Hallmark Movies

 I am not a fan of movies where, in the end, the bad guy wins. And I don’t think many other people like them either. I am making this bold statement judging by the popularity of Hallmark movies. We want the good guy to win in our fiction as well as in real life. But more times than not, in daily life we see wrong appear to win over right.

You may have seen what happens to people who have allowed bitterness to rule their heart. Their thoughts become consumed with fear and malice and they slowly become isolated in their bitter world. All their joy has vanished. If we could trace the origin of their bitterness I believe we would find that it started when an unfairness, disappointment, pain, or injustice happened and they believed that wrong won over right. Do not discount this. Bitterness is a tricky ploy of the enemy and it begins with waving the flag of righteous indignation. At this point it is our response to this apparent injustice that matters. 

Guard your heart. We are told in scripture throughout the Bible to guard our hearts. But what does this mean? As we all know, our world is full of unfair situations and it is our response to it that matters to the health of our soul. We cannot control those situations but we can control our response to that unfairness.

I don’t know about you, but my gut response to unfairness and disappointment is anger. Then I shoot off my mouth. Then I internalize it. Then it plants a tiny seed of bitterness. Bitterness is an underestimated powerful, slow acting poison. The natural way animals know not to eat a poisonous plant is a bitter taste. This is a lesson from nature. If you don’t believe me, just feed a small child their first bite of broccoli and then duck. In much the same way as consuming poison, that seed of bitterness grows in my heart and slowly begins to taint my thoughts and words. If I continue to feed this bitterness with wandering thoughts and internet rabbit holes, it slowly poisons my heart and causes a long drawn out suicide to the spirit in me.

Praise God, there is an antidote to bitterness’ venom once it has a hold on my heart! It was given in the Lord’s Prayer. “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness is the antidote to this poison. And Jesus must have known the destruction left by bitterness because he chose to address it in his model prayer. Forgiveness is anything but easy and it must become a daily habit until all the bitterness is gone.

Matthew 6:12 AMP – And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].

So what do we do to steer clear of bitterness when facing the apparent win of evil? Again we need to turn to the Bible. There are plenty of stories of injustice from Genesis to the New Testament. But my favorite response to injustice is in Psalms. Psalms is a book of prayers and praise to God. If you have read the book of Psalms through, you will be surprised by many of them. So many of them express fear, sadness and anger to God over situations in life. Some of it seems inappropriate by our standards yet those who were experiencing injustice boldly asked God for retaliation. They cried out to God in the honesty of their feelings. Here is an example from King David when folks were lying about him.

Psalm 5:8-10 NIV – Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make your way straight before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

I believe that is the most appropriate place to voice our anger and indignation. As we become more tuned in to the Holy Spirit we become more sensitive to the injustice of this world. So after crying out to God, we must remind ourselves of who is really in control and in his almighty power which we cannot begin to fathom. God does not tell us that this surrendered life will be a cakewalk. In fact he tells us that we will have troubles but he has let us have a peek at the final chapter and it will be far beyond that happy Hallmark ending we desire.

Hugging Rattlesnakes

 I have lived with the most innately discerning human for 37 years today. Being lacking in this area, I am ever-amazed at his abilities. He seems to see through to the motives of people and only on a rare occasion is he proven wrong. Discernment is like being able, at a glance, to recognize a beneficial snake from a venomous one, on the fly, while you are a little freaked out. I feel discernment is a very crucial skill in our world and especially for Christians.

How can we as Christians love everyone yet still have the discernment to know when someone is manipulating us? Because I am old, I have seen many instances where Christians were suckered in and manipulated by someone who does harm to them or to their church. I also have seen precious people who adamantly believe they should love and accept everyone be totally lost when they are forced to take a stand. They have no ability to discern. On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen Christians who build tall walls around them and their family because they aren’t able to discern the beneficial from the poisonous. These opposite approaches to living the Christian life have the same issue. We need discernment.

How do you determine a beneficial snake from a poisonous viper? It is through education and experience. Without education we either kill all the snakes, good and bad or we accept all the snakes and end up in the emergency room or worse. The analogy holds up for discernment. But the hard way to learn discernment is experience. Trust me, life is short and we really don’t want to learn everything the hard way. Thankfully, discernment also comes through education and the Bible is the ultimate source of stories of good and bad discernment and how to live as a Christ follower in an evil world. The problem for most of us is the Bible is tough to understand so we opt for an easier path.

