HE HAS OUR BACKS

‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘   Luke 12:19

It seems that the ability in this day and age to record video on our phones and send it instantly around the world has changed how we intervene in difficult situations.  The other day I saw a store video of man who had a heart attack and the car he was driving careened through the front doors of a store.  Before the car even reached the glass there were people with their phones out recording the whole thing.  When the car finally came to a halt with the man slumped over the wheel there were four people with their phones pointed toward the car and none of them made a move to help the driver.  I am sure they eventually did, but not before they got  video evidence that they could send to friends or news media or TMZ.  Their first instinct wasn’t to help, but to record.  That inward desire to help those in need might be on the decrease in the world, but it should not be that way for the church.

Apathy is defined as absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement or a lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.  It is indifference to others concerns or needs.  It is the opposite of empathy which is the act of deeply identifying with someone else’s feelings or needs.  They say that when a husband feels sympathy for his wife’s uncomfortable pregnancy, he feels sorry for her.  When he has empathy, he gets morning sickness as well!  We live in an every increasing place of apathy rather than empathy.  Stories like the one above are becoming the norm, not the exception.  But that should not be the church.  We should, at the least, be the last bastion of concern for others in a world that promotes concern for self.  Not only should we be quick to help in specific times of need, we should not be hesitant to step out to a hurting world with our good news of the healing Christ.

Even though the word empathy or its Greek equivalent cannot be found in the New Testament, the idea of empathy can be found many places. The apostle Peter counseled Christians to have “compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous . . .” (1 Peter 3:8) and the apostle Paul recommended similar sentiments when he exhorted fellow Christians to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).  No one should have a more deep-seated concern for others than the Body of Christ.  Jesus showed more empathy on our behalf than anyone who has ever lived and we need to convey that sacrificial heart to those around us by the way we live.  Our call in God’s Word is one of empathy, not apathy, yet even in the church, apathy is beginning to rear its ugly head.

I once asked a student what apathy was and he said, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”  He was kidding, but it was almost a perfect definition!  I once heard that the nice thing about apathy is you don’t have to exert yourself to show you’re sincere about it.  Unfortunately, there are many today that are especially sincere about their apathy.  As we look at the growing crises around us, we can’t allow ourselves to be hardened to the to the point that we don’t notice the needs.  I heard about a company that recently came out with blank bumper stickers.  They were for people who don’t want to get involved!  Well, that cannot be us.  We need to be involved because we have a message of love that the world needs.  If we are not involved, the penalty we will pay for our lack of involvement is living in a world governed by those who don’t love.  It would be careless for us to allow the world to be run by those who care less.

We should be the first to come to those in need.  Whether it is friend who is distraught or the co-worker who feels caught, we must read the feelings around us and be ready to respond.  John told us that, “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17)  We must look for opportunities to intentionally show love to one another.  Apathy blinds us, but empathy enlightens us.  Others pain or distress or dilemma should be the impetus for us to spring into action.   Jesus said that the second of the great commandments after loving God is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 22:39)   That doesn’t sound like apathy, but empathy.  Peter reiterates this in his book when he says, “Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)   Empathy should be the glasses that we look at others through.  If we do that, it will free us up to love as the Bible instructs.  Someone once said that empathy is your pain in my heart.  How apt a notion.

Years ago a very rich and influential man by the name of Cecil Rhodes threw a gala event to which he invited a young man.  Cecil Rhodes, whose fortune would eventually endow the famous Rhodes Scholarship, was a stickler for proper dress at these events.  Strangely, he disappeared shortly before the banquet began.  The young man who had been invited came straight from the train station and was embarrassed about his appearance.  He was in total disarray, yet he was surrounded by the most finely dressed people in the city.  Cecil Rhodes, reappeared after his untimely dissappearance wearing a rumpled and plain looking blue suit.  He walked up and greeted his young invitee.  Rhodes had heard of his friends dilemma ahead of time and went out to change into a suit that would take the sting off his friend’s embarrassment.   It worked and it also taught a valuable lesson to all who were in attendance.

