The Bride of Christ has a Cutting Habit

As a pastor, I am weary. Not only of the whole Covid thing, or the political thing.   I'm  weary of wading through much of the stuff that gets sent to my inbox by well-meaning people that I love who are trying to "get me on their side" in hopes of using my influence to help gain a following. Yes, I'm weary of Christians who have forgotten their calling and have made it their mission to champion lesser callings even to the detriment of the other members of the church.

We Christians, have almost always, been our own worst enemies.  And many of us have ceased to promote the cause of God as we have been side-tracked promoting the causes of men.  And whenever that happens, division occurs in the church.

To be sure, there is already plenty to divide Christians, what with our doctrinal differences and understanding of the scriptures from our varying vantage points and ecclesiastic filters.  Differences of opinion have always existed, but they don’t have to divide us.  In fact, they can be learning points as we discuss and share our understandings with others and they with us.

It’s when we cease discussing and instead, begin yelling, both verbally and non-verbally, that the damage is done.  And let’s be clear, there is lots of damage being done to the Body of Christ right now by those inside it.   It is as if the Bride of Christ has become enmeshed in self-destructive cutting, seeking to do another part of the Body in, never realizing that cutting one part of the body always takes its toll on our own part of the Body.  We can’t build up our side while the other side bleeds out!  We are ONE BODY!

And to an on-looking world, we appear to be more and more psychotic, and the cause of Christ is dismissed as ludicrous and laughable.  And as the Body bleeds, it bleeds precious souls who can no longer stomach the infighting and the aggression shown by one part for the other.

Often, those are the souls of the young, who take the very life-blood of the Body with them.  They have enough Jesus that they want to hold on to Him, but want to distance themselves from His Bride because they either cannot make sense of the Church any longer, or they themselves have been led to take up lesser causes by those in charge.

This is not new, you know.  We find an interesting story recorded in the book of 1 Corinthians. The topic: Meat offered to idols.  Oh…it was divisive.  

“We are free in Christ!”, one would say, “and therefore it doesn’t matter that it was offered to idols!”   “But we have left idol worship and there is so much other food out there!  Why should we go back to eating that food?”  “You are just yielding to fear and not standing in your freedom in Christ!”  And the debate got so hot they finally asked Paul to weigh in.  And Paul approached it from a whole different angle than they were expecting.

1Cor. 8:4    So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. ⁵ There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. ⁶  But for us,

  There is one God, the Father,

by whom all things were created,

and for whom we live.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things were created,

and through whom we live.

And those on the “freedom” side of the issue went…aha…see…WE were right!!  But Paul isn’t done yet. Let’s read on.

1Cor. 8:7    However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. ⁸ It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.

Do you see where Paul is heading here?  And the next sentence is key here as we even look for application today.

1Cor. 8:9    But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰ For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? ¹¹ So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹² And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 

And then Paul finishes with his own declaration—¹³ So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

The principle is simple— Live your life in such a way that you seek to build other people into stronger believers. It means living as a Christian on a higher plane than just our own thoughts and beliefs.  It is taking others into consideration as we hold ourselves to a higher standard of seeking to be Christ-like in our behavior. It means humbly laying down our “rights” as humbly as Christ laid down His life.  

And yet, here we are a few thousand years later, and many of us have either never stumbled on this part of the Bible, or have forgotten this principle as we use the same logic and arguments of those in the world and seek to pummel those who oppose us into alignment with our beliefs about politics, the virus, masks vs. no masks and vaxx vs. anti-vaxx.   And when they refuse, we either redouble the direct attacks at them, or we (perhaps angrily or perhaps sadly) leave them and join others who believe like we on those topics, and talk about how ignorant, mislead and wrong the other side is.  And we forget that they are someone for whom Christ died.

While I’m not suggesting that you violate your own conscience in any way, I am suggesting that perhaps you could tone down the rhetoric when discussing them online, as well as in person, with someone who may not see things as you.  Where you may see a conspiracy or loss of freedoms, others are living in abject fear of a disease that has perhaps already taken a loved one from them.  To ridicule them for their fear doesn’t build up the Body of Christ.  It cuts it open.

And while you may believe that everyone should be wearing a mask, being critical, judgmental and dismissive of those who perhaps choose not to or see it as an invasion of their freedom also doesn’t build up the Body.  It cuts it open more.

Have you considered that it is pride that keeps us from even wanting to humble ourselves to help someone on the other side?  What if we were to humble ourselves, for the sake of Christ, and actually try to apply Biblical principles to the difficult situation that we face?

