Responsibility

In a completely unrelated expedition across the vast Internet, I came across a sign from a club that boldly stated, "MEMBERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR GUESTS."  I believe we are responsible for our neighbors.

As Christians, I believe we too often only want to be responsible for ourselves.  Some of us don't even want to "push" our religion onto our own children.  That's ridiculous.  Even the devoted atheist Penn Jillette will tell you that if you believe people are going to hell, you have a responsibility to try to prevent that.  He asked in a YouTube video, how much would you have to hate someone to believe that another person is going to spend eternity in hell and not bother to at least try to prevent it?

Jesus said, "if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). 

Do you hate your neighbor?

It has become popular for legislatures to introduce laws that require people to act.  In these cases, failure to act becomes a criminal offense.  The reasoning is clear: if you see someone in need, it is wrong to refuse to help them.  If you see someone that needs medical attention, and won't even dial your cell phone to get help for them, that's obviously wrong.  If you see a criminal act occurring, and you have the ability to simply step in and stop the offender from doing it, and you choose not to, you are equally guilty because of your negligence. 

Jesus also said, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). 
 Today you will have the opportunity to do something for Jesus through someone around you.  Will you extend love?

God's Love

I seriously doubt that anyone can grasp God's love.  I thought I understood love before my daughter was born.  From the first moment I saw her, though, I understood love in a completely new way.  It was as if I had never loved anything or anyone before, my love for her was so much greater than any other love I knew.  I know in my head that God's love is vastly greater than any love any person could have, even for their own precious child, but it's hard to imagine.

I recently read a story about a young Franklin Graham.  Franklin, the son of Billy Graham, was apparently quite rebellious in his youth.  According to the story, one day Franklin burst into an executive board meeting to ask his father for money.  Franklin had come in off his motorcycle.  Unshaven, dirty, and dressed in his leathers, Franklin was not exactly what I would call Billy-Graham-material.  However, Billy Graham, without hesitations, proudly introduced Franklin to each member of the board.  Whereas many of us would have been embarrassed, Billy Graham's love for his son outweighed any other emotion he could have had.

God's love is like that.  He loves us so deeply and so completely, that even though He knows everything about us--all our secrets, our mistakes, and even our very thoughts--He still loves us enough to die for us.  "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Even on your worst day, you are still God's child, and He loves you more than you can imagine.

Faith or Deeds?

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."


Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

James 2:14-18

Where does character lie?  Is it in our faith, or is it in what we do?  Are we considered righteous if we have faith without deeds?  Of course not--James makes that obvious: "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." 

What if we have deeds without faith? 

Tangent:

Some would argue that is simply never going to happen.  I think it happens all the time.  A person does the "right" thing, but for the wrong reasons.  Perhaps that is just what he was raised to do.  Maybe she is trying to do good to eventually reach "Nirvana."  People of all different beliefs (some of them--not all) do "good deeds" from the conclusions of their own world view--regardless of whether that world view holds any truth whatsoever. 

It is not enough to have good deeds.  Jesus was disgusted by the Pharisees.  These men were religious scholars, who went by the book and never broke any of God's laws.  They disgusted Christ, though, because their hearts were not right.  They didn't love people.  They didn't love God.  They were self-righteous.  Nobody likes the self-righteous.

So what's the answer?  Both.  Remember what James says: faith, without action, is dead. 

Imagine if Moses had obeyed God and performed all the signs and wonders in Egypt, led the Israelites out of Egypt, and to the banks of the Red Sea.  Then, imagine that as Pharaoh's army approached, God had told Moses to stick his staff into the sand and Moses had just said, "What!?  That doesn't make any sense."   Pharaoh's army surrounds the Israelites and takes them back to Egypt as slaves once again.  Moses and all the people would have been left asking God, "What was that all about?  Why did you perform all those signs and wonders in Egypt, only to bring us back as slaves once more?"  It wouldn't be long before those miracles were forgotten and all faith was lost.  The plagues in Egypt would have fallen in the cracks of history, lucky if they were remembered even as a footnote in history, and no one today would know who Moses was.

We must have faith.  We must act.  God will enable us to do whatever He asks of us.  We must follow his leading in accordance with our faith.  When we act, we will see God using us, and our faith will increase.  As our faith increases, we will better be able to follow God's will for our lives.  It builds upon itself.  Alternatively, we can just do nothing, see nothing, and receive nothing.

What would God have you do today?  Will you do it?

Rethink Church

Now, the clip ends by promoting the United Methodist Church. I am not a United Methodist, and do not intend to switch any time soon. Let's get that out of the way right off the bat.

This video fairly encompasses what I have been thinking about a lot lately. I am a big fan of Jesus. Church? Well, not so much sometimes. Church can be a wonderful experience, but so often it falls way short of that. My faith is not about rules, looking a certain way, or any of that stuff that church so often becomes.

How, then, do I let God reveal Himself to others through me? That, my friends, is what it's all about.

Jesus Never Fails

Maybe you know this song, maybe you don't. It's called "Jesus Never Fails," and it was written by Arthur Luther:

Earthly friends may prove untrue,
Doubts and fears assail;
One still loves and cares for you,
One Who will not fail.

Though the sky be dark and drear,
Fierce and strong the gale,
Just remember, He is near
And He will not fail.

In life's dark and bitter hour
Love will still prevail;
Trust His everlasting pow'r
Jesus will not fail.

CHORUS:
Jesus never fails,
Jesus never fails.
Heav'n and earth may pass away,
But Jesus never fails.

I'm not even going to disagree with the song. ("Aint gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent." G.H.W. Bush) My question is this. Why is it that we will sing the song in church but won't test it with our lives? Sure, when things get tough in life, it's nice to have a song like this (or it's basic idea) floating around in your head somewhere. I just don't quite get why we don't always live like it's true.

I think we need to give God a chance to fail. Go out and pursue what you think His will is for your life. Maybe you'll succeed, maybe you won't. If you don't succeed, maybe it will help you to learn to listen to God a little better. But if you heard Him right, you'll certainly succeed, will you not? Or, is that just something we say at church?

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

I'm not trying to pick on anybody, but not too long ago I read a blog in which the author discussed the acquisition of a new pet cat. The author attributed certain events in the pursuit of this acquisition as being the will of God. Their reasoning was that if God cares about the sparrows, He has time to care about their cat acquisition. That got me thinking. Does God really care?

While it's true that the Bible says (Matthew 10:29) that God knows when even a single sparrow will fall to the ground outside the will of the Father, I don't know that it means that He cares one way or the other. I imagine the text to be properly understood as, "Nothing happens against the will of God." I don't think that means God really cares about the sparrow one way or the other. The point is that if God did care, He would control the situation to please Him.

The larger theme of the passage is "Do not be afraid of them" (Matthew 10:26). I don't think it's accurate to interpret the Bible--here or anywhere else--to say that God will prevent evil people from harming us. He may, at times, choose to protect certain individuals or in certain circumstances, but I think the historical record clearly illustrates that God is willing to allow people to exert their free will, even at the expense of His people. For crying out loud, people killed His own Son! If the Father will allow them to kill His Son, why in the world would you think you're safe? Instead, I think that we are to live free from fear of our co-inhabitants on this planet not because they can't hurt us, but rather because in the grand scheme of things, if they do hurt us it doesn't really matter.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I do think God cares about even the minor events in our lives, such as our pets. Some pets are horrible little creatures, while others bring us more joy than our spouses. ;) I don't think, however, that God would take steps to thwart your free will to stop you from doing something, even if you are making an incredibly stupid choice.

Proverbs 13:8

"A man's riches may ransom his life,
but a poor man hears no threat."