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A Time for Silence

I’ve always been intrigued about the story of Laban. Jacob’s decision to return to Canaan is motivated, at least in part by God’s will (Gen. 31:3). But another factor was his deteriorating relationship with his father-in-law, Laban (Gen. 31:2). Without warning, Jacob uproots his family, getting a three day jump before Laban finds out that his son-in-law, daughters, and grandchildren are long gone. Like a posse, Laban pursues Jacob for seven days. Like water reaching the boiling point, Laban fumes over Jacob’s double-crossing. With seven days to think, Laban rehearses his speech; he’ll repay Jacob for the pain and damage caused. 

But the night before Laban overtakes Jacob and sets to confront him, his sleep is disturbed by a visit from God. “Be careful,” warns God, “not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad” (Gen. 31:24). Wow!  God puts a cork on Laban’s bottled anger and oozing thoughts of retaliation. I’ve often wished God would intervene like that whenever someone had a score to settle with me. Even more, I’ve often wished God would intervene and stop me from saying or doing something I later regretted. 

The trouble with “words” is that they emerge from a problem with the heart. Jesus made it clear that it’s not what goes into a person that makes him/her unclean but what comes out of the mouth (Mk. 7:15). So whatever is going on in the heart will emerge from the mouth. We might hope the words are as sweet as honey, but we often hope in vain as what emerges is as vile as projectile vomiting. 

In the New Testament list of “big” sins, the spoken sin always finds a voice. For instance, Romans 1:29 speaks of those filled with wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. Yes these are big sins, but so are the ones associated with the mouth: gossip, slander, and boasting (Rom. 1:30). I may not be guilty of the former, but of the latter . . .? In the list found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul includes slanderers alongside the prostitutes and drunkards who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. While the acts of the flesh (NIV’s “sinful nature”) stand in opposition to walking by the Spirit, they do not include the spoken words; they do talk of “fits of rage” (Gal. 5:20).  Paul tells us to get rid of all slander (Eph. 4:31), obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse (dirty) joking (Eph. 5:5); such traits disqualify a person from any inheritance in the kingdom of God. James, recognizing that the tongue, i.e. mouth, can be as wild as an unbroken stallion, says to bridle it and keep a tight rein on it (Jam. 1:26). 

James’ larger context is that the person who believes they’re religious or spiritual, yet cannot control the words he/she says is only fooling themselves; God cannot be fooled. Therefore, one of the signs that our religion is either pure or corrupted is found in the way we use words, because what we say reflects our hearts. Our heart is the throne-room. Who sits on that throne is revealed by what we say. And there is only one throne in our throne-room, and only enough room exists for one ruler. Since I doubt you’ll ever get the help to bite your tongue like Laban did, we have to ask ourselves, who’s ruling our hearts? What we’ve been saying speaks volumes about who exactly rules our hearts.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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CHURCH: Start Finding the Good

The bad stopped playing “hide-n-seek;”
No longer does evil try to conceal itself;
Positioning itself through propaganda and marketing;
The worst of society has come out loud and clear,
But can we Start Finding the Good?

We step into the church hoping to find the pure, the just, and the holy;
We expect that Christians are actually acting like Christ.
But we find that the difference between the world and the church is a thin line,
We find too much of the world’s thinking has crept into the church.
So we’re left to wonder, is there any way we can Start Finding the Good?

We listen to the message hoping to hear good news;
Why does it seem like all we hear about is the bad news?
All we hear about is Nadab and Abihu struck down by God for offering “strange fire,”
Or Ananias and Sapphira facing a similar fate for lying to the Holy Spirt.
Why can’t we Start Finding the Good? 

We’re told about two roads,
One leads to life and the other to death.
I don’t want to be on the road to death,
But why does the road to life feel like death?
Surely, one of the roads opens the way to Start Finding the Good?

My week is full of my own sin, failure, struggles, and hopelessness,
I can’t do the right because I keep doing the wrong.
I come to worship God in dreaming of discovering forgiveness and grace,
But when I awake, I am reminded of how God cannot love me.
I don’t know if I can ever Start Finding the Good.

They say the glass is half empty,
And the only thing you see at church is the bad.
But what if the glass could be half full?
Your eyes are suddenly opened to God’s work;|
And maybe we can Start Finding the Good.