What if, for those who believe it is necessary to wear masks for the health of the whole community,  we were able to re-apply Paul’s words of 1 Cor 8:7 here?  Perhaps we could rephrase it to read:  “We don’t lose anything if we wear it and we don’t gain anything if we don’t wear it.”  In other words, wearing a mask is not necessarily the point, but what if, though I might not believe in their efficacy, I went ahead and wore one in public, not for MY sake, but for the sake of those who are fearful and just want to feel safe?  Could I further the cause of Christ by simply being considerate of others?  

And for those who would love to see forced vaccines, what if you were to go back and look at verse 12.  "And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ."

Christ’s way has never been one of force, or ridicule, or superiority, or battling of words or any of the things we employ as we seek to best our opponents, whether inside or outside the church.  His has always been a way of love and of choosing to humble oneself for the good of others, putting their needs ahead of one’s own.

Have we forgotten why Christ died and the message He entrusted to us?  It isn’t to politics, or to champion masks or vaccines that we are called.  We are called to so much more.  Ours is a calling that is to help people see that God loved so much that He sent His son Jesus to die because He was not willing for ANY to perish!

If we continue on, I fear that with each jab, stab or slice, more precious souls will continue to bleed out of the Body, leaving it weakened and dying.  And we are doing it to ourselves! We were meant for so much more.  Christ calls us to a higher level.  And if we continue to attack one another within the walls of the church, Christ’s sacrifice and message of Love is totally voided and nullified in the eyes of an onlooking world.

Though the commandments, the Sabbath, the Sanctuary and the Second Coming doctrines are all important, NONE of them are what Christ said would be His identifying mark of His followers.  There is only ONE identifying mark and we are missing it badly right now, Church.

John 13:35  “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

The left hand has to stop cutting on the right and the right has to stop slicing the left.  We are all ONE body.  Let’s take care of ourselves through the power of Christ and then get on with taking HIS message to a dying world because THAT is our true mission.

Philippians 2:5-11
5    You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6    Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
⁷  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸  he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9    Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
¹⁰  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹  and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Long Haul Endurance

 As this Covid thing rages on, I find myself growing very weary, and some days, just flat out discouraged. It's so hard some days just to get up and put one foot in front of the other and make yourself go out the door to do the same things you've done so many days before. And to make it worse, it sometimes feels like you aren't getting anywhere. Which is what makes today's word stand out like a sore thumb. I woke up this morning with the word "ENDURANCE" on my mind.

I thought first of Joseph and all he had to endure. I thought of the text that we looked at a few months ago that started simply with the words, "Two years passed..." when Pharaoh's butler had forgotten him in the jail after promising to tell Pharaoh about him. Contrast that with the idea that we are about 9 or 10 months into this COVID trial, and he had another 14 months totally BEYOND that. Bless his heart...and that was AFTER he had been sold into slavery by his brothers and falsely accused by Potiphar's wife! He truly ENDURED a lot!

My mind went next to Moses and how much he had to endure just leading the children of Israel through the wilderness for 40 years. I will be finishing 40 years of ministry next May seeking to lead the children of Adventists and at many turns, it has been totally exhausting. The complaining, the stubbornness, the power plays and the criticism that Moses had to endure, I've also had to endure...but what's worse, unlike Moses, I've turned around and done the same to those God put over me. They have had to endure ME! (and I know that sometimes I'm not the most pleasant to be around).

I next thought about Jesus. He endured much. When you think of a spotless, totally innocent, holy being, having to just COME to this earth, it had to be painful to His divinity. Perhaps that is why God had Him be born and grow up, so He didn't have to learn about all of the evil all at once. Contrast that to the end of His life AFTER He had encountered demons, masses of broken people and hated by those who claimed to be representing Him.

To be alone in the Garden, much like Eve thousands of years earlier, facing the tempter and enemy of souls, but with the heat turned up way beyond what Eve and Adam had to face. Yet Jesus endured. He held on and persisted in prayer. He asked for what He wanted, yet said, "But not if it is in place of YOUR Will, Father. I want YOUR will above mine." And HE endured to the very end of His life to give us hope in the middle of ours.

It is during the most difficult times that we are to endure hardship so the Lord can show Himself strong in our lives. The Bible doesn’t just speak to physical suffering, but especially to suffering for the sake of the Gospel. It doesn’t just call us to endure suffering, but to embrace it. Check out these passages.

