60 years for $4.80

 

“Sometimes, little things make a big difference…”  Nino Varsimashvili

 

  What would you be willing to give up for $4.80? How long would you be willing to give up something of significance for a little less than $5.00? 

  For 60 years Ted Sams regretted missing his high school graduation. Now that he’s 78, Sams can finally call himself a high school graduate, On Friday, May 27^th, he donned a cap and gown and received his diploma with the class of 2022 at Southern California’s San Gabriel High School. 

  Back in 1962 when Sams was a high school senior, he got in trouble, was suspended five days before the end of the school year, and ended up missing a crucial final exam that he had to make up over the summer. 

  He recently told a local TV station, “When I went back with my grade, they wouldn't give me my diploma because I owed $4.80 for a book, and so I just walked away and said forget it.”

  Fortunately, the high school still had Sams’ original diploma locked away in an old filing cabinet. He beamed as he walked across the graduation stage at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and received his diploma. He said, “over the years, I complained to my kids a number of times about how $4.80 kept me from having my diploma.”

  It’s amazing how something small, like $4.80, can cause us to make a big, bad decision with lifelong ramifications?

  God has matured me a lot over the years (I still have a long ways to go) but I remember a day when someone giving me a one-finger wave would cause me to go nuclear. When I was growing up, my Dad would chew us out if someone forgot to turn a light off. Have you seen one of those Youtube clips of McDonald’s or some other fast food joint and a customer got the wrong order? Some of them are of a customer crawling through the drive-thru window or over the counter to attack the cashier who messed up their order. It’s a $5,000.00 reaction to a $5.00 problem.

  There’s a verse tucked away in the Song of Solomon that describes this, “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards…” (2:15). A little fox – big damage! 

  Many a parent has had a meltdown with a child over something insignificant like spilling a drink or leaving a toy out. Married couples fight over the trivial, like putting the toilet paper on the wrong way or forgetting to empty the garbage…or a truly major crisis, leaving just a bit of milk in the jug without replacing it.

  I wish that I could say that I never get angry over the small but unfortunately, I’m guilty, too. My lack of patience with slow drivers is a continual area of spiritual growth. My sanctification is still working its way down to my right foot.

  Personally, I think pride was part of Ted Sams’ problem and it was further complicated by stubbornness. Stubborn is defined as “having or showing persistent determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so.”

  The Bible contains several examples of stubbornness. Probably one of the most well-known ones was Pharaoh. Remember the story? God told Pharaoh, “Let my people go,” but Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn't let them go. So God sends plague after plague, and after each plague, Pharaoh cries out, “OK, I'll let the people go.” Yet after God lifted the plagues, the Bible records that Pharaoh “hardened his heart” and wouldn’t let God’s people go. The end result was the 10^th plague, the death of the first born in every Egyptian home. It was the end result of Pharaoh’s stubbornness. We lose a lot when we’re foolishly stubborn and needlessly dig in our heels.

  Ted Sams lost sixty years because of stubborn pride. I wonder how many relationships suffer needless estrangement because of the same thing. Often there’s been an argument, then a rupture in the relationship. It may have gone on so long that the combatants no longer even remember what the original offense was. They just know that they’re angry at the other person.

  In his book, The Preaching Event, John Claypool tells a powerful story about identical twin brothers who never married because they enjoyed each other’s company so much. When their father died, they took over his store and ran it together in a joyful collaboration.

  One day a man came in to make a small purchase and paid for it with a dollar. The brother who made the sale placed the dollar on top of the cash register and walked the customer to the door to say goodbye. When he returned, the dollar bill was gone. He said to his twin brother, “Did you take the dollar bill I left here?” “No, I didn’t,” answered the brother. “Surely, you took it,” he said, “There was nobody else in the store.” The brother became angry: “I’m telling you,  I did not take the dollar bill.”

  From that point, mistrust and suspicion grew until finally, the two brothers could no longer work together. They put a partition right down the middle of the building and made it into two stores. In anger, they refused to speak to each other for the next twenty years.

  One day a stranger pulled up in a car and entered one of the two stores. “Have you been in business very long here?” the stranger asked. “Yes, 30 or 40 years,” was the answer. “Good,” continued the stranger, “I very much need to tell you something...Some 20 years ago, I passed through this town. I was out of work and homeless. I jumped off a boxcar. I had no money and I hadn’t eaten for days. I came down that alley outside and when I looked into your store window, I saw a dollar bill on the cash register. I slipped in and took it. Recently though I became a Christian. I was converted and accepted Christ as my personal Savior. I know now it was wrong of me to steal that dollar bill...and I have come to pay you back with interest and to beg your forgiveness.”

  When the stranger finished his confession, the old storekeeper began to weep as he said, “Would you do me a favor? Would you please come next door and tell that story to my brother?” Of course, with the second telling, the two brothers were reconciled with many hugs and apologies and tears. Twenty years of hurt and pain and a broken relationship based not on fact, but on mistrust and misunderstanding, but then healing came; reconciliation came, because of that stranger’s love for Christ.
  I’m glad Ted Sams humbled himself and got his diploma. But he still lost sixty years. How about you? Is there someone you need to reconcile with? How much more time do you want to lose? Please humble yourself and fix it…today!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

A really, really short graduation speech...

“So what are you gonna do, When the world don't orbit around you…

Ain't it fun, Living in the real world…Don't go crying to your mama

'Cause you're on you're own, in the real world.”  Paramore

  This time of year podiums across our land often have famous graduation speakers who share little more than cultural drivel. Much of it’s the stuff of myth, some are outright lies. Graduates are told: You can be anything you want to be, just dream and work hard. Follow your heart, the people that don’t