirit and the Messiah, she was a teenager with a growing belly in a world that would have destroyed her for her “sin.”

We cling tightly to our money, refusing to share or tithe as we should. We ignore what the Bible says about money – and it says a great deal about money – choosing instead to “believe” that everyone must support themselves. It is ours, we insist. Others aren’t worthy, we explain. Except the Bible doesn’t talk too much about worthy or ownership. It talks about gifts from God and sharing our blessings. Judgment isn’t ours to dispense, even when it comes to the money God has graciously given to us.

Oh, and let’s not forget the immigrants. We don’t want them. Period. We may expound our beliefs and justify ourselves but it’s just not biblical. The Bible tells us to welcome the foreigner because we once were foreigners. We are to extend kindness and compassion. But we hold what is ours tightly and refuse to show mercy.

There is no easy walk in our world today. It’s like a tightrope that keeps moving except, well, it doesn’t. The Bible is full of words that contradiction what we believe and what we say we believe. It’s impossible to truly love Jesus and stand only for some of what He says and ignore the rest.

Are we blind? Absolutely. But our blindness is a choice. We have the answers before us but we choose to ignore their truth because it’s uncomfortable and it just might cost us something we hold dear. Our money. Yes, it might cost us our money. It might force us to show kindness to people we don’t like. It might ask us to welcome people who aren’t like us so that we can show them that Jesus loves everyone and welcomes them into His arms.

Open your eyes. See your sin. Make your choice.

February 28, 2018

Living Water Soothes, Heals

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” – John 4:17-18

Have you ever wondered why this woman had so many husbands and was currently with a man who wasn’t her husband? Did you assume she was promiscuous? Did you blame her for her circumstances?

At a recent women’s conference, Bible teacher Lisa Harper said something really enlightening about this. She said that conservative theologians think perhaps the woman for infertile. That just makes so much sense.

In Biblical times, a man could divorce a woman for really no reason. If the man got tired of her, he could simply give her papers and send her on her way. It was an awful existence for women of that day. How were they supposed to survive without a husband to provide for their needs?

A man was esteemed by the sons he fathered. No sons? Well, that just wasn’t acceptable. Every family needed sons to carry on the family name and care for his elderly parents when the time came.

A woman who couldn’t have children was a worthless liability. That would have been me. Can you imagine the heartbreak of repeated rejections because of something she couldn’t help or control?

Then Jesus met her at the well and He offered to fill her up with living water. Jesus said He would take away the ache that barren arms felt. Jesus said He would welcome her no matter what her past. Jesus said He would make sure that she was never thirsty, never alone, again.

This woman knew rejection. She knew it from her husbands. She knew it as a Samaritan or mixed-breed. She knew it in a way that few people could understand. There was a reason why she was at the well when no one else was near. The sting of rejection makes us want to withdraw into ourselves.

Jesus met her where she was. He didn’t look down at her. He didn’t tell her to clean up her act and then she could enter into His Presence. Jesus welcomed her, taught her with kindness, and showed her a different way.

How different are so many Christians of our day? We don’t want to allow anyone tarnished into our midst. We lecture and wag our righteous fingers at people we see as fallen, dirty, not worthy of Jesus’ blood. People just like us.

Maybe that’s why we are so judgmental. We don’t want to see our ugly reflections looking back at us. Maybe if we surround ourselves with people just like us, we can forget the many mistakes that mark us as sinners.

This woman was so grateful, so overjoyed, so filled with love for Jesus. She rushed back to her town and told everyone about what this stranger, this Jesus, had done for her. How many people have you told about what Jesus has done for you?

Rejection hurts. It bruises our souls in the deepest, darkest places. Only Jesus can fill us up again. Reach. Take. Drink the living water. Feel its cool taste as it soothes the ache deep inside. Then offer a drink to those near you. Share the good news of salvation. There’s plenty for everyone – if they only knew.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

False Teachers Destroy Hope

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them -- bringing swift destruction to themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. -- 2 Peter 2:1-3

We would like to believe that someone who serves as a pastor will only teach accurate accounts of the Gospel. We want to have confidence in those who have been to seminary. We want to trust people we believe are chosen to teach and guide us in God’s ways.

But every now and then a pastor will express his/her own views, proclaiming those views to be from God. Such times bring destruction and cause people to turn from God.

A dear friend is distraught. Her son and daughter-in-law have decided to divorce. No one has been unfaithful. They are just so incompatible that it is a marvel they married at all. But they did. And in that short period of time they conceived and gave birth to a premature daughter they both love.

My friend asked them to try again. She bought the movie “Fireproof” for them and urged them in to Christian counseling. Who better than their pastor? As it turns out, few could have been worse.

This man told a woman prone to drama and over exaggeration that her husband was certainly having an affair. Otherwise, the pastor concluded, the young man wouldn’t want a divorce. There is no affair. There is no flirtation. There is nothing except incompatibility and, now, a lie told by a pastor.

The pastor later told the young man that if he went through with the divorce, he would be condemned to hell. For all time. Forever. Because the man decided to divorce his wife. Not surprisingly, this young man has decided he never wants to go back to church.

Oh, and the divorce is more a certainty now than before the “counseling sessions.”

God frowns on divorce. No doubt about it. We see divorce in the Bible but it wasn’t the way that God intended marriage to be. That said, there is NOTHING we can do to make God stop loving us. And there is NOTHING that grace won’t cover.

That doesn’t mean it’s okay to go out and sin just because we live under grace. It does mean that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. This young couple aren’t condemned if they divorce. They are forgiven the minute they ask for forgiveness. Jesus made sure of that.

This pastor spoke his own views and claimed them as God’s. In so doing, he took away the hope we all have in Christ Jesus our Lord. God promises to deal with false teachers and I’m trusting that he will even as I pray that God will lead this couple back into His waiting arms.