Category Archives: Parables

Drug Resistant Diseases and Hardness of Heart

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Drug Resistant Diseases and Hardness of Heart

When I go to the hospital, that place built for healing, I am always particularly careful to wash my hands and use those hand cleaning wall dispensers that are everywhere. I do this because we know that some of the most lethal and drug resistant diseases can be caught in the hospital. This happens because they have been “almost cured” but because they were not completely killed they have developed resistance to the drugs meant to kill them.

Over the years I have observed in the church that in many cases those least likely to respond to the “Good News”, or least likely to respond to a new way of thinking or acting or understanding of Scripture are those who have been a member of the church the greatest number of years.

The correlation here is this. If we are in the church and are hearing God’s Truth through pastors, teachers, endless devotionals and Sunday School lessons but we do not respond to those teachings by surrendering our will or by allowing the Spirit of God to search our heart, try us and prove us or as Psalm 139:23-24 puts it, “Investigate my life, O God, find out everything ab out me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong – then guide me on the road to eternal life” (The Message) the same thing happens to us.

We can be exposed to enough Truth from God to bring us to a place of conviction about what we must do or stop doing. But if we resist that ‘nudge’ by the Spirit within us, we become a little more ‘Truth resistant”. Little by little, year by year our hearts can get to the place where we are no longer able to be convicted by the Spirit of God.

Then what can happen is that when some young and teachable person comes alongside those whose hearts have become hardened, those subtle ways of resisting God’s movement in our hearts may be learned, even without realizing it. After a few years, we become immersed in the ‘culture’ of such a church, becoming ever more resistant.

These churches, like the hospital is meant for physical healing, are meant to be a place where we find forgiveness, healing for our damaged emotions, a vibrant relationship with God and others. But those very places meant for healing may be transformed to a place where someone is least likely to know God or be reconciled with others. This is perhaps the greatest of all tragedies.

But this does not need to be the case. I read today in Mark’s gospel where Jesus cast out those well meaning, misguided busybodies and raised a little girl from death! Today, in many of our places built for spiritual healing, no less miracle is needed!

Of Politics and Courage

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This morning I read in Matthew 2:3-5 of the interchange with Herod and the priests and teachers regarding the birth of the Messiah and where He was to be born.
What strikes me is this:  These leaders studied the Scripture and they knew, THEY KNEW, that the Messiah was to come and from where He would come.
But there is no evidence they worshiped Him or followed Him.  There is no evidence that as Herod mounted a military campaign to destroy this Messiah they lifted a finger to try to prevent this carnage of the innocents.
Today there is no shortage of ‘priests, preachers, scholars and teachers’ who study the Word of God and who may even be consulted for their knowledge.
But the greater question which is posed by Matthew is this:  What do we do with this knowledge ? Do we have courage to do what is right even when our position or repuation are in question? In the midst of life and all that comes with it our true motives and priorities are challenged by what we do with what we know.
Our world is racing into oblivion.  We are killing each other and our world.  If we know the truth, if we understand the implications of the Scripture and the Gospel, how do we respond when proclaiming that message threatens us, our importance, our position, or our well being?
As we stand in our holy attire, wrapped in a feeling of righteousness because of what we know, are we stading silently to gain the favor of Herod as he inwardly hates all we stand for?
Herod was more concerned with preserving his own power and status and he used religion when it was convenient to him or ignored it when it got in his way.
When it is inconvenient to be known as His follower or if acting and speaking the Truth in Love means loss, do we lose our voice and do our feet and hands cease from obedience to His call?
Do we belong more to Herod and his kin than to the Suffering Messiah?
Lord, I fear that in my comfort with my religion I may be more like these tepid, cowardly followers of Scripture and law that I would like.  If my understanding of Your Way does not cause me to live a life of courage and power then perhaps I may be unknowingly participating in the ‘murder of the innocents’.  God help me, help us to abandon our quiet lives for lives of courage out of love for You.  Amen.

