I Blame the Snake

A little story for today:

I was watching the kids' group once at church. As we were walking back from the playground the kids went past the restrooms, and most of them went inside. I proceeded to the classroom to wait for them. 

From the hall I heard a collective scream as a boy named Dominic came into the room with me, grinning a little.

"Quentin just went in the girls' bathroom," he informed me.

A moment later, Quentin came in, looking harassed. "Dominic pushed me into the girls' bathroom!" he complained.

I'm sharing this story because it was funny. Also because it's slightly relevant to the topic I wanted to write about:

In the beginning there was blame.

As soon as sin entered the world, invited and aided by Eve and Adam, so did blaming others.

Adam: Uh.. It's Eve's fault!
Eve: Uh... It's the snake's fault!
Snake: Who, me?!

We as humans love to shift the blame for any and everything onto someone else.

And truthfully, you CAN often find someone at the bottom of it all who was To Blame. (Snake, this means YOU!) But is it productive to blame others all the time instead of taking responsibility for our own actions?

Whenever Jesus was approached by someone trying to push blame on another person, (Matthew 15:1-6, Luke 12:13-15, etc.) He always shifted the person's focus back to themselves. "What does the law say?" He would ask. "What does the Lord tell YOU to do?"

Matthew 7: 3-5
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Lord, help me to remember not to blame others for what happens, but to look to my own responsibilities. After all, I am the only person whose actions I can control.

But I JUST washed up!

Have you ever just finished washing up after dinner, finally jamming every single dish that you can into the dishwasher and switching it on? And then, before you can even enjoy looking at the clean and empty sink, one of the kids brings up more dirty dishes?

Maybe it's just me, but I find that extremely frustrating.

Even worse is the kid who complains of being hungry right after you've finished putting everything away and wants to open up some more food and dirty up some more plates.

I tend to start yelling. ACK! STOP! I just washed that!

I mean, the LAST thing I want to see at the end of a long day is more stuff to wash!

Did you realize this actually happened to the disciples?

Luke 5:1-11:

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,

the people were crowding around him and 

listening to the word of God. 

2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, 

left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 

3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, 

and asked him to put out a little from shore. 

Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 

“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night 

and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, 

I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so,they caught such a large number 

of fish that their nets began to break. 

7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat 

to come and help them, and they came 

and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees 

and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 

9 For he and all his companions were astonished 

at the catch of fish they had taken, 

10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 

Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, 

“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 

11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

I never noticed this before, but Peter and his partners were done fishing for the day. They had already washed up their nets and were ready to head inside for the day.

But here was Jesus, asking them to get the nets all dirty again!

I can understand why Peter said, "But we've fished all night! And we haven't caught ANYTHING!" They were tired, and the LAST thing they wanted to do was more work.

Amazingly, though, Peter had the faith to say, "But because You say so, Lord, I will let down the nets." And look how he was rewarded!

Lord help me to have the faith to see Your rewards in the midst of my weariness.

The Broken Branch

A few weeks ago I was picking some plumeria blossoms for the ladies in my hula group to wear in their hair.

(Wow. What a Hawaii-specific sentence that just was.)

All the flowers were pretty high up so I had to pull the limbs down towards myself to reach them, and I ended up accidentally pulling off one whole branch. Whoops.

So I took it home. At home I pulled off the flowers I wanted and thought about making some sort of arrangement with the remaining branch and leaves.

Then I noticed it was swarming with ants, so instead I screamed and threw the whole thing into the backyard.

Except the flowers, of course. I just rinsed the bugs off those so we could still wear them in our hair. (Shh... Don't tell my hula sisters.)

Anyways, I forgot about the branch until I was in the backyard with the twins and noticed it still blooming. I  was surprised, because I knew it had been a while since I'd tossed it back there.

I counted back to remember when my halau had danced.

(A halau is a hula dance group. See how you learn something new every day?)

I realized it had been more than two weeks since that branch had broken off the tree. But that thing was still industriously blooming away! I guess it was drawing from the sap it had stored and the buds it had already made.

But of course, I knew it wasn't going to last, separated from the tree like that. It was only a matter of time before that branch withered and died.

In fact, the branch was dead already; it just didn't know it yet. It had died the minute it broke from the tree.

