Being “good”

Our news has been awash in the sordid story of sexual assault at a fraternity house at Cornell University. The details are too ugly for this blog but suffice to say – the behaviors recounted all around sicken me with sadness. Young adults degraded themselves while turning another person into an object for their own gratification.

Terrible behavior is nothing new. History is replete with examples of depravity and cruelty. Yet, I believe it is time for Americans to take a long look at the results of our culture in which music and entertainment for the last generation has regularly mocked what is good all the while celebrating sensuality and unrestrained sexual pleasure as a virtual right and something quite sophisticated. We have redefined our most basic understanding of what it means to be human.

    Pornography has become a $100 billion business with digital content available anywhere at any time.

        A majority of babies are now born outside of the covenant of marriage.

    Protection for those who are homosexual has morphed into gross parades of depravity on our city streets.

     We demonize those who are different, speaking words that show no regard for humanity at large.

§          The discussion of ending the lives of the elderly or disabled no longer brings revulsion.
    And the list could go on …

Christian, let’s reclaim ‘goodness’ as something beautiful, to be celebrated and taught to our children.

Jesus says – “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 5) The word He uses, “tob” -is packed with meaning - “good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best.”

The wisdom of Scripture tells us not to surrender to the baser things of the world which we live thinking that ‘is just the way things are.’  Instead, we who belong to Christ are told - "Don’t let evil get the best of you but conquer evil by doing good." (Romans 12:21, NLT)

At one time we praised people who were careful to be kind, to pursue excellence in character, who trained themselves to avoid coarse and profane speech, who honored their parents, who did not even allow a hint the ugliness of sin to be tolerated. Were we always perfect? Of course not! I am not naïve. Hypocrisy has always been a part of humanity and many times our professed ‘good’ did not match our private reality. Never the less, we are fools to abandon God’s call to goodness, thinking that being able to ‘tolerate’ sin is a mark of sophistication or maturity.

Another passage tells us that the key to knowing peace with God is our commitment to true ‘goodness.’ The passage is often quoted but truly lived much less often. Take a look. "And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8-9, NLT)

Join me in praying that the Holy Spirit will lead us to a kind of life that marked by “tob,” a commitment to that which is pure, worthy of the Light, that causes us to keep the royal law in our thoughts, words, and actions. What is that law? James defines it for us: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”   

Jesus taught us that there are just two rules for life that will create true goodness in us-
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NLT)

How about it, friend? Shall we recapture the good for the glory of God?

Amen.

Give Me Patience … Now!

Patience is not one of my strongest traits, and that is an understatement. When I’m stuck in heavy traffic, I grow impatient. When I sit in an office waiting for my appointment to begin, I have to do some mental exercises to stay calm. When the circumstances of life are frustrating me, I want things fixed and orderly – right now!

To me, God speaks this wisdom. "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." (Psalm 27:14, NIV) He does not always work at the speed at which I desire. He does not always reveal His plans. Yet I am told to ‘wait.’

Sometimes in those seasons when I am waiting, I confess that other issues enter my life.
My prayers grow colder and more formal.
Scripture is harder to understand.
Worship does not flow from a glad heart, offered more from duty than delight.
As I grow more restless, distractions draw me in many directions.

Thankfully, there is this promise that helps me press through the difficult time. "He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:29-31, NLT) What a paradox. In our anxious desire to see something happen, the answer is not “try harder.” Rather, it is trust Him with patience.

What does it mean to ‘wait on the Lord?’ 

A key part is the willingness to surrender to His will. The Psalm illustrates the concept - "Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so, our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us." (Psalm 123:2, KJV) Those who worked in a household as servants stood by, patiently. They were not focused on their own agenda but were attentive to the desires of another. “So, we wait upon the LORD, our God.” 

Waiting on the Lord requires deep faith.
Others may see the choice as laziness or lack of enthusiasm.
Some may claim to have a vision for you, urging you to act now.

Even the first disciples, who had an urgent mission to ‘go in all the world and preach the Good News’ were told first to wait. There was work to be done in them before they were ready to serve. It may be that the Spirit desires to do something IN YOU, building faith, changing your heart.