2Tim. 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

8 ¶ 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, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

1Pet. 4:12 ¶ Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 ¶ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

What was that? Those who suffer according to God’s will… whoa…hold the phone… What does that mean? God wants us to suffer?

No…but He doesn’t necessarily want to rescue us from the troubles of this life because if He did, He knows that we would just be satisfied with staying here and then we would never long for heaven…so He allows suffering. Suffering, from that perspective then, is within His will… Whenever it comes, Peter says our response should be to commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Paul writing to Timothy says: 2 Timothy 2:3 "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." -

The writer of the book of Hebrews 12:7 "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

James adds this. James 1:2 ¶ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (endurance) 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

That’s a reason for endurance. It helps us become mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Need one more reason to develop endurance and perseverance in your life?

James 1:12 ¶ Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

So yeah...I'm tired of this COVID mess, and I wish it would just go away... I'm tired of this election mess and the uncertainties it continues to bring. I'm overwhelmed at times by all of the evil, sickness, death, and other things beyond my control, but I am called to endure it, and whatever other trials come my way, knowing that my faith is being built day by day, one choice at a time and that in due time, like Joseph, I will be taken from this dump of a prison to the palaces, not of Pharaoh, but of God Himself.

Hold on my friend! You too, with the the grace and help of God, can endure today.

The Thank-You Cure

When I was a kid, when the fall colors started to appear and the weather grew crisp in the Northern Hemisphere,  we began to look forward to a holiday that we in America simply call, Thanksgiving.  It was a time to celebrate God's mercies to us throughout the year and to join with extended family members and spend a weekend enjoying food and each other's company and to discover your place in a shared family lineage as the stories were piled one on top of the other and laughter and love seemed to rule the day.  

It seems as though, in our current era, we have no time to celebrate Thanksgiving, as the retailers would have us jump from Back to School Sales to Halloween Sales and then straight to Christmas.  And we have all but forgotten Thanksgiving.  Were it not for grocer's who still want to cash in on the reminiscent holiday, it would probably totally be skipped.  But the Thanksgiving holiday is not what I am trying to champion here.  While I think it is still an important holiday, I would suggest that it is what is behind the holiday that is really important.  Thankfulness.  The act of being truly grateful for what we have.  I even believe that being thankful could help us with the worry fear, anxiety and other things that we struggle with on an almost daily basis now.  Which reminds me of A. J. Cronin and a story he once wrote.

A. J. Cronin was born in 1896 in Cardross, Scotland. He was educated at Dumbarton Academy where he received baccalaureates in medicine and surgery. In 1914, he entered the Glasgow University Medical School, graduating in 1919. During World War I Cronin served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. After the war, he worked as a ship's surgeon on a liner bound for India, and then served in various hospitals. In 1930, his health broke down and he turned to writing as a profession. In 1931 he produced his first novel, "Hatter's Castle," which became an immediate success. He followed it with several best-selling books including "The Citadel," "The Stars Look Down," and "The Keys of the Kingdom." 

Once Cronin told about a colleague who gave an unusual prescription to patients afflicted with worry, fear, discouragement or self-doubt. The doctor called it his thank-you cure. "For six weeks I want you to say thank you whenever anyone does you a favor. And to show you mean it, emphasize the words with a smile." Within six weeks most of the doctor's patients showed great improvement.

Are you down to try it?  As you consider your answer, here are a few other things to think about.

"Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies." - Charles E. Jefferson

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." - Colossians 2:7

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Giving thanks should not be a once a year event. Nor does it necessarily need to be smothered in food and feasting.  Rather, it should be practiced daily for all the blessings that we receive. Are you feeling worry, fear, discouragement or self-doubt? Today in prayer, thank Christ and thank others whenever anyone does you a favor.  And to show you mean it, emphasize your words with a smile!

Will You Yield? NEVER!!!!

Storms are a natural part of life.  Small storms, like frantic searches for car keys when you are due at an important appointment.  Medium storms, like not having enough money to pay rent, or someone slamming into your parked car, putting your patience to the test as you walk through mountains of insurance issues and getting your car fixed or totaled and finding a replacement.  Finding a broken pipe, or a rotted floor or some other headache that you hadn't planned on dealing with. Then there are those HUGE storms.  Storms that threaten to do us in. That phone call that lets you know a loved one has been in a bad car accident, or has passed.  That doctor's report that tells you that you have cancer or COVID or some other equally bad piece of news.   How do you hold on then?  How do you not only hold on, but how do you actually grow stronger?  I believe it is in learning to yield your circumstances to God..