That branch was in denial. Although it was still working hard to bear its beautiful blossoms, all its effort was wasted while it was apart from the tree. It was busy busy busy, and it appeared from the outside to be healthy, but inside it was dead already.

Have you ever met any people like that?

Have you ever been a person like that? I have.

John 15:5 (Jesus said,) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

Lord, help me to stay connected to You, the true vine, and not spin my wheels trying to perform through my own efforts. Amen.

A Thorny Issue

Sometimes an incident happens that reveals your own heart. (Hint: often not in a good way.) Here is how I saw mine:

A few weeks ago a friend of mine from the women's Bible study I attend at the military chapel came to visit the church I attend off-post. This woman is someone I like and respect very much, and so I hoped my church would make a good impression on her.

Things were going along fine as we moved through announcements, and the opening song, and passing-the-peace, et cetera. Then a young woman got up to dance during the offering.


"Thorny Issue" by Sara Wright
(image from speedwaydailyphoto.blogspot.com)

As I heard the opening strains of the song she was performing to, I froze. "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay..."

This is the beginning of a rap song by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis called "Same Love." It's basically about being accepting of people who are gay.

And it turned out that was the topic of the sermon for the day as well.

Wow. Talk about controversial!!

Now, I'm going off on a little tangent here: I was raised to believe that it is a sin to practice homosexuality. And as far as I can tell, that is what the Bible teaches. But truthfully, I'll be the first to admit I don't understand everything in the Bible, and that many things can be open to interpretation. This one of those tough issues that I don't know what to do with.

In any case, I know that Jesus himself was the first one to embrace the sinner. (Matthew 9:11-13; Mark 2: 15-17)  And the Bible also says it is a sin to hate your brother in your heart, (Matthew 5:22) and that you should love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18 ).

So the bottom line is, I DO believe in being accepting of people who are gay.

I DO believe that God loves us all equally, and that he wants us to love each other as well.

But, sitting there in church, I realized that I'm not quite as loving-my-neighbor as I should be.

To be honest, I was more worried about what my respectable friend thought about ME than about what Jesus wanted me to do.

That sounds ugly, doesn't it?

Pride is not a pretty thing.

After church my friend left as quickly as she could. She did not speak to me. I knew she had probably been offended.

I started to wonder if maybe I should have been offended as well. Maybe we should be taking a harder stance on sin, and we shouldn't be so let's-love-everyone-because-we're-all-sinners. Was my church wrong? Was I wrong?

I thought about this all day, and during the night I got up and prayed. I read several Bible verses, which I'll detail below if you're interested, and wrote down the conclusion I came to:

"I have been wrestling with a certain issue,

and I have learned that I don't have the answer.

This is quite unsatisfactory to me. I prefer to have all the answers.

But I am not God. Must I really be reminded of that? I am not God.

I don't understand everything, and I'm not going to.

(Job 38:4) Where was I when He laid the foundations of the earth?

I was nowhere. I was nothing.

God is God and there is no other.

He has shown me the path I am to walk, (Micah 6:8)

to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him.

Why am I looking around at the paths of others?

The Lord has called me to pray for others, (Romans 8:26)

and the Spirit will help me in my weakness.

But He has not called me to stand in judgment over anyone or anything.

There may be those who are called to this; I don't know.

But it's not for me. I will trust in Him alone."

(Besides the Scriptures named above, I also read Isaiah 54:10-13, Luke 7:36-50, and Job 42:1-10.)

I think the clear message I received was to obey what God has shown me to do, and STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING AND THINKING.

This is easier said than done, Lord. Help me to follow You.

The Anti-Fruit

What is the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit? (The Anti-Fruit, if you will.)

You know in Galatians 5 Paul lists both the works of the flesh and the Fruit of the Spirit.

But are the works of the flesh the opposite of the Fruits? As he says, the works of the flesh are OBVIOUS:
1. Adultery
2. Fornication
3. Uncleanness
4. Lewdness
5. Idolatry
6. Sorcery
7. Hatred
8. Contentions
9. Jealousies
10. Outbursts of wrath
11. Selfish ambitions
12. Dissensions
13. Heresies
14. Envy
15. Murders
16. Drunkenness
17. Revelries
(and the like)

These are the things we humans do, all on our own. BAD things.