Jesus never came to condemn you, me or the world;
We were doing a pretty good job of that on our own.
Jesus came to save you, me and the world,
He paid the price for all mankind for all time.
It makes me want to Start Finding the Good.

So here I am leaving this highway to hell forever,
Instead I am climbing the stairway to heaven.
And along this journey, I’ll stop magnifying or the bad, the negative, and anger.
I’ll no longer minimize the right, the positive and the love.
I’ll Start Finding the Good.

I’ll Start Finding the Good when I open God’s word,
Looking for God’s grace, mercy and steadfast loyalty.
I’ll Start Finding the Good when encountering God’s people,
Extending compassion, kindness, gentleness and goodness.|
I’ll Start Finding the Good.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

This poem is an attempt at the “couplets” where the first and second lines are repeat themes. This was a common practice in Hebrew poetry. JAP

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The Delimma of a Zero Tolerance Police

The first time I heard the term, “Zero Tolerance Policy,” was in the wake of the Columbine tragic shooting. I was intrigued by the term. Schools, motivated by Federal Government funds, decided to take a strong stand against violence, and I applauded them. In the wake of the shooting, two boys came to a school in Greene County, Tennessee dressed in overcoats like Columbine shooters. They thought it was going to be funny as they carried no weapons. But the outcry was loud and they were suspended. Personally, I was glad. It looked like the “Zero Tolerance Policy” was going to work.

Then other reports began to surface which began undermining the purpose of the policy. The first was an Eagle Scout holding a 4.00 GPA in school. He had never needed disciplined and was, by all accounts, a model student. Then he returned from a camp out and failed to unload all of his camping equipment from his truck. In the back was a hatchet and a knife. The student, under the new “Zero Tolerance Policy” was expelled from school. Another account involved a kindergarten child who, in a “boys being boys” moment, bit his cookie into the shape of a gun. The student was expelled because of the policy on guns in school.

Holding a “Zero Tolerance Policy” does sound like one is taking a strong stand against crime and behavioral problems. Advocates claim that the policy levels the playing field so that it eliminates any room for discrimination. Thus, punishment is unilaterally given for those who are in possession of weapons on school grounds, or bullying, or possessing drugs or any kind.

I can see how Christians are drawn to the “Zero Tolerance Policy.” They can point to Scripture showing God acting unilaterally in punishment for sin. So Nadab and Abihu are executed for offering “strange fire” in the Tabernacle (Lev. 10). Uzzah is killed for touching the Ark of the Covenant (2 Sam. 6:6-7). And in the New Testament God puts Ananias and Sapphira to death for lying to the Holy Spirit concerning the amount of money they gave to the church (Act. 5:1-11).

As powerful as these stories are, they are outliers and exceptions to the rule for how God deals with his people. God’s merciful judgments are far more numerous than his justice judgments. He spared justice for Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit. He spared justice for Cain when he murdered his brother. He spared justice for Moses for failing to maintain God’s holiness before Israel; God allowed him a view of Cannan. He spared justice for David over Bathsheba, though the fallout in his family seemed punishment enough. The truth is God does not operate out of a “Zero Tolerance Policy;” he works from a grace and mercy position.  

The “Zero Tolerance Policy” has not curbed the violence like it has promised (i.e. look at the number of school shootings). The policy does not distinguish between opioids and a baby aspirin (i.e. the same punishment for distributing opioids is the same punishment for giving a student an aspirin for a headache). It tends to be a quick fix for long term problems. It tends to embolden those in position of power and weaken those who have no say. And some studies have suggested that the policy targets minorities (i.e. it does not level the playing field).

So if God built his relationship with humanity based on a “Zero Tolerance Policy” in regard with sin, who would escape punishment? As Paul quoted the Psalms in Romans 3:10-18, his answer is clear: no one. If God treated us exactly like we deserve, none of us could stand before him. But God doesn’t treat us like we deserve, does he? So if God has rejected a “Zero Tolerance Policy” as a mandate to deal with humanity (i.e. you and me), why do we keep thinking that this policy is a good policy to follow?

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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Restoring Civility

“Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell . . . You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also . . . If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Mt. 5:22, 38-41). 