But that is much easier said than done, since yielding requires giving away even the last bit of the control we have.  But yielding to your circumstances to God can actually help you grow stronger as you meet the challenges of life. 

Yielding.  It means to “give way, to acquiesce.”  A more personal definition would be: to surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another : hand over possession of : to surrender or submit (oneself) to another.  

But we don’t like to yield (except, perhaps, to our temptations!)  It is not in our nature.  Everything within us revolts at the sound of yielding.  Oh, we do it when we have to…like when we come to a busy street and there is a yield sign.  But we don’t do it readily.  As a matter of fact, if the truth were to be known, we are approaching that yield sign to see if we have enough room to squeeze out in front of that car that is coming.  If we have just enough room, we will usually gun it to pull out in front and let them step on the brakes rather than yielding.  

In fact, as I have studied human nature, we don’t even value the idea of yielding, because we think it makes us look weak.  We, like Robin Hood, when presented with the question “Will you yield?” quickly respond...at least in our hearts, "NEVER!"  We would rather fight and go into the water before we would allow someone else to get the better of us.

So when someone says you can grow stronger through yielding, it almost sounds impossible.  But it is true.  Part of growing stronger as you go through the storms of life is realizing that God can use whatever circumstances you find yourself in if you will just rest in His care and yield to His will for you.  And if you’ve learned to trust Him in the good times, it is much easier not to panic in the storm.  

I had a mentor once, an older retired minister, named Sam. He still worked part time at the church I was at for a small stipend, but he loved people and he loved God and wanted to continue to spend his time bringing the two together. Sam was married to Dorothy.  And Sam and Dorothy had weathered many storms in life.  Family problems, many deaths of those close to them, financial pressures and at times, their own health challenges.  

One day Dorothy began to experience some abdominal pain.  She chalked it up to something she ate and figured it would pass.  But instead of going away, the pain got progressively worse, so she scheduled an appointment with her doctor.

A few tests, and the diagnosis did not take long.  She was already in stage 4 of pancreatic cancer.  I watched as Sam took care of her over the next few months, spending less time at the church and more by her side.  It wasn’t long before Dorothy died, her abdomen having swollen to the size of a basketball from the cancer inside her.

I will never forget that funeral and especially the graveside service.  Sam was there, and though he shed his tears over the one he had spent so much of life with, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t questioning God and he wasn’t particularly trying to keep a stiff upper lip to put on a good show.

I walked up as he watched them shovel the dirt onto her casket and I put my arm around his shoulder.  He looked over at me and said, “I praise the Lord that He gave me such a good woman to go through life with.  She was my sweetheart.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. I trust Him to do what’s best. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

That spoke volumes to me of a trust in God that can develop in a person who chooses to yield to the will of God for their life.

What about you?  Have you learned to yield your impossible circumstances to God?  Your suffering can make you bitter or better?  Closer to God or farther away.  It depends on what you choose to do.  Yield or retain control…But I think if we can learn to yield, we will find that our lives will be more in control and make more sense and we can have a peace about us that does not flee in the presence of bad circumstances.  And no matter what, we can say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  

The question I (and you as well) have to answer as I meet each of life’s challenges: Will  you yield this circumstance to God?

Who Filters YOUR Air?

So I changed my a/c filter the other day and it was filthy. I couldn't believe all of that stuff would have gone through my a/c unit if not for the filter. And then I began to think of all of the filters on all of the A/C units in the Western part of the US in recent weeks, working hard to filter out all of the smoke from the forest fires, leaving people able to breathe much better than if they were out and about with nothing to filter the air in their environments. It was then I came to a brilliant conclusion on the matter: Filters are good things.

It's true in the spiritual realm too. By spending time in God's Word, you allow God to put filters in your mind that will help you screen out a lot of the noise and the peace-wrecking static. God-filters can give you perspective that filters out the minutia that destroys the bigger picture that lets us know that God is in control even if things appear bad. When we run the noise of the world through God-filters, a lot of the junk just won't go through, which leaves us breathing healthy, purified and peaceful spiritual air. You don't have to be subject to every wind of fear that blows through. You can live a life of peace by breathing the air from God's life-giving filter.

