24 Ounces of Sin

Okay, I got busted. I went through McDonald's and got myself a large Coke, the classic stuff, the HARD stuff, the stuff my doctor and every website about IDB and IDS says I shouldn't have. I know I shouldn't have it, but man, I love the stuff, and besides, it was hot that day and I'd been out in the front yard playing Abe Lincoln and splitting logs (that's a subject for another post believe me), so I stopped for a Coke. I left the empty container in my car, in plain view, thinking little to nothing about it...then my wonderful wife, Sandi, saw it. That's when I got busted. She reminded me that I'm not supposed to be drinking it and I know I'm not supposed to be drinking it. Yeah, I tried to justify it. "Honey, I was hot and I was splitting logs and I..." but she resisted. "You can justify it any way you want," she said, "but do you know what that is right there?" Pointing to the cup she said, "That's sin!" Whoa now, I thought. Sin. That's sin. It brought me up short because she was right. That cup of icy cold cola refreshment was sin to me because it was harmful to me, I knew it was, and I even tried to sneak it like some back alley drug addict. Ironically as I was in the drive-thru line to get my 24 ounces of sin, Sandi called me, and here's the bad part - I almost told the guy handed me the Coke to be quiet so she wouldn't know where I was or what I was doing. Now that's sin. The Apostle Paul has some words for me, in fact for all of us. He wrote in Colossians 3:2 and 5, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things...Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature..." Boy! I suddenly got real thirsty.

At the gym the other day I saw a man wearing a t-shirt with the name and logo of a church on it. I didn't know this guy from Adam (or any other Biblical character), but for some reason the question came into my head, "Does Christ own your heart or do you just own the t-shirt?" Like I said, I have no idea who that man was or what his convictions were, so I'm thinking this is something the Spirit of God is speaking to me about, so here goes. Let me ask you - How many t-shirts do you have that advertise places or people you don't even know or have no relationship with, like those shirts that someone bought for you from someplace they've been too, or shirts with the manufacturers' names on them. No relationship, just a t-shirt. Here's what I'm wondering - do we wear our Christianity like a t-shirt without a relationship? That is, have we chosen to let the world know we are Christians by declaration only and not by a changed life that only happens when we've surrendered ourselves to the will of Christ? Without that inner decision to give yourself over to the establishing and maintaining of a relationship with Jesus, no little Jesus-covering is going to make you a true follower or heir to the kingdom. Wow! I just realized how much "Christian-ese" I've put into this post. I guess another way to say it is (to borrow a friend's adage) "Drinking Tang doesn't make you an astronaut." Neither does wearing a church logo make you a Christian. Only giving your heart to God through the grace and mercy of Christ on the cross will make that happen. I prayerfully hope that you will surrender and will "put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). Hey, that might look good on a t-shirt!

If you've been following this blog, and I'd be surprised if anyone is yet, you may be wondering where I've been during the last week or so. Well, simply put I've been out playing with God, and He has a great playground! I too often forget how great of a playground He's created until I go on our annual camping trip. If I'm not sitting in front of my computer then I'm sitting behind my steering wheel and God's creation is either outside some place or whizzing by at 65 mph (OK, 70). There are days that the closest I come to nature is making the curve up the on-ramp to get on the 605 Freeway or mowing my lawn. But we have a true God of Wonders who created a whole world for us to play in, and so that's what I was doing last week. I played in his ocean, hiked among his brush and rocks, sat on His beaches underneath His beautiful blue skies. His dolphins jumped for my pleasure and His birds sang me awake every morning. God played with me! And I thoroughly and completely enjoyed it!

O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom have you made them all!

Those words are from Psalm 104, and I encourage you to read all of it...twice, then go outside...and play with God.

Suffering is No Fun

I preached a message on suffering last Sunday and found that I am much more passionate about the topic than I first thought. My initial reaction to the text (1 Peter 3 and 4) and it's presentation of suffering "in accordance to God's will" was, "OK, I'm over my head here. I've lived a blessed life, by most standards, so what can I say about suffering?" Henri Nouwen, in his book The Wounded Healer, stated, "The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there." That's where I believed I was, trying to lead people from the desert of suffering when I had not suffered (been there) much myself. However that changed as I started to unravel the mystery of suffering. Oh, I have a long ways to go before I fully understand it; probably never will in fact, but I can honestly say that I get it a little more than I did. In our suffering we are driven to the cross, as Joni Eareclson-Tada puts it, where we find a suffering savior that we can relate to and find our hope in because at the cross we can hear Jesus say, "Come unto me and I will give your rest." I also believe that in our suffering we are also driven to the empty tomb where we discover that suffering does have a happy ending. If we will allow ourselves to come to the cross and the tomb even as we suffer we shall be changed. As Peter said (1 Peter 3:14), "...even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed." That blessing may be seeing others who are suffering given hope by seeing our willingness to allow our suffering to change us into an instrument of God's grace. Let me close this with a quote from John Piper, "I've never heard anyone say the really deep lessons of life have come in times of ease and comfort. But, I have heard many saints say every significant advance I've ever made in grasping the depth of God's love and growing deep with Him, have come through suffering." Carry on, brothers and sisters, even while you know that suffering is no fun, for you are being changed into something glorious.