A number of years ago I accessed YouTube to introduce my children to The Muppet Show. When I searched the site, the old men in the balcony, Statler and Waldorf, appeared. Someone had strung about two minutes worth of insults together. We laughed till our stomachs hurt and tears flowed. Poor Fozzy Bear who absorbed the blunt of the humor, heckling, and harassing. Such bantering was scripted and all in fun, evident by my children’s reaction to the video. But in the real world such mocking is rude and lacks respect. The danger is that such incivility in the real world threatens the social fabric that weaves us together. 

We live in an informal society, where people “speak their minds” at the expense of other’s feelings, who address seniors by their first name instead of “Sir” or “Ma’am,” and where Casual Friday includes jeans has extended to most parts of the week and social occasions. The comfortable, laid-back environment seems to allow far more intimacy, where people can be themselves. However, it also seems to spawn rudeness, disrespect, and selfishness.

We turn on the TV and the panelists on the talk shows attack each other instead of discussing the issue. The more sensitive the issue, the more passionate the panelist justify their insults. We tune into talk radio and the host of the show spends his/her three hours on air demonizing anyone who disagrees with his/her position. We open up FaceBook only to find angry and disruptive arguments, leaving us wondering why we’re even friends with them? Without face-to-face interaction, we feel the freedom to say anything unfiltered and the result is a lack of civility in our society.

Do we get along with people? Are we being neighborly?  How fast do we seek retaliation instead of forgiveness? Do we respect boundaries and are boundaries enforced? Are we a people characterized by decent behavior in all situations? Civility is about public restraint, by controlling ourselves for the greater good of the community. Without civility, society leads to civil unrest, and chaos soon follows, and the fabric holding us together ends up frayed. 

Jesus addressed civility when he spoke of turning the other cheek, avoiding name calling, blessing those who curse you, widening the definition of “neighbor,” and forgiving those though they were executing him. Even “shaking the dust off one’s feet” was a civil way of leaving an uncivil environment. So discipleship forces us to act with civility even when those around us are uncivil. 

Have we lost civility? If not, it’s almost gone. If civility is restored to our society, it will only happen when people of faith begin acting like people of faith. When we treat everyone with dignity and respect, we’ll begin restoring civility. When we engage others with listening ears, we’ll begin restoring civility. When we stop making blanket statement on groups and try to understand individual plights, we’ll begin restoring civility. When we start adopting Jesus’ policy of love and shut down the rhetoric of hate, we’ll begin restoring civility.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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Does Your Talk Match Your Walk?

The demon possessed little girl was trafficked by men who used her curse as their gift to make money. She spoke the truth, at least in this case. Actually, she shouted the truth as she followed Paul and Silas around Philippi the first week they were in town. What she said was true; these two men were from God telling everyone how to be saved (Act. 16:17). But something beyond the words was very wrong with her message. So after a number of days of following the men with her vocal insight and commentary, Paul turned to her and in Jesus’ name cast out the demon.

At this point in the story we need to stand in the conflict between the girl’s message and the girl’s life. Beyond the fallout for Paul (i.e. falsely accused, arrested, beaten, jailed), one might question his action. If the girl is speaking the truth, does it really matter what was hidden deep within life? All that mattered was that the truth was being spoken, right?

Years ago I had a conversation with an elder concerned about the Involvement Minister. Over a seven year period he began questioning the man’s ethics. Actions taken could not be reconciled with the explanations given. The elder told me that every class the minister taught and every sermon preached he listened, hoping he’d say something conflicting with (his interpretation) of what was clearly taught in Scripture. In my youthful zeal I told him, “I don’t think it’s always about what the person says in the pulpit that matters, but how they live outside of the pulpit.”

Paul exorcises the demon from the girl, and part of me thinks he over-reacted. She wasn’t lying. She was pointing out exactly who Paul and Silas were. She was clarifying their mission. She was right. What was wrong with that?

For Paul almost everything was wrong. Beyond the basic information being true, the source of the information was corruptibly wrong. Her information was not revealed to her by the Spirit of God, but through the demon destroying her life. Paul didn’t need that kind of endorsement, if he needed any at all. Maybe that’s the key to this little girl’s story. It mattered to Paul whether or not this little girl possessed by the demon not only spoke the truth but was allowing the truth to speak through her life. Since the demon wasn’t about to repent or change, Paul wanted nothing to do with the demon. He cast the demon out of the girl.