But the Fruits of the Spirit are what the Spirit of God can produce through us:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Gentleness
7. Faithfuless
8. Goodness
9. Self-Control

So when I look at List #1 versus List #2, I feel pretty okay. I mean, I may not have the second list down, but at least I'm not all over that first list.

You won't catch me (lewdly) half-nekkid and falling-down drunk on reality TV. Or casting spells and whatnot. I'm not committing adultery or murdering anyone. I'm pretty clean. I don't even hate anybody! Whew!

Still though... I notice jealousies AND envy are on the list there, along with (gulp) selfish ambition. I might sometimes have a little problem with those... you know, internally. Not so anyone would notice.

But, I figure those aren't the worst sins on the list, right? I mean, which of the BAD things does Paul caution against the most here?

Here's the last verse of Galatians chapter 5:

 ²⁶ "Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

Wait a minute... Did he just bring up jealousy and selfishness AGAIN? AFTER the list of the fruits?

Maybe Paul is trying to tell us something.

The works of the flesh are obvious and outward, but the fruit of the Spirit comes from within.

So the opposite of the good fruit from the Spirit, is the bad fruit: the Anti-Fruit. And it's also from within. It's just like fruit sometimes goes bad from inside without showing any signs on the surface.

So the little sins that no one sees: envy, self-centeredness, and the like, are the rottenness that threatens to rob our lives of the Spirit's true fruit, eating away at us from the inside.

Ewwww:

(image from tumblr.com)

Lord, help me to guard against the trap of unconfessed sin, the enemy of Your fruit in my life.

The Church, The Homeless, and Jesus

Maybe you've seen this photo circulating on facebook with a story about a pastor masquerading as homeless man and being rejected by his church. I have seen it several times recently.

First off, this story is MADE UP.

Also the photo is an art shot of a REAL homeless guy, being used without the photographer's permission.

(Photo credit to Brad J. Gerrard, for what it's worth.)

Still, it makes you think. What do we, both as individuals and collectively as The Church do about the homeless?

The short answer is: We do what we can to help. But this can be discouraging.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me about a homeless man, an addict, who had been a regular attender at their church. She said the church had helped him get a place to live, a car and a job, and that he had faithfully stayed sober for nearly two years, coming to church every Sunday. Then he stopped coming. My friend recently saw him downtown, back on the street, obviously "off the wagon." She spoke to him and he seemed pleased to see her. She was glad he was still alive but discouraged that he hadn't managed to "go straight." She wondered what more the church could have done to help him.

This reminded me of a similar story that had played out at my church, years ago in another state. We'd had many homeless people in and out of the church doors and given them various levels of assistance, but mostly just food and clothes. But there was one man the church considered a real success. He'd been clean and sober several years; he had an apartment and a steady job (as a janitor for the church); he was doing really well. Then he started drinking again. Eventually he lost the job, the apartment, all of it. He drifted away from us. We shook our collective heads, thinking we'd given him every chance. We wondered why some people just can't help themselves.

I don't have the answer to this question. The truth is that addiction, homelessness, and poverty in general are sometimes just too big for anyone to handle.

In Matthew 26:11a, Jesus says, "For you have the poor with you always."

Sometimes people quote this verse as an excuse to do nothing for the poor. After all, even Jesus said the problem will never be solved! So why bother, right? Isn't that what these stories of people who "can't be helped" teach us?

Um. No.

I don't think He meant it that way at all. Maybe He meant we will always have endless opportunties to help the poor, not to "fix" them, whatever that means, but simply to serve them, and to show them compassion.

After all, we love because He first loved us, and we have compassion only because He first extended compassion to us.

Psalm 103: 13-18

¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
¹⁸ of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!

 

We serve a God who remembers that we are dust, and loves us anyways. What can we do, but love our fellow creatures with the same open heart?

 

No one said this was easy, by the way. In fact, it's impossible.

 

But God is in the business of doing the impossible, of saving the unsavable, and fixing the unfixable. We can only trust Him.

 

Matthew 19:25b-26

[The Disciples] said, ‘Then who can be saved?’  But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’

The Weight of the Word

At the airport, my suitcase was six pounds over the limit. The man suggested I remove some heavy items.

I pulled out my Bible and devotional book, figuring those were the weightiest things I own.

Amazingly, the suitcase was then perfectly acceptable.

Who knew God's Word was so very heavy?