We have a God who emphasizes with our plights.  He personally feels our pain.  More than that, He personally experienced our pain.  Even more that than He took our pain upon Himself.  That is the greatest act of empathy that has every been displayed in the history of the world.  God knows our hurts.  The psalmist tells us, “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8).  What a comfort it is to know that God tracks our every tear.  What a comfort we would be to others if we noticed their tears.

Jesus is our good shepherd and He is alert to our needs.  Because we have the good shepherd in our lives, we too can look around us to others needs.  When Elaine and I were coming home from Lebanon awhile back, we saw a huge herd of sheep in a field.  All the sheep formed a large circle and right in the middle away from all the other sheep were two black sheep.  I guess the saying about the black sheep being ostracized is really true.  It was so strange looking, that I almost wanted to take a picture of it.  That kind of estrangement might be okay with sheep, but it should not be with people.  When we see people who are separated or needy or hurting, they don’t need to be photographed, they need to be helped.  We have that help, no matter the problem.  Christ is the great physician and His love is the balm that can heal all wounds.   We are like spiritual EMTs and need to be on call at all times.

Christ’s love is more than walking in other’s moccasins.  It is giving them our own.  Christ walked in ours then gave Himself for us, that we might not have to barefoot in a rocky world.  Let’s follow His example.

“And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.” 2 Chronicles 31:21

There is a saying in sports that is heard over and over.  Coaches say it to players and players say it to players.  It has become one of the primary reasons for mistakes in an athletic contest, no matter what the sport.  It is the line I have said hundreds of times when coaching football, wrestling, softball, and track.  What is this single line that plagues athletes in every sport?  “Move your feet!”  Whether it is a basketball player that is beaten on a drive, a volleyball player who doesn’t get to a serve, or a football player that is beaten on a block, it is so often the same- the athletes are beaten because they don’t move their feet.  The equivalent of not moving our feet in our spiritual lives is not taking action.  Not moving the feet is usually a show of fatigue, laziness, or lack of preparation.   Those same things can hurt us in our Christian walk as well.

There is an old saying , “if you feel far from God, guess who moved.” If we are saved our head coach has given us all the instructions necessary to make the right moves in this game called life. Sadly, just like many of my athletes in the past, we don’t or choose not to.  The result is always the same, our opponent beats us.  We are still on the team but we are not competing at the level we are equipped to do. The only way we can benefit from the instruction God gives us is to act…move our feet.

Peter called out to Jesus, but still had to step out of the boat onto the surface of the water.  Abraham believed God, but illustrated it by striking off into the unknown.  Moses came to the Red Sea but raised his arms to God because he believed there was no dead ends with God.

A  woman with the issue of blood believed so strongly in the healing power of Christ that she fought through the crowd just to touch his robe and was healed.  Each one of these people took action that matched their beliefs.  This is faith. Jesus said, ‘Follow me’ when he called His disciples; he was (and is) not saying “You are saved, so you can just sit on your hands from now on in. Just enjoy the ride.” No, He calls us to act  on our  beliefs.  Move your feet.

Moving our feet is important because it shows more than just lip service.  Some parents will say something across the room ten times before actually start moving their feet to help or to prevent some action of their child.  But walking across the room takes more effort than just talking across the room.  That goes for our relationship with God as well.  Peter could have sat in the boat and said all day long that he believed in the miraculous power of Jesus, but the one act of stepping out of the boat said more than a thousand words while sitting in it.   There is a humorous story of a man who falls off a cliff and grabs a protruding root.  He suddenly hears a booming voice and he asks who it is.  The voice says, “I am God and I will save you.”  The man replies that he believes Him, so what should he do?  God says, “Let go of the root.”  The man hesitates for a moment and asks, “Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?”  We probably will not ever be in that situation, but we will be in others when God asks us to trust Him through His Word and our reactions to that will paint a vivid picture of trusting our head coach.