Here is one example of the stuff that makes reading the Bible more of an adventure than a pastime, and definitely not for the faint of heart. In the beginning of Genesis, God designed one man for one woman. Then a few chapters later we see Ol’ Abraham taking more than his fair share of women. Yet he was flippin’ Abraham, the Big Kahuna of faith! So confusing! Mysteriously, if we prayerfully seek God we will begin to sort through the culture and sin and understand the important lessons about God in this book of stories of flawed humans realizing it doesn’t read like a novel. And it shouldn’t be read like a simplistic rule book either.

Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson is a book about how to read the Bible and is very helpful in understanding it. This book is challenging reading for me but I must say that I have begun to grasp some points that Dr. Peterson made. One of the main concepts in his book is that the Bible is largely written in stories(narratives) and should be read as such. We shouldn’t pluck a verse out of a story and call it quits. The very essence of God is expressed in each of these narratives. For example, Esther is a book of the Bible that never mentions God but the character and values of God are woven through this story. It is a wonderful story and I highly recommend reading it. However, if we approach this reading of Esther literally, we will be out skewering our enemies on tall poles. Each narrative in the Bible is set in a different time, culture and location. We must take this into consideration before we attempt to interpret any story of the Bible. So if we educate ourselves to the setting and culture in which the story is written, we will certainly begin to understand more about God and how to recognize a viper.

As Christians, we have to decide how to treat sin and our fellow sinners. I believe the best advice is in the actions of Jesus. He did not treat them all the same. He did not hug all the snakes. On one hand, Jesus said, “He who is without sin should cast the first stone” choosing not to condemn. But on the other hand, Jesus set his foot down adamantly against many proud pious folks, calling them snakes and broods of vipers. How did he know what to condemn? He was so brilliant. But He was God. He could look into the heart. And I am not and cannot. Thankfully he left us with the Holy Spirit and a Bible full of stories and advice. This is our resource so we must seek it out wisely.

Christians must be smart and discerning. We cannot accept everyone at face value. We must look through the facade. We must see past the fashionable clothing and alluring words and consider the motives of the heart. But we must also realize we are still sinners and not above anyone else. We have simply accepted a beautiful gift that others have rejected. It is like walking on a tight rope, there is always tension because it is not easy. If there is no tension when it comes to discernment, chances are we are choosing not to discern but choosing to accept all or reject all. We must discern the non-venomous snakes from the venomous and the best way to do that is through prayerfully, relentlessly studying the Bible.

Funerals and True Love

 

Everyone hates funerals. 

Except me. 

I have been to funerals for presidents, preachers, janitors and bus drivers. And also to funerals for those who were great church leaders and those who never once stepped foot in the church. I have been to funerals of those whose lives were well lived and those whose lives were wasted; for the proud and for the humble. I have been to funerals where there was standing room only and for those who had mostly empty pews. I have been to funerals for the very young and for those who took their own lives. Most of the funerals I have been to have been for the elderly. Even then, they are sad because goodbyes are so hard. And I shed tears at most of them. But in those tears are truth.

In those pews are people who are hurting and dealing with truth. And in truth I find comfort. For a moment in time, honesty and consolation is found in a world that has forgotten that this life is not all there is. For a moment in time, division and barriers are left behind and we are all mourning in unity. 

In a quote from Paul David Tripp in New Morning Mercies, he says, “Truth isn’t mean and love isn’t dishonest. They are two sides of the same righteous agenda that longs for spiritual welfare of another.” 

So I find in these moments of truth an opportunity for our spiritual welfare and for true love to shine through for each of us gathered together. This is what matters and what lasts. 

It is in those moments when we all assess what is really important in this life. It is in funerals that our priorities are questioned and sometimes turned upside down. It is in these moments that we finally stop our mad lives and are given the opportunity to find true love. 

What is the Test of Truth?

 Yesterday, I got to re-watch one of my favorite movies, Secondhand Lions. If you have never seen it, stop reading this blog and go watch it right now! In the movie, the boy has a difficult choice to make. He must choose to believe the fantastic, outrageous stories of his great uncles, or a plausible story of his mother. Spoiler alert: he wisely chose to believe his uncles. But not because their story was the most credible, but because of the actions of the uncles. His uncles were always there for him and protected him in their own strange ways. His mom, however, deserted him and repeatedly disappointed him. So this boy chose to believe the uncles based actions and not words. 