Here is what Jesus said to those first disciples about expectantly and patiently waiting for the Spirit.
"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." (Acts 1:4, NIV) “Wait,” He said, “don't rush off, trying to force something to happen while you are only half-prepared.” 

In God's time, the Spirit moved on them. "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:2, NIV) "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:4, NIV) Those men and women left that Upper Room, filled with the Spirit, empowered to go and become the foundation of the Church. Prepared, ready, and effective - changing the world! Let God do what He needs to do as you wait patiently on Him.

Our word from the Word is a Psalmist's prayer. If you are in a time of waiting – make it your plea. "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel (people of God), put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption."  (Psalm 130:5-7, NIV)

I will wait on the Lord. Will you?

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Video at https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55

 

It Doesn’t Make Any Sense

A flow of information floods our lives like water pouring from a firehose! Pundits tell us about public policy. Doctors inform us about the latest health trend. Podcasts bring us ideas about every conceivable subject. Conversations with dozens of people each week require more thought and evaluation.

We absorb information about the economy, wars around the world, the corruption in our government, the failure of higher education … and a thousand other things. Much of it is presented in terms that demand changes unless I want to witness the end of life as I know it.

My question is - how do we evaluate all this information?
How do we make the best choices with such an array of options before us?

If left to human wisdom alone – be it my own or that borrowed from others - I realize that I am in real peril because the so-called ‘experts’ have failed me too many times. The 'wise' have turned out to be fools; the 'righteous' revealed as frauds; last year's 'truth' was replaced by this year's discoveries.

The late Dr. David Wells wrote that when we turn from a God-centered life to a man-centered one, "everything drifts apart. It begins to resemble confetti - a myriad of experiences, none of which is related to the others.... and which can mean anything. The human being becomes 'homeless' adrift in a world that is beyond comprehension."

Solomon tried making sense of life with various philosophies. In Ecclesiastes we read his cynical conclusions. "Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life." But I found that this, too, was meaningless. ...I decided to cheer myself with wine. ... In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. . .. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. .... I had everything a man could desire!

So, I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. ... But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. . . . This is all so meaningless!" (Ecclesiastes 2:1-15, NLT)

How easily we can slip into that kind of cynicism. When we attempt to make sense of life without an anchor in the truth of the Living God, the Creator and Source of life itself we will inevitably be cast adrift in a sea of contradictions. With age and experience we can lose touch with good, with beauty, with the joy of a life that rests on a solid foundation. 

Are you attempting to make sense of your life with pleasure, money, technology, control and/or organization, education, or something else in this present world? Those things will, in the short term, give us some bright days and social benefits, but they will certainly fail to provide a life with meaning and hope as our days come to an end.

Perhaps you have taken yet a different path attempting to live ‘above it all’ retreating from engagement with the wider world as much as you can. Maybe you have made this your philosophy - "I don't ask the questions! I just retreat into my little world and forget the rest."  

Even that choice ultimately fails because eventually the world we have tried to ignore will invade our little circle and we will know the consequences of choices made on our behalf by others.

Here is the best choice, one recommended by Solomon, near the end of his life. Solomon, after all his efforts to satisfy his inner longings, to understand life as meaningful, comes to this conclusion:  "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NIV)

My friend is the True Center of your life the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus promises that He will be with us 'even to the end of the age.'   He gave us the gift of the Spirit of God Whom He said would not just be with us, but Who would live in us, when we choose to submit ourselves to Him in faith. He said – “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.”  (John 14:15)

 Of Himself, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:8, NLT)

This is not a simplistic answer to the complexity of life. In Him, in His wisdom, and by the Spirit we find an anchor, a point of reference, and access to a way of living that supersedes all the things of this temporal world. As He guides us, our lives become meaningful; even the pain we suffer useful in the hand of God for His eternal purposes.

The word from the Word today reflects the certainty found in our trust and faith. May these words grant us peace in these tumultuous times. “Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8)

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Video at https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55