First John 3:18 says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  As I have quoted many a time, “the smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention.“  We are to be active Christians, not passive.  “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”  (James 2:14-16)  Our outward actions SHOULD reflect our inward beliefs.  Unfortunately , being on the right team doesn’t insure right actions.  Two athletes might have the same head coach, but may act differently in the game. There SHOULD  be something that separates us from the rest of the world and “moving our feet” or being active for God SHOULD  be part of that separation.

There is a difference between waiting “on the Lord” and waiting “for the Lord.”   One means the relying on the continual support of the Lord and the other waits for God to act before we do anything.  Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for sowing and a time for reaping, a time for laughing and a time for weeping, but there is also a time for waiting and a time for acting.   We are in times when people expect a lot to be handed to them without taking action.  That can be the same for Christians.  We wait for God to do something.  So often the Word directs us to action, but we wait for God to yell in our ear before doing something.  Unfortunately, the time of God yelling in our ear has passed.  He gave us the Word to be His voice.  While we sit around waiting for God give us something to do, He has already given us something to do.  We just don’t see it.

The old story about the man who prays for years to win the lottery (we will skip the obvious theological conflict here) and finally hears God’s voice telling him he needs to buy a ticket is more than a cute story.  It is often us.  We want to receive without doing.  Don’t confuse this with the famous Bible verse that is not in the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves,” but God does expect us to be obedient.  Think of how history would be changed if people in the Bible had not followed through on their faith.   Our expectations are high, but too often, our efforts are low.  Years ago Elaine and I went to see grandkids Asher and Noah play soccer. It was fun.  I spoke to a spectator on the sidelines before the game who was wearing a Christian t-shirt and he shared about his Christian faith and he said how important it was to him.  Later, he proceeded to get in an argument with the young referee during the game, at halftime, and even after the game he hounded the young ref.  I followed him to his car and mentioned the disparity between his t-shirt, our pre-game conversation and his actions during the game.

I mentioned that a better action that would have illustrated his belief would have been to be quiet and protect his witness.  After all, he did nothing to help the kids, the crowd, the ref, or God.  But not acting out would have necessitated “moving his feet” and making an effort to avoid the obvious contradiction between his faith and his right to downgrade someone else.  He seemed to be listening and I hope he was.

In First Peter we are told,   “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  (1 Peter 1:13)  We need to be prepared for action, not for sitting on our hands.  We need to “move our feet,” and act on our faith.  There is a famous story of how General Stonewall Jackson’s army found itself stranded on the wrong side of the river during a crucial point of the war and had to get across.  General Jackson told his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, and he also called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge.  Long before day light General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where the engineers were and what were they doing?  The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.  That is sometimes what we do, we sit around drawing up plans for God, when others just go out and do the work of God.

We should seek the will of God, but seeking should also result in doing.  I heard one of my favorite authors being interviewed on the radio one day and I will paraphrase what he said that struck me as true.  He said that to be a writer, a person must write.  A true writer cannot wait around for inspiration, he must write.  A true writer cannot go down to the beach and wait for the right mood to come upon him.  A writer must write.  Sometimes he may not even feel like it, but a writer must write.  He said he tires of all the namby-pamby writers now who spend half their life waiting to be inspired.  A writer must write.  A writer who only waits is not a writer, he is a waiter.  I can see an application in that for us.  As Christians we can’t wait around for the spirit to move us when God has already given us instructions to move. Christians must act! Do we have to be inspired to give to the poor, give the gospel, or give our best?  The Word has already said that.  Christians must act!

God has plans for us, but we need to be an active part of that plan.  God is not a puppet master and we the marionettes who need to wait for Him to raise our arms and move our feet.  Jesus didn’t knock Peter out of the boat, Peter stepped out on his own.   We need to step out of the boat.  We need to “move our feet.”

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)

I am sure that many people can look back on their courting days when they were on their best behavior trying to impress a boyfriend or girlfriend.  For some that might have been completely authentic and there was no guile at all, but for others it might have been a pretense rather than a preview of coming events. Authenticity is hard to come by.  When I spoke at my Dad’s memorial, that was one of the words I used to describe him.  When it came to my father, what a person saw was what what a person got.  He had no ulterior motives to his actions.  He was one of the most real men I ever knew.  As Christians, that is what we need to be- real.