Today we hear so much talk. It is on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, news channels, email, texts, commercials, memes, music, movies and TV shows. We are constantly being bombarded with an input of words. Did you know that we have ‘smart’ billboards that change messages depending on the demographic passing by? And everyone has an opinion. It never seems to stop from the time we wake until the time we lay our weary heads on our pillows. So who do we believe? Among others, politicians, pharmaceutical companies and fast food chains are working to gain your confidence and they have done their homework. They know how to gain your trust. So do we pick those who align with our own “truth”? If so, how do we know they don’t have an agenda of influence and are telling us what we want to hear to seduce us into investing with them? And what about our children? Who are they listening to? 

We can, and should take control over what we read and watch. However, we do not have control over all information sources unless we lock ourselves in a closet. Eventually, seductive lies will reach our ears. The biggest lie may be the one we tell ourselves when we think that we can control all input for ourselves and our children. We can, however, teach ourselves and our children what to do with all this input. These lies must travel through our brains to change our thoughts and behavior. This is where we have control.

Two thousand years ago in a sermon, Jesus taught us how to discern truth. 

Matthew 7:15-20 NLT  "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.  You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Jesus knew then. He told us to identify the messenger and judge the message by way the messenger acts. This takes intent and purpose. Today, identifying the messenger can be difficult. In many nefarious messages we receive, the source is hidden under an alias. It takes thought to stop and analyze the source of a meme or article before we believe or repost it. 

And the second part Jesus said was to judge by the way they act. Notice that He did not say to judge by agreement with your political affiliation, your personal beliefs or how well the message was relayed. He told us to judge by the way the source acts. He shifted our truth from words to actions. He intended for us to shift our beliefs from flowery words that are music to our ears to actions that we admire. Look for integrity, consistency, hard work, kind actions(not kind words). Remember, anyone can say “I love you”, but only actions prove that love. 

Then we must teach our children to do the same. I can remember how my mom would analyze what people said with me. She taught me, at a very young age, to consider the source and motivations behind the words. We can’t always control the words we hear but we can control our thinking and learn to listen to actions and tune out the noise of words. And we have an obligation to teach our children to do so also.

Actions>Words

Truth

Cells of a common water plant under a microscope

My absolute favorite part of teaching science was teaching 6th grade students to use a microscope. Soon after this they could discover for themselves the microscopic functioning parts of a living plant cell and the microscopic zoo in a drop of pond water. Experiencing their excitement over these eye opening discoveries was beautiful. In case you didn't get to experience this, here is a video of pond water through a microscope.

As a science teacher, I have had the privilege of learning some of the astonishing details of the makeup of living things and Earth’s precise ‘Goldilocks’ location in this vast universe. It takes a much bigger stretch of the imagination to think that this amazing detail was made possible by some cosmic accident than to accept the fact that there is a Divine Designer. The truth is that there is a God who created this universe, solar system, earth, and every living thing in it. 

It is also a fact that God, in an act of love, sent his Son in the form of a human to this Earth over two thousand years ago. There is irrefutable evidence that Jesus walked on this earth, lived among humans, taught, and performed miracles while here.  There is irrefutable evidence that He was killed by being crucified in an agonizing and humiliating death on a cross.  His body was buried and after three days, he was seen alive, walking, talking and eating. And over a course of forty days after his death, it is documented that he was seen by well over 500 eye witnesses.  This is a feat that only God himself could engineer. To this day, as hard as they try, no one can disprove this fact. 

The purpose of God sending his son here was a mercy mission to give us a way out of our certain failure and destruction. 

John 3:16-18 ESV 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

He gave us the choice to accept or reject this grace. I have chosen to accept his mercy and now there is evidence in my daily life of his presence in me through the Holy Spirit. Without him, I am misguided, timid, incredibly selfish and self-centered, suffering from every malady inherent to a selfish lifestyle. Now, when I choose to listen to Him, he gives me divine power over this selfishness, as well as love for others and self-discipline to boldly pursue him in my life. So my daily walk before and after following him is evidence to me that the Holy Spirit is in my life now.  

This is the evidence and the truth. But don’t just take my word for it. You can search it for yourself. Please test God, the Bible and Jesus. Then you can chose to accept it or deny it based on fact, not hearsay.