We call this “Talking the Talk” versus “Walking the Walk.” Red flags are raised when we find someone who says the right words but whose life is lived in contrast to the spoken words. Jesus might have called them “actors,” people who were pretending to be his follower without any semblance of allowing him to shape their life.  We call them hypocrites.

The conversation with the elder eventually led to action, though not because of anything I said. The Involvement Minister was discovered in fraudulent activity regarding church funds and was immediately dismissed. His wrongful actions far outweighed his truthful words.

Jesus talked about fruit inspectors (Mt. 7:15-19). He said to examine what kind of fruit people are bearing in their lives. If you cannot see how Jesus has changed their life, then maybe the person should be questioned. Maybe the speaker should be tuned out. Maybe the church should stop putting such individuals on a pedestal and start putting Jesus back on the pedestal.

In a time when people will say anything to get you to listen and to buy into their agenda, we need to use more scrutiny. Just because a person knows the right words to use when speaking to the public, doesn’t mean they live by those words. If the walk does not match the talk, then maybe we should stop listening to the talk.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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Confessions from Living in A Maze In Grace

(I wrote this in August of 2014 following the suicide of Robin Williams. After the tragic suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain this week, I felt like we needed this article again. JAP)

The tunnel was dark, black, and bleak. Not right. If there was a tunnel, there might be an exit, and light ahead, and if there is light, hope exists for an escape. No, it feels like no hope exists. It’s not a tunnel but a prison, with a lifetime sentence and no chance for parole. The darkness, blackness, and bleakness felt heavy, like a thick fog, disabling your vision. Or the darkness, blackness, and bleakness is pounding like a rainstorm, so strong you cannot see the road before you. It felt heavy, like a hundred pound weight strapped around your neck, and every step takes all your effort. Inches for everyone else is miles for you. The message you hear between your ears is loud and clear, like an announcer at a stadium for all to hear,

“You are a failure!

                You are worthless!

                                You are unloved!

                                                The world is better off without you!”

Do you remember the video from the 9-11 attacks? The planes struck the World Trade Center, the fire consumed the buildings and they were about to fall. People, hundreds of people, were trapped in the building. If they stayed where they were, they would have either been consumed by the smoke and fire, or become the rubble from the fallen building. Some 200 people saw no other option, and in order to escape the inferno, they jumped to their deaths. 

Depression is the silent killer. It feels like you’re living in a dark hole, and no hope of escape reveals itself. No one loves you, and if they knew you they would hate you, so the depressed person believes. Suicide is rationalized as the only means possibly of escaping the hole. Reports tell us that about 10% of the American population suffers from depression (10% is probably a low estimate). Do the math, make the count; at least one in every 10 people you know probably suffers from depression, and its cause is varied in form: chemical imbalance, medications, chronic illness, sedentary lifestyles, abuse, ADHD, life setbacks, alcohol etc. 

The outward signs of our lives may have nothing to do with the inside of our hearts. The perceived success in business or in beauty only cover up the failure and ugliness realized within our own lives. I once sat with a successful, beautiful middle aged woman and talked. From the outside looking in, she had everything: A respected business, a godly husband, wonderful children, a spiritual depth to be admired, and she looked ten years younger than her age. However, out of the depths something was swelling. “I fight it every day,” she confessed. “What’s that?” I wondered. “Depression. Sometimes getting out of bed takes all my energy.”  She continued to explain, “I would never commit suicide,” a long pause emerged as she tried to find the right words, “but every night I pray that God will give me a heart attack while I sleep so that I will not have to wake up in the morning.” 

I wanted to dismiss her feelings and tell her to “snap out of it,” but you cannot simply snap out of depression. I wanted to minimize her pain by telling her to listen to more upbeat, praise songs, but her heart needed to read more of the Lament Psalms. I wanted to ignore her journey and tell her that the road will get better, but what she needed to know was that God would continue to give her the strength to face each day.  

Depression is a heavy burden, and those who suffer from it often hide the symptoms, and they’re often experts at hiding the symptoms. They can make you laugh and be the life of the party. They have good days, and they have bad days – and when they have bad days, it seems that they’re strung together like stringed popcorn wrapped endlessly around the Christmas tree. They feel very weak, but demonstrate a strong faith by bravely facing each enclosing storm. Sometimes those suffering from depression just need to know you care, that you love them, and that “God’s grace is sufficient, for his power is made perfect in weakness.”