An Old Crumpled Map

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An Old Crumpled Map

I remember the ‘good old days’ of crumpled maps and highlighters guiding us along the highway toward our desired destination.
One Sunday morning, my very first Sunday serving a new appointment in a rural church, I found myself lost on my way to my first sermon at the first of three churches and three sermons that day. My confusion arose from the fact that I could not find my current location on the crumpled map in my hands. Though I had been to the church I was following a different route I was assured was faster and better. However, with each passing moment my anxiety grew as the appointed time approached! Joyfully, a member of the church, recalling that their directions were inaccurate and concerned that my following them would never bring me there arrived and led me from there to the church just in time!
Reading Scripture this morning and thinking of the spiritual condition of our modern ailing church I wonder why a similar sense of alarm at being lost does not resound resulting in heartfelt pleas for direction and guidance.
Thinking back to that time of being lost, my anxiety was driven by the fact that I knew what the area around the church should look like and what I was seeing was nothing like it at all!
Rather than take an honest gaze at where we are as a church or as individuals we would rather have a ‘virtual’ picture of our own creation. In this fantasized view of who we are and where we are we are able to add and subtract our own impressions of our spiritual ‘location’ so that we no longer feel ‘lost’? The result of this is that no matter what our actual spiritual ‘location’ is we can feel that we are not lost at all! This is indeed the worst of all positions. Had I not known I was lost, I would have been unwilling to follow someone who understood where we were and where we needed to be. In humility I focused on the back of her car and determined not to turn or stop until she did. The result was that my anxious thoughts were replaced with true joy and peace as I saw the church and knew we had arrived.
Today we have abandoned the ‘roadmap’ of Scripture. Today we have replaced the images of what our spiritual ‘location’ should resemble; the lives of Jesus, the Apostles, intrepid pilgrims before us in favor of more ‘modern’ models. Our current mental portraits of what our spiritual location should look like are shaped by money, things, budgets, popularity, in short… our culture.
Because we are gazing at the wrong picture and we are following the wrong map we no longer feel lost. On that Sunday morning so long ago, no amount of fantasizing or wishing could have changed my lostness. Only with an understanding of the reality of my lostness and humbly following someone who knew more than I would bring me to my desired destination.
Lord help us to become honest. Grant us humility to admit that we are wrong. Grant us a willingness to lay down our crumpled cultural maps and pick up Your Divinely inspired Map. As we read of our lostness grant to us a willing mind and heart to abandon our own misguided sense of direction and follow Your Spirit whom You have sent to safely guide us home from whatever corner of this fallen world we have hung our hope. Amen.

God and Gutter Balls

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God and Gutter balls

I have not bowled for a long time but I can still recall the experience well. I am an inconsistent bowler. I have earned a score as high as 263, and as low as 63. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. On days when I am bowling well the gutters seem like an unnecessary afterthought. On a bad day they seem more like a life saving barrier to protect me from killing or maiming other innocent patrons of the bowling alley!
It occurs to me that God functions in a somewhat similar way in our lives. He provides “gutters” to guard against choices brought on by having a bad day in the game of life. Life is a series of choices when you come right down to it. And we are the decision makers. God in His infinite great love and mercy has given us free will so that we may make any number of choices regarding our lives. I wish that I could say that all of mine had brought God glory and made the heavenly angels sing. Alas, this is not the case. Sadly there are days when most of my decisions would result in a score of 63 or even lower!

Because God knows each of us intimately, He is also aware of ways in which each of us should be limited in some way. As such we all face certain limitations in life, such as where we live, how much income we have, how much strength and energy we possess, our life situation, and even the number of years we have upon the earth. Many of us seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to alter these limitations. Our tendency, when confronted by a boundary or limitation, is to try to find a way around it. How often do we stop to consider that it may be serving some purpose in our lives? God demonstrates his approval of boundaries in the way that He created the heavens and the earth. He placed boundaries between the sea and the land; between night and day; between each species in where they should live and how they should function. A fish cannot nest and fly. A bird has no gills and cannot swim. These are limitations which are for the good of these species. Does it not make sense that a loving God would place limitations on his human children as well?
Paul asked for God to remove one of his limitations. A ” thorn in the flesh” as he described it. What was God’s answer? “My grace is sufficient for thee”. Whatever the limitation Paul was facing he apparently needed it. God left it in place.

And so He does in our lives as well. Before we ask God to push back a boundary, knock down a barrier, or remove a limitation, perhaps it would be wise to consider its possible meaning and purpose. When we feel ourselves frustrated by hitting the wall with something it may be the time to prayerfully seek wisdom and guidance from above. God is certainly still in the business of moving mountains. But He is also a God of order, of boundaries, and He knows just exactly how much of each we require in our lives. Our job is to humbly submit to His will for our lives, trusting that He always has our greatest good in mind.