But the devil has filters too. He will filter out the good and cause you to believe the worst of others. He will create suspicions and angst and cause you to be short of temper and long on criticism. He will only let you see what causes you to despair. His filter system will lead to panic attacks, heavy heartedness and a loss of focus as he gets you to hone in on hearing all of the wrong voices. Worse yet, the devil specifically filters out the calming, peace-giving voice of God leaving you with spiritual air that is as toxic as smoke over the Western US during forest fires. You can't live on it long without succumbing and going down.

In this age of where the news blows in rancid, toxic air on an hourly basis, and where people have breathed hate-filled, or despair-filled or conspiracy-filled air for so long that they have become increasingly polarized on issues and many are now ardently defending things that they once said they detested and abhorred.

See, without a God-filtered perspective, the devil can twist our minds and bend them to accept logically-based conclusions that only make sense if there is no God. And it doesn't matter whether you say you believe in God or not, as long as the devil can filter your spiritual air, he can lead you to a functional atheism that concludes, "well, if that's the case, then..." without ever questioning whether that indeed IS the case.

What if Daniel had only accepted the devil's filtered air when told he could only pray to the king? "Well if that's the case, it's only for 30 days." (And some of us have gone longer than that without going back to God to breathe His air.)

What if Joseph had said, "Well she IS my owner's wife, therefore, also my owner...so I guess I have to do what she says."?

What if Moses had said, "Well, that's it folks...it was a good 3 days while we had it...but looks like we are trapped between the sea and the mountains now."?

Each of these was able to keep their perspective, because they filtered their circumstances through a better, bigger filter! The filter of God's life-giving, life-saving, peace-filled, redemption-based reality.

Question: Who filters what is currently going through your mind? Not sure? Look at the air on the other side? Is it peaceful, focused and calming or are you given more to fear, anxiety, and suspicion? If you aren't getting the results you desire, change filters.

Of Facebook Cannons and Twitter Bombs

The issues are the same: We get wronged and we want to tell everyone about how wronged we were and how unfairly we were treated.  But the weapons have evolved through time.  From face to face to telephones and now social media.  Facebook cannons and Twitter bombs. If you wrong me, (or I so much as perceive that you oppose something I might hold dear, thus creating, at least in my mind, the offense) I will BLOW you off the face of the social media map by turning the tide of popular opinion against you

and then, not only allowing, but encouraging others who agree with me to also get their shots in, until you are totally pummeled into submission.  And even after you wave the white flag of surrender, I will come back and drop another bomb just for good measure before I finally turn and fly off.  But allow me to digress.

It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Take, for instance, what happens when someone truly wrongs us...or even if we just perceive that we have been wronged.  What happens?  We immediately want to let people know that we were wronged and we try to gain more people to agree with us about how badly we were treated.

Back in the day before technology, when people were wronged, they told their family members, or their friends or maybe even a judge.  Some even took justice into their own hands and developed "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" mentality.  They wanted to make sure that they exacted their "pound of flesh!"  There are many examples throughout the Bible of people seeking to "get even" or make someone else pay or at least to come out of a scrap without losing anything.

Think Joseph's brothers after being told another wild dream.  Think Jezebel after her prophets were done away with.  Think of the two mothers in Solomon's court arguing about a baby.  Think the priest who lost a concubine to rape and cutting her up and sending a piece of her to each tribe to show what the men of the tribe of Benjamin had done.  They all wanted to let people know how much someone had wronged them.  There is nothing new, as King Solomon said, under the sun.

You've done it.  I've done it.  It's only natural that I want YOU to know how much I hurt and have been WRONGED.  And let's be clear.  There are legitimate hurts that need to be addressed.  There ARE wrongs that need to be righted. But there are also right ways and wrong ways, if you are a Christian, of going about it.  Likewise, even if you aren't a Christian, there are more productive as well as less productive ways of going about things.

Which takes us next level.   There are two main motivations to make changes.  Force and choosing to change out of Love.  In our society, and in fact, in most societies throughout history, there has been an element of force or coercion underlying almost all social structures.  Each may have some valid points, but each also has its drawbacks.  From Empires in the old world to clan clashes and religious clashes in more recent times, almost all rely on a "might makes right" mentality.  Or another way of looking at it is "majority rules".  Marxism, Socialism, Communism, Naziism and even democracy all hold this in common.  They all utilize the idea that if we can just get enough people to join us for the change that we believe needs to happen then we can make them do it.  And most of it comes from the fact that we see the same problem, but all put forth different solutions as to how it should be addressed. (Which is why the election cycle becomes extremely tedious as each side seeks to rally more votes so they can be in power and make people do things their way.)