I talked about that in last Sunday’s sermon on Father’s Day.  The world is desperate for realness because we are surrounded by falseness.   Many people are doing the anatomically impossible by speaking out of both side of their mouths and many others seldom walk they way they talk.  It seems being genuine is just a pastime that people do only when it is convenient.  

There is a story about the time a fire broke out in a great theater. Hoping to avoid a panic, the manager sent out the lead actor to make the evacuation announcement. He explained what was happening and what the people needed to do to be safe and the crowd thought it was part of the show and gave him applause. The actor continued and repeated the plea in with more passion  and the people repeated their applause.  As the actor pleaded with them to run, they shouted bravos and suddenly the walls of the theater started to crash in around them. What they needed that day was a word they regarded as authentic.  Christianity is more than a performance. We need to give the “audience” lifesaving words they regard as real.

The writer of Hebrews states, “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him.”  (Hebrews 9:28)  If we have accepted the sin-bearing sacrifice of Christ, then we should also be one of those who is eagerly awaiting His return.  That may be one of those signs of authenticity. Do we anticipate the rapturing of the church with eagerness and try to bring as many others to take that incredible transformation with us, or would we just as soon have the rapture delayed because we prefer this world’s pleasures to heavenly ones.  If we think this world offers anything close to what heaven brings, we may not be a “real” as we would like to think.

When Jesus called for those to follow Him, some had other things to do first.  Dr. Luke records the following in 18:22-23  “When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘One thing you

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still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’  But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”  If we knew that tomorrow was the Day of the Rapture, would we be disappointed?  We might be disappointed for those who we know would be left behind, but would we also be disappointed because we think God can’t make eternity as cool as the world around us?  If we don’t believe in God’s wonderful provision, it is hard to be authentic about our faith.  It will be more of a have-to faith than a want-to one.

There is a story about a young girl who really wanted to go to college, but one of the questions on the application was “Are you a leader?”  She knew she wasn’t, but to be honest, she wrote “no” anticipating the worst.  Surprisingly, she received a letter of acceptance with an attached note that said, “according to our applications, we will have 1,472 leaders enrolling this semester. We thought it would be good to have at least one follower.”  If we were to fill out a heavenly application that asked, “are you an authentic Christian,” there would probably be only few that would write no.  The question is, how many should write “no”?  The next question is, if we should write “no,” why don’t we change, so we can write yes.  Remember, authentic will never mean we are just like Christ- authentic means we intentionally strive through the power of the Holy Spirit to be as Christlike as we can.  It means that “realness” is a priority in our lives.

We don’t want to be a sad replica of the real thing.  The original is Jesus Christ.  We are supposed to replicate him, not to be a cheap knock-off of sorts.  There is a saying that realness is being the same person when no one is around.  When we attend church it is easy to think that everyone is authentic, but what are they like during the week?  Sunday is sometimes like the courting stage of a relationship.  “All dressed up in the Sunday best wearing smiles to impress.” But realness also necessitates consistency of behavior.  If we are going to live out our faith, it cannot be selective.  It needs to be an all-the-time thing.  If we enjoy the world so much that we think going to be with the Lord would be step down, authenticity is probably pretty hard.

We are to be imitators of Christ, but not superficial ones.  We are called to follow in His steps.  On the battlefield when someone is carrying a mine detector those behind him follow in his steps- exactly.  They do not take their own path.  The place their feet right in the footprints of the one who can take them to safety.  We need to do that.  We cannot be the one who knows exactly where to step, but we can certainly be the one who doesn’t drift  to another path.  The people around us may not be able to see Jesus ahead of them and they may just step where we do.  If they have more than one set of footprints to choose from, that starts to be confusing.  We need to stay in step with Christ, for our own benefit and for the benefit of those who may follow us.

