July 2, 2022

 

What Do You See?

 

Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. – Habakkuk 1:3b

 

Murder happens throughout our land. Violence and sin are everywhere. We demand justice from God. We plead with Him to change our nation and turn us back to simpler times when life was easier and filled with rules we could understand.

 

We point fingers and demand justice. We look down and condemn what makes us uncomfortable. We are certain that we are right and we brandish the Bible as a weapon to those who are different. We harshly judge even as we build our lives, our palaces if you will, on sand.

 

We know about the plank and the speck (Matthew 7:3-5). But we don’t really think it applies to us. We are so certain that we are right that we fail the most basic test of love.

 

A sweet woman I know lives in public housing and struggles daily to provide for her daughter. It would be easy to condemn her. From the outside, anyway. I know many people who would judge and call her names. You’ve heard it all. Lazy. Bad choices. It’s her own fault. I could go on. But none of it would be true. She’s a college-educated woman who works two jobs to provide for them. She is an inspiration to all who know her.

 

The hard truth isn’t so pretty. Most of you wouldn’t bother to get to know her. She’s poor. She’s doesn’t move in your circles. She may sit next to you on your pew. She may sing in the choir. But she doesn’t fit your version of success. She doesn’t have the trappings of a large house, nice cars and expensive vacations. You may not say it out loud but you look down on her. And in so doing you elevate yourselves. Shame on you! Shame on all of us!

 

Habakkuk first questioned God about how He could ignore such sin from His people. Then Habakkuk worried that the punishment would be too horrific. But God made it clear that sin won’t go unpunished forever. God is patient and merciful but He sees it all. God sees when you cheat someone in business. God sees when your heart becomes haughty and you fail to be generous and merciful.

 

We look around at the state of our nation and quickly point fingers at everyone else. We judge what we do not know based on circumstances we’ve never endured. And we justify ourselves because everyone else does it. But we’re not supposed to be like everyone else. We’re supposed to do better because of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us.

 

Do you truly love Jesus? Then show mercy and kindness. Extend a helping hand. Hang out with people who aren’t like you. Be Jesus in this dark and hurting world.

June 24, 2022

 

^{Start With Yourself}

 

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

– Habakkuk 1:2-4

 

It's a small book. A minor prophet named Habakkuk dared to question God. Much like we dare to question God today. The difference? Perhaps we aren’t as righteous as we proclaim.

 

We are quick to pick and choose the issues, the Biblical quotes, the direction of our prayers so that our wishes and our will prevail. Except God always prevails. Always. We forget that.

 

We condemn abortion but demand our right to own and use weapons of war. It is our right to kill who and what we please. It is also our right to demand that you follow our wishes in all things.

 

Perhaps that’s the root of it all. It’s about us. It’s never been about God. He’s only been our excuse, the way we justify the evil that lies within our own hearts.

 

“It’s just business,” is one excuse I’ve heard over and over from so many different people. It’s the way to justify ripping someone off even though it clearly violates God’s law.

 

Or we refuse to help our parents or grandparents unless there’s a payday involved. When did we stop honoring our families except when we are paid to do so? It’s only right, we tell ourselves. Have you checked with the Bible on that?

 

We harbor anger and bitterness in our hearts, lashing out at anyone who dares to disagree with us. We are impatient and unkind. And it is always someone else’s fault.

 

We are a Christian people good at pointing fingers at others who, in our opinion, need to clean up their act. We forget to get the plank out of our own eye before we search for the speck in the eye of someone else.

 

What’s wrong with our country today? Christians who live by their own greed, their own egos, their own comfort, ignoring the Word when it doesn’t fit into their neat little lives. We have turned out religion into our own little political agendas and we have the audacity to wonder where God is as our world seems increasingly out of control.

 

Beware to us all: God will judge each person. We all face the fire of our choices. Stop pointing fingers. Stop living a lie. Bow down and truly worship the Lord our God. Yeah. I know. Most of you won’t do that. It might mean loving people you’ve decided to hate. It could even mean giving up some of your ill-gotten wealth and giving it to those you’ve judged unworthy. You might have to get dirty and serve instead of barking orders at those you consider beneath you.

 

Here is my soapbox once again: If you want to see change, start with yourself.

February 25, 2018

Live the Change You Want to See

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – Romans 12:21

What should we do? Should we ban assault rifles? Should we make background checks more thorough? Should we throw money and resources at our failing mental health system? What is the answer?

Maybe the real answer, the permanent solution, lies within us. Sure, we need all those things listed above and more. But the only way to combat the kind of anger and hate that ignites mass shootings is to change ourselves.

Only someone who is truly broken inside could do something so horrendous as kill innocent students and teachers. I am not naïve. Some evil will always exist among us. But I truly believe that we manufacture much of the evil in this world by our indifference to those who are marginalized in our society.

Is it any surprise that school shootings have increased right along with incidents of bullying? Is it any wonder that violence has escalated as our families are broken, pulling away from extended families and stable neighborhoods? Are we really shocked that children who no longer grow up with a foundation of faith have no where to turn with their hurt?

Our society as a whole has taken a wrong turn and that means you and I need to be the change. We’re so focused on “my” freedom that we’ve forgotten we all belong to each other. We’re so independent that we’ve forgotten we all need each other. We’re so absorbed with ourselves that we’ve for too long ignored those who desperately need to be included.