My name is Jon Partlow. I am your minister. I have battled depression since 1999, and my life has been A Maze in Grace.                                                               

Solo Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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Spiritual Disciplines Everyone Can Do

Spirituality in a person’s life can be difficult to balance and to manage. We believe the giants of faith can walk on water, move mountains, or are beyond temptation. But everyone fights in the battle. Everyone struggles with sin. Everyone lives with the scars. While everyone drinks from the spiritual wells, some wells are deeper than others. So the question might be, how can we deepen the wells we drink from to enrich our spiritual life? Here are some common suggestions anyone can do to improve their spiritual walk with God.

● Worship . . . The Church gathers every week to worship God and to break bread. While together we sing, pray, give, commune at the Table, and are encouraged and challenged by exhortations from God’s Word. Because it’s an assembly, accountability and fellowship is built into this one hour. Unfortunately, church and the church gatherings have been devalued and even attacked; it’s often viewed as irrelevant. However, for spiritual purposes, never underestimate the discipline and value of spending Sunday with God and with each other.

● Prayer . . . From the simple prayer before a meal to the quiet time you spend with God, prayer allows us a direct line to God. We can share, not only our struggles and pains, but our dreams and visions too. It’s really about a relationship with God, and he wants us to come to him with no pretense (Mt. 6:7). We can talk to God and open up about our lives. We can approach him in full confidence knowing that he will not reject us because he wants to have a relationship with us.

● Fasting . . . Of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting has probably taken the biggest hit. Who wants to go without eating? The value of fasting is the discipline of saying “no” to your body for something it wants but doesn’t need. Most of us have conditioned our bodies to get hungry at a certain time when the truth is what we experience is “false hunger pains.” Paul talks about making his body a slave (1 Cor. 9:27) so that he can avoid his body enslaving him on its desires. While many people cannot fast an entire day or a few days, one can skip meals, limit snacks, or even limit fluid to juices.

● Confession . . . They say “confession is good for the soul.” They may be right. Getting things “off our chest” helps lighten the load, and makes our burdens easier to bear. James links confession with prayer (5:16) telling us that the two disciplines work in tandem with each other. We confess to each other and pray for one another.

● Serving . . . While volunteering has taken a hit lately, finding ways to give back to the community, the church and/or to God takes attention off of self and places it onto others. It’s a way to empty ourselves so that we can keep our own selfishness at bay. More so, secretly doing service keeps our motives in check.

● Reading . . . We live in a time where more volumes have been written than we’ve previously known, but fewer people are reading. An amazing paradox stands that the most common way God has revealed himself has been through his written word, and yet we don’t like to read. Beyond prayer, the simplest way to encounter God every day is to open up our Bibles and begin reading. While we’re in the mood to read, why not look at the ocean of books, periodicals and blogs put out there on a regular basis. While a lot of stuff published isn’t worth the time or effort, much of it is. Find or ask someone you respect where the good stuff to read is.

● Generosity . . . As we continue to look outside of ourselves, being generous reminds us that we do not own the material things but that we’re stewards of the resources God has given us. In order for money to lose its control over our lives (1 Tim. 6:10), money must be viewed as a means for ministry not as a stockpile for wealth. By letting go we’re building trust in God that he’ll take care of our needs and use us to bless others.

By no means are these the only spiritual disciplines for our lives. Echoing the Hebrews writer (Heb. 11:32), I don’t have time to talk about joy, quiet time, role of music, simplicity, and more. However, these are good starting blocks to develop your spiritual walk with God. They only demand what you’re willing to give, but what they give back will deepen the spiritual wells you drink from.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(only God is glorified!)

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A Light to Guide My Faith? Or A Barrier to My Own Belifs?

The Psalmist says that God’s word is a lamp to his feet and a light for his path (Ps. 119:105). He goes on to proclaim his loyalty to God’s law and his word no matter the circumstances, for his hope is in God’s word (v. 114).

The backbone of my faith has always been Scripture. I was taught at an early age to read it and to study my Bible. We carried it with us to church and, like the Bereans of Acts 17:11, followed the preacher’s logic to see if it lined up with Scripture. We kept the Bible by the bedside to read before going to bed. And if that wasn’t enough, I was sent to a small, private Christian school where daily prayer and Bible classes were mandatory to my education. The result was the emergence of a high view of Scripture, and a conscience effort to root my teaching and preaching in God’s word.