We have an example of authenticity in Christ.  He was not caught up in the world.  In Philippians 2:13 it says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  He will help us to be like Him. We are not left to be Christlike without Christ’s help.  So let us be like the Corinthians who were “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7), and like the Philippians whose “citizenship was in heaven, from which also [they] eagerly waited for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Philippians 3:20).  The degree of our authenticity may be in direct proportion to our degree of anticipation for His return.  If we are lackadaisical about that, we might be lackadaisical about our “realness.”

“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God . . . “  2 Timothy 1:8

In this verse Paul is speaking to his young co-worker in the faith, Timothy. Timothy was ministering in the very pagan city of Ephesus. He was young and surrounded by hosts of non-believers. Paul is writing Timothy from prison and is asking him not be ashamed of Jesus, Paul himself, or the gospel. It seems harsh to use the word ashamed since Timothy was  Paul’s “son in the faith” and had faced persecution with Paul many times for the sake of Christ.  How could Timothy be ashamed of the faith that he so stubbornly defended?

Many of us are surrounded by unbelievers in our daily lives.  Some of the people are more than unbelievers; they may be anti-believers. Some may be indifferent and others may be hostile.  Some might be complacent and others might be combative.  Regardless, it might be difficult to make our spiritual beliefs known to those around us due to the perceived or real responses we might receive. Being outspoken about our faith can lead to all kinds of reactions, good and bad, and sometimes silence seems to be the most prudent policy.

Timothy might have been tempted to be ashamed of his position in Christ for the sake of comfort. Being ashamed does not necessarily mean that he actively

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rejected his faith, but that he remained incognito in the faith. Sometimes what is left unsaid is as much a statement about the place Christ plays in our life as what is said.  In Timothy’s case (and ours) he was defending a man who was dead, yet was said to be alive. He said (as we do) that this same man wanted to have a relationship with everyone on earth. He described this invisible man (again, like we must) as the forgiver of sins and the giver of life.  Paul may have known that Timothy was wondering if it was best expose himself with this incredible story to the ridicule and incredulity of many. Paul knew that thousands (including us) would face this same dilemma down through the ages.  That is why Paul wrote to Timothy (and us) to stay strong in the faith.

Timothy may have also been tempted to be ashamed of Paul because he was sitting in prison and was on the outs with the higher-ups of Roman Empire.  It is easier to sometimes ignore the plights of our fellow believers than to recognize and support them, thus giving away our position. Paul urges Timothy to understand that

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anyone who stands on the promises of God will face discomfort.  If we believe that we might face discomfort by identifying with the persecuted, we might stay silent about our faith.  Paul instructs against shamed silence when we see others who are being ridiculed or persecuted for their faith in Christ.

Lastly,  Paul warns Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel. The gospel of the Bible is offensive to the world. First of all, it is exclusive and that is a concept that is not accepted today. To say that there is only one way to be saved is contrary to the all-important tolerance of today’s world. Secondly, it flies in the face of the belief that we can earn our salvation. Finally, it exposes our sinful condition and need for forgiveness. The gospel is a touchy subject and many feel it is  better to avoid it completely than to experience derision and ridicule from others.

If we are not willing to stand up for Jesus, our fellow believers,

and the gospel of Christ, it may mean we are ashamed of the gospel. Total silence may indicate, at the least, partial shame. If we believe that the Bible holds the keys to eternal life and vast blessings here on earth, why be reluctant to share it?  Around the world right now many are being lined up and killed for their faith; here we might be fired upon with insults.  That is a big difference.

We need to ask ourselves this.  If someone we knew suddenly wanted to know who Jesus was, would they think of asking us?  If we have remained in the shadows with our faith, probably not. If we have made our love for Him known, probably so.

Fear not, be not silent, be not ashamed, “for if God is with us, who can be against us.”

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on the one who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.”  Romans 14:1-3

In Romans 14 Paul addresses a variety of issues that deal with gray area issues made black and white in the first century church.  Ironically, the same kinds of problems plague the church and Christians today.  First century Christians would hang their hats on such issues as eating meat or sabbath days and it would cause dissension in the ranks. They would take things of little consequence and make them cornerstones of their beliefs.  They would even take things that were not specifically addressed in the Bible and make them doctrine.  We do the same kinds of things today.