We are all just so very busy. We are too busy to reach out to the latch-key children down the street. We are too busy to include an elderly neighbor in our dinner plans. We just don’t have the time for coffee with a co-worker going through a hard time.

We don’t want to be bothered by the troubles of others. We don’t want to deal with the hurts and trials of those around us. What if it rubs off on us? We have enough on our plates without taking on someone else.

Except what we’ve done is left hurting people with nowhere else to go. They become angrier and angrier until they finally erupt. It’s a tough scenario for an adult. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for a teenager?

We fail each other every single day. We just do. We forget to be kind and giving, to be generous with what matters. People. They’re what matters. We seem to focused on stuff, on status, on our own little world, to see those who are on the fringes, desperate to be noticed.

This debate will likely rage for quite some time. There are no easy answers. But instead of focusing on what “someone else” should do, look in the mirror and focus on what you can do. Be kind today. Smile at a stranger. Include someone who would otherwise be alone. Live the change you want to see.

February 23, 2018

Love God and Love Each Other

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37-39

We are all still reeling from the latest school shooting. Another 17 students and teachers dead. Hundreds, if not thousands, of students traumatized. Let the finger pointing begin.

Why? We ask ourselves that again and again. This is the 18^th school shooting this year, and we aren’t even done with February yet. What has happened to our nation that such horrific violence has entered our schools?

Everyone has an answer. We need tougher gun laws. We need to enforce the gun laws we already have. The FBI didn’t do its job. The mental health system is broken. Agencies need to be more vigilant in reporting unstable behavior. It’s those violent video games kids have these days. Violence is everywhere on television and in movies. Kids don’t understand that death is final. Parents aren’t taking responsibility for discipling their kids. They don’t control their children so children never learn about responsibility and consequences.

The list could go on and on. The truth is every one of those excuses is probably partially true and the whole makes for a broken culture.

How do we fix it? Jesus. Oh, I know. There are those who don’t want to hear that. How could Jesus fix this? Jesus can fix anything and anyone.

And before those conservative Christians start the battle cry, let me quickly add that the beginning should come with the hypocrites keeping their hatred to themselves. I am sickened by the so-called Christians who use the gospel to promote their own political views.

Have you ever seen the movie Woodlawn? It’s the true story of racial strife in Birmingham, AL, and what happens when Jesus shows up. It took one man with a true faith to step forward and allow the Holy Spirit to use him. He could have fueled the flames of unrest. He could have used the violence and discord to further his own agenda. He didn’t. He turned his message to Jesus and that made all the difference.

We are at a crossroads in our nation. The young are rising up and we have a prime opportunity to turn tragedy into a call for genuine faith. I don’t have the answers but Jesus does. He is the only One who can minister to this deep hurt and create a change that brings healing to all of us.

I want to live in a world where our children can attend school without fear of unstable people killing them. I want them to know the peace and security that comes when Jesus is at the helm of all our lives.

Jesus told us what to do. Get rid of the hate and meanness that dot this country. Love God and love each other. Period.

February 17, 2018

Look in the Mirror

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” – Matthew 7:21-23

Hatred. It permeates our society, on every level, in every heart. We point fingers at others, all the while ignoring the hypocrisy in our own hearts. We are part of the problem.

Christians should be the most loving people around. We should be the first to forgive, the first to do good, the first to speak kindness in this dark world. Just the opposite is true. We loudly proclaim our hatred for “liberals” and “gays” and “immigrants.” We declare exactly who and what Jesus hates, calling our hard hearts justified.

Except Jesus was never about hate. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to save us. Did Jesus ever get angry? Of course, He did – at the Pharisees and others who believed themselves to be better than the common sinners of the day.

Do we all sin? Absolutely. Is sin wrong? Without a doubt. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that Christians have the right to judge others. In fact, the Bible tells us to NOT judge others. Somehow, we don’t think it means us.

I’m not someone who believes the fairy tale some pastors preach. While God does want good for us, He never said we’d get a reward on this earth. In fact, Jesus told us to expect difficulties. We don’t like difficulties. We don’t want to suffer for our faith. And we surely don’t want to show anyone who isn’t like us grace and mercy.

Jesus loved people where they were. He didn’t hate illegal immigrants. He didn’t paint them with a brush that said “lazy,” “worthless,” or “unwanted.” Does it excuse their actions for coming into this country illegally? No. It doesn’t. But anyone who rejects them and hates them doesn’t have Jesus in his heart.

What about those of different religions? Do we reject and condemn them for not believing as we do? Jesus welcomed everyone, be they Samaritans or Gentiles or Jews. He came to save everyone. He never pushed away those who believed differently because He knew that drawing them closer with love and acceptance was the better way to change their soul.

We feel threatened by those who are different so we push them away and call it “our opinion.” Hatred spews from our mouths and then we loudly cry for help when violence once against shows up in our schools. We don’t consider what we are teaching, what we are showing the innocents with out actions and our words.

Do you want to stop the hatred and violence that lives around us? Look in the mirror. Check your words before you speak. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it something that Jesus would say? Stop wearing the Christian badge and acting like you live for Him when your life carries the message of hate to a hurting world. Change yourself first and let God’s light change the world.