All of these social structures hold this in common.  The only difference is the distribution of wealth and power.  That's what the whole French Revolution was all about.  Seeking to throw off tyranny and establish new control over the distribution of wealth and power.  But if you read history, those who originally killed the aristocracy on the guillotine would themselves end up perishing the same way only a few days, or if lucky, a few months later as popular opinion swung wildly back and forth for a time.

So man operates off of the basic premise: If I have more power than you, then I can force you to do what I want you to do or I will simply eliminate you one way or the other.

But Jesus came and demonstrated a different way.  His "come, follow Me" was never followed by the words "or else".    His was a way of loving reason.  Of thinking about the other before Himself.  When the leaders of the synagogue and the people of Nazareth tried to throw Him off a cliff, He hid and then moved on to the next town.  And once there, He wasn't talking about how His own townspeople and neighbors had tried to kill Him.  He was talking about the Kingdom.  He was telling them that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to redeem it, not to judge it...but that the world might be saved through Him.

And then He taught, in Matt. 18:15    “If another believer^a sins against you,^b go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. ¹⁶ But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

And how did Jesus treat pagans and tax collectors?  With love.  Ask Matthew.  Ask Zaccheaus.  What about pagans?  What about the Centurion with a sick servant?  Or the Samaritan woman at the well.  These were who the Jews considered pagan.

Somehow, I don't think Jesus would ever say, "If another brother or sister sins against you, leverage your social media capitol and light up your Facebook cannon and drop your Twitter bombs."  See, once you bring out the big guns, your disagreement is guaranteed to only escalate until one side or the other realizes what is going on and backs down, or one side or the other sways enough popular opinion to bombard their adversary into complete and total surrender.  But surrender doesn't mean that minds have been changed and hearts have been won.  

To leverage your social media against another without so much as a face to face or at least a private phone or even private email conversation may win you the skirmish, but it will never win you the war.  You may leverage enough social capitol to load the cannon and deliver and you might even force someone's hand on an issue.  You may even force things that are right and good to happen.  But even if you get the right results utilizing the the wrong methodology will never truly serve you for the long term.  In the end, you always stand to lose more than you gain.  It may be a loss of relationship, or a loss of trust, respect or credibilty  and reputation.  It could even be the loss of your salvation.   But you will always lose something, even if you happen to win in the short term.  To paraphrase Jesus...he who lives by the cannon, dies by the cannon.  Or whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.

Without a doubt, change is needed in many areas.  And undoubtedly,  there are issues that we must address and face if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus in the public arena.  But HOW we address them is just as important as addressing them.  But note that Jesus never asked us to be successful in creating change. He only asked us to be faithful in our presentation of Him and His love.

Maybe it is time to put away the Facebook Cannons and Twitter Bombs and instead of trying to force others to change their beliefs or their actions in order to get more results,  perhaps it's time we live like Jesus and lead with Love.  

The Hard Choice

I don’t care who you are—suffering will touch you. There is really no such thing as a charmed life. The wealthiest all the way down to the poorest. We all suffer. You might be saying, “Oh, I’d like to suffer the way they have to suffer. At least I’d have a Beemer.” “Or at least I’d suffer in a million dollar house.”

If that’s your type of thinking then you haven’t really been paying attention. If watching hurricanes and tornadoes sweep across the land has taught us anything, it would have to be that the million dollar houses can be ruined and swept away as quickly as the shanties.

Recognize that while you may be thinking of a better way to suffer, there are millions of people who are suffering much worse. Did you know that there are children being born in Africa today, to parents with AIDS. Those children themselves, are born with AIDS, and they will live their entire life and then die an early death and not know one day without suffering.

Think about that. If you have had at least one day in your life free of worry or pain, you’ve got more than they will have in their entire lifetime. But recognize that it is not the suffering, itself, that brings you closer to Jesus.

It is what you choose to do with your suffering. It is how you choose to handle the crisis, the trauma, the
sickness, or the bad news. You can choose to run to Jesus and allow Him to comfort and strengthen you in (and perhaps even deliver you from) your suffering, or you can choose to run away from him and blame Him for your suffering.

One choice will bring you closer to Jesus and give you strength to bear up and persevere through whatever it is you are having to face. The other will cause you to grow bitter and miserable, to the point that others will soon go out of their way to avoid you.

Choose wisely..but choose. Don't let your life go into default.