Our main concern should be for others.  That is hard for us to grasp.  We are in a day that promotes looking out for Number One.  We are encouraged to look out for ourselves first and if along the way we can help someone else, so be it, but we should never sacrifice our own wants to meet the needs of another.  It is this kind of thinking that causes division in what should be unity in the Body of Christ.

It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was supposed to wait until the British army arrived and then support them from the sea.  Phipps arrived early and became irritated by the statues of saints that dotted the harbor’s shoreline.  He told his men to target practice on statues.  No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.”   That is what we are in danger of doing in the church.  We fire so much upon each other, that we have nothing left to face the enemy with.  We get caught up in fighting one another on small battles and ignore the true war that is waging around us.

My uncle was one of the most well-known Apostolic Faith ministers in the country, maybe in the world.  Apostolics had some very specific ideas that kept my uncle and me from having the kind of relationship that Christians should have with each other.  Little things like the wearing of jewelry and modes of dress were essentials in their doctrine. They were very outspoken on all issues regardless of whether they were gray areas or not. What we would consider personal preference they would consider doctrinal truth.  Thus if someone wore rings (even though they could wear incredibly expensive watches), they were in disobedience to God.  If one was in disobedience to God, their salvation was in great jeopardy.  It was very legalistic.  The very unfortunate part was that my uncle’s church had little to do with any other churches.  After all, the others were all wrong.

We all have our list of “preferences” that we make bigger than they should be.  In Paul’s time the people argued over eating meat that was sacrificed to idols.  Some said it was sacrilegious and others said that since idols were non-gods, the meat was just meat.  Both had their points and neither was wrong.  But neither should have built their church on that rock and some tried!  Here was what they should have kept in mind according to Paul.  It might be fine to eat the meat, but examine whether eating would cause another to stumble.  So, in other words, it might be legal for us to eat the meat, but is it profitable?  Will it affect my walk or another’s walk negatively.  Before we do something, we should examine the possible consequences of our actions to us and to others.  So, let’s take it a step further.  We should watch our own actions for the sake of others, and should also avoid being too critical of the actions of others.  Our actions and how they affect others should be a priority rather than how others actions fit into our priorities.  We often get these two mixed up.

Moms are much better at pointing out possible consequences to their children than men are (oops, that might be sexist).  They might be heard saying something to their kids like, “Don’t run with that stick or you will poke both your eyes out.”  (I have often wondered how they could poke out both eyes unless they got up after they poked out one and fell again or were carrying a forked stick, but that is not for me to question.)  We need to scrutinize the situation as closely as moms do when they add up stick plus child plus ground plus running.  What will our actions possibly add up to?  What are the consequences of our behavior.  We too often scrutinize the behavior of others, while ignoring the consequences of our own.

I am not big on guys wearing ear rings.  Not sure exactly why that is, but I have never liked it for some reason.  Maybe my mom was insulted by a man wearing ear rings when I was in the womb, I don’t know, but it has never invoked a positive feeling in me.  I think I see it as juvenile.  But can I use ear rings to judge others by.  Is there scripture I can use for questioning someone’s spiritual maturity?  Can I doubt someone’s salvation because “no ear rings go to heaven.”  Of course not.  In some cultures that is the norm.  But unfortunately Christians too often use other peoples taste in dress, music, activity, food, etc. as a basis for judgement.  According to the Word, we are not to do that.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this in Mere Christianity.  He said, “One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons—marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.”

I am really making four points here and am trying to pull them together.  1) We make too big a thing about the insignificant things that those around us do.  2) We often ignore much more evil things that go on around us.  Things that we should probably get upset about.  3)  We don’t worry about how our own actions affect those around us and don’t keep that in mind as we should. 4) The only true way to judge ourselves and the world around us is by looking through the lenses of God’s Word.  Trying to cover this much in one devotion is way above my ability, so this is the…

…end of part one!