Flat screen relationships

 

I have 636 friends on Facebook. Diane Sawyer visits my home most evenings at 6:30. President Obama drops by occasionally, too. Of course, I don’t know Diane or Obama. I don’t even really know half the people who have ‘friended’ me on Facebook!  These are so-called ‘flat screen relationships’ – made possible by technology.  They have none of the rich texture of a real friendship. LOL (Laughing Out Loud) typed in a status line does not begin to compare to an actual fit of laughter shared around a dinner table. “Praying for you” sent in an email is a weak substitute for hearing another lift you to the Father in person.

Healthy people know how to form and sustain real relationships. One of the foundation stones of a strong church is that it is a place of actual community, where people become ‘brothers and sisters’ in the truest sense of the word. While we were discussing the idea of church community, one person recently remarked: “I don’t think I have ever seen it.” She’s right. It is rare. While we love being a part of a community, few of us are ready to radically connect to one another. Loving real people is a messy thing, costly to us in terms of our privacy, bringing not only comfort but also conflict. The closer we grow to another, the more our quirks and unique habits become an issue.

Living in a world of flat screen relationships is much easier than having real friends. In that world, when you tire of another’s company, you can just change channels or put away the computer. If you don’t want to have an email conversation, you can simply ignore the request.  Caller ID on our phones allows us to let calls from ‘that person’ just go to voice mail!  Our individuality is enhanced and we are poorer in the long run for it.

When Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, He will cause us to love another. This is the distinguishing characteristic of a Spirit-filled person. He said, "I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35, NLT) It’s not cheap, easy, or even sentimental! It’s committed, sometimes gritty, always truthful, and leads to maturity.

Are you content to live in a world of flat screen relationships?

Here’s a word from the Word. May it call us to community. "You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart." (1 Peter 1:22, NLT)  "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8, NLT)

Casey’s innocence

After Casey was acquitted yesterday, everybody had an opinion. Most opined that “She got away with murder.” A few offered quietly that “She was vindicated.”  What was clear was that the evidence offered did not convince that jury beyond ‘a reasonable doubt’ and so they had a legal obligation to return a verdict of innocence. Whether you or I agree with their conclusions counts for nothing! 

There is a Judge who knows the truth and His verdict is the one that matters most.

Disciple, always remember that God sees, remembers, and will bring about justice for each one of us. It is a fact that is both sobering and comforting. In the Word, He says that "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10, NIV)  He goes deeper than what we do and knows why we do it!  This passage makes some shudder and offers great comfort to others.  "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:12-13, NIV)

The Lord never misses a key piece of evidence. He never lets bias turn His eye from the truth. He sees, knows, and judges with justice. That’s why we are all beyond hope! In our depravity (it’s an ugly word, isn’t it?) we miss the mark of His holiness by a mile regardless of our best intentions. Even on our best day, we hid away base thoughts and feel reptilian emotions. With enough accountability and self-discipline we might muster a few days straight in which we keep a lid on temptation. But, like David, we know that "I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5, NIV)  Sometimes we want so desperately to hide it all under a veneer of religious acts.  Sometimes we manage to deceive most of the people and even ourselves about our innocence.

So what can we do? Run to Jesus Christ!   He offers us freely what we could never win for ourselves – pardon for sin and mercy before a perfectly just God. "Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16, NIV)

Casey Anthony is guilty! No, I don’t know if she murdered her little girl. But, I know she has sinned, just like me! And I know that she can find pardon and peace in the grace of God, just like I have done. What about you?  Will you receive His grace and allow the Holy Spirit to change you from sinner to saint?  He can and if you let Him, He will.

_____________________

How He Loves

He is jealous for me
loves like a hurricane

I am a tree

bending beneath

The weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden

I am unaware of

These afflictions

eclipsed by glory

I realize just how

beautiful You are

And how great Your

affections are for me

We are His portion

and He is our prize

Drawn to redemption

by the grace in His eyes

If grace is an ocean we're all sinking

So Heaven meets earth

Like an unforeseen kiss

And my heart turns

violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to

maintain these regrets

When I think about the way that

Oh, how He loves us so

Oh, how He loves us

How He loves us so!

© 2005 Integrity's Hosanna! Music

John Mark McMillan

CCLI License No. 810055

9 to 1 – what a ratio!

We’re emphasizing gratitude in our home right now. The teens ‘round our table apparently think that food falls from the sky and that laundry magically makes it way from hamper to washer and back to dresser drawer. So, there are some prompts thrown in from time to time to express thanks. In reality they’re not unique. We all tend to take what we have for granted, failing to express our appreciation to those who make it possible.

One day ten men in a desperate situation approached Jesus. They were ‘lepers,’ meaning they had some skin disease that required them to live completely isolated from the community and family. It was a kind of living death!  They had heard about Jesus’ healing work and when he came by where they lived, they yelled “Have mercy on us!”  He directed them to an act of faith. “Go show yourself to the priest.”  If a person’s skin issue cleared up, the priest could certify that and allow them to return to society. They had to act to receive what He offered! Let’s pick up Luke’s storyline: "And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:14-17, NIV)  At some point, God met their faith with restoration! And just one saw fit to turn around and express his gratitude. Luke includes the detail that he was another kind of social outcast, a Samaritan; not a ‘true child of God’ in the opinion of the majority of people at that time.

When you receive the mercy of God do you remember to give thanks? If so, is it like the prompted thanksgiving of our teenage boys, rote and without emotion or is it like this grateful man in our story?  The Bible obscures his true reaction with a rather dry phrase ‘praising God in a loud voice.’  Today we might say he was freaking out. He was yelling, pointing at his new skin, jumping up and down, and crying. He didn’t kneel reverently when he found Jesus. He threw himself at His feet in an expression of complete humility, realizing he deserved nothing and received everything.

Let’s take two lessons out of that story today.
First, let’s be prepared to do what God asks before when He asks it. Let’s respond in faith preparing the way for His work to be done in us and through us.

Second, when we see Him moving, let’s give Him the praise of which He is worthy. Let’s make it more than a perfunctory, “thank you, Jesus,” as we rush on through life.  Let’s come and really worship.

There are days when I devote most of my prayer time to simply giving thanks. Out loud and one by one I start to thank the Lord for people, situations, and past mercies. More often than not, I find myself in tears as I realize how amazing His grace is. There is a corollary development, too. Faith grows in my heart to present Him with the needs on my prayer list with true expectation.

Here’s a word from the Word, an ancient song sung by those who recalled the Lord’s mercies in restoring His people to their land and faith after a long time in captivity. Make it your song today.

"When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!
We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!

Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest." (Psalm 126, NLT)

Don’t be one of the 9 who forgot their Source! Be the 1 who worshipped!