While I was taught to trust God’s word, I was also taught to be suspicious of anyone whose view of Scripture differed from mine. Since I was a conservative Christian, anyone to my left was held in suspicion. Since they didn’t take God’s word seriously (according to the standard I was shown), they were not to be trusted. They watered down God’s word and refused to preach the whole council of God. But in my twenty-five years of preaching, my experience has not quite lined up with what was taught me.

In the book of Zechariah, the people came to the prophet for advice. Following the fall of Jerusalem and the temple, Israel initiated a day of fasting to mourn the temple. For seventy years they commemorated this day, but now that the temple had been rebuilt they weren’t sure if they should continue this tradition. So they asked Zechariah for a word from God on this matter.

The response they received was not what they expected. God indicted them. First, God questioned their motives for their so-called “moment of silence” (Zech. 7:5-6). Secondly, he told them that their continued actions was not better than their forefathers taken into captivity (Zech. 7:7). Then he landed the final blow to Israel when he outlined what he really wanted from them, and it wasn’t a feast or a “moment of silence.”

Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other (Zech. 7:9b-10).

I wish I could tell you that the Israelites responded and repented. I wish I could tell you that they tore their clothes in sorrow for their self-righteousness. I wish I could tell you how revival swept the land. But they were no better than their forefathers. They stood, turned their backs to Zechariah and plugged their ears to his message (Zech. 7:11-12). The response of the prophet did not fit their definition of what God wanted from them, so they refused to listen.

Where the word of God is intended to be a light to guide our faith, more times than not, it’s a barrier to what we want to believe. When we’ve stood to condemn people for undermining Scripture to support their belief system, we’ve failed to consider if we’ve done the same thing. We believe we should forgive, but justify the refusal to forgive “that” sin. We believe we should be compassionate, until we don’t trust people’s motives. We believe we should help the poor, only as long as the poor help themselves. We believe we should show love, until it’s a person difficult to love. Somewhere Jesus voice is silenced: “Yes, forgive ‘that’ sin. Yes, continue to be compassionate. Yes, keep helping the poor. Yes, true love is being stretched to its full measure.” If the truth be known we are the ones undermining the very authority of the Scripture we hold so dear.

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) once said, “Most churches don’t hear God’s voice because we’ve already decided we aren’t going to do what he says.” I don’t think it’s just an indictment on those to my left, but to all who claim to follow the word of God.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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The Least of These

They never saw Jesus. Surely if they saw him they would have acted. Clearly if Jesus was present the food would have been given and shared. But no one saw the Son of Man, they just saw a homeless man on the side of the road dressed in ragged clothes, needing a bath, and holding a sign asking for food.

Rationalizing is easy. They’re too lazy to actually work. They’re manipulating the welfare system. They’ve blown their money on drugs and alcohol. They’re reaping what they’ve sown. If I dehumanize them, I don’t have to feel guilty when I ignore them.

So Jesus offers a glimpse into the scene on the day of his Return. He divides everyone into two groups as if dividing sheep from the goats. One group is welcomed into his kingdom, while the other group was rejected. One group was called “righteous,” and the other group was called “cursed.” The one group took action, while the other did nothing. Significant to the story, and to history of the church, the Return scene in Matthew 25 is rooted in compassion for the poor, not in specific doctrinal differences that divide the Christian community. In other words, Jesus is more interested in your level of compassion and less concerned about how many times you’ve taken the Lord’s Supper.

One of my fondest memories my two trips to Honduras was feeding the homeless with Amber Foster of Breaking Chains. She made a huge pot of soup and we drove to three locations to distribute the soup to the hungry. They were kind and gracious. They snorted glue from empty Coke bottles. Though we were in a dangerous part of town, I never felt like I was in danger.

I imagine plenty of people could rationalize a reason for Americans to avoid participating in such a ministry. It’s dangerous as the gang activity is high; Americans are at risk on foreign soil. If you get hurt what kind of medical care will you get? Or the government is supposed to take care of the poor. But one night under an overpass as we reached out to homeless families and offered them something to eat and kind words of encouragement, left a lasting impression.

The other day, I left SOMC after visiting a church member, the local hospital. Since it was near lunch time and I was driving past Burger King on my way back to the office, I decided to get a bite to eat. The sign on the door said, “Accepting Applications,” and I took notice of it as I entered the restaurant. I ordered my burger, fries and drink “to go.” With my drink and bag of food in hand, I exited the establishment, got in my car and started my trip back to the church building. As I turned left out of the parking lot, I stopped at the red light. To my left was a homeless man holding a sign asking for food scribbled on a piece of cardboard. Our eyes met. I had the bag of food and drink next to me, unopened. The light turned green and I took my eyes off the man and focused on the road before me. As I reached into the bag for the hamburger, I rationalized . . . “he’s too lazy to work, and he’s probably manipulating the system, and more likely, he’s blown his money on booze.”

As I drove away in silence, something in the back of my mind kept saying, “whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Mt. 25:45).

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)

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Trash Pick Up for the Soul

As a child, I remember commercials trying to educate people on what trash is versus what trash is not, as if people really didn’t know the difference. Everything they showed was trash, from the cigarette butt flicked to the road to the fast food wrapping paper tossed into street to the bags of trash falling out of a truck.

During the 1980’s a national movement was underway to clean up the roads and highways. Commercials were produced with the then popular Oak Ridge Boys lending their voices for the theme song, “Take Pride in America.”

When I lived in Tennessee in the 90’s a State-wide campaign was in place to raise awareness for the amount of trash on the side of the highways. I remember a heavy man wearing a tank top driving a convertible down a road. His car was full of trash and as he was going down the road the wind blew the trash all over the highway. It didn’t help things that he was throwing some of it out himself. They called the guy in the car, “Tennessee Trash.”

Following the flooding in Scioto County, keeping Highway 335 impassible, one of the disturbing aftermaths was the amount of trash that lined the highway and other main roads. Finding the source for all that trash might be hard to determine. But it feels like the trash simply gravitates to water.

For the past couple of months, it seems like all I’ve seen is the line of trash accumulating beside the road, and with it comes two concerns. First, something is disheartening when considering how apathetic people act about the trash, and their disregard for creation by throwing trash to the side of the road. As a society, we’ve lost our pride in the beauty of the earth. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Our world does not belong to us, or even to the next generation, but we’re caretakers of our world for God.

Secondly, the trash by the side of the road will eventually make its way into the rivers and streams, and ultimately to the ocean. The trash will kill the land, and in turn kill us too. Have you seen the videos of the amount of trash that is collected out of our oceans? One source says that 5.25 trillion pieces of (plastic) trash floats on the surface of the water, or 800 million tons of (plastic) trash. How does one begin the process of cleaning up that mess?

We may not be able to stop the big corporations and companies from polluting the land and water, but we can stop being the cause for our trash reaching the waters. We can stop throwing trash to the ground, and we can be mindful of picking it up as well.

I remember the first time a trash problem was evident. It’s not like I’d never not seen trash before that time, but I never noticed the extent of the trash until college. As a child, and when my mother was not around, I remember finding glass bottles on school playgrounds and I’d shatter them because it sounded cool (if mom saw me do that, I’d not be alive today, and if mom reads this, um sorry mom). But when I was in college, my brother and I travelled to the Florida beach for a summer holiday weekend. As we swam in the ocean, I was horrified by the amount of beer (and maybe Coke) bottles and trash floating in the water. Who uses the ocean as their personal garbage disposal?

The Old Testament carries a rich theology of the land. How Israel took care of the land was in direct proportion to their relationship to God. Second Chronicles 7:14 links repentance to God healing the land. In the same vein, Numbers 35:33 warns against polluting the land, and how its result has spiritual consequences. Leviticus 18:24-28 describes the land as having vomited out it caretakers because of their idolatry, and warns Israel its fate for participating in the same rebellious sin. Maybe what the Biblical narrative is telling us is that the way we treat the land is in proportion to the way we treat God. If we’ve polluted the land, maybe it’s an outpouring of the pollution in our own lives.

I once participated in a “adopt a highway” campaign stretching by the church I was preaching for. We got out and spent an evening picking up trash. It wasn’t fun, but the company was. It was hard work. And the stretch of highway looked a lot better. Maybe picking up trash is a simple reminder of cleaning the trash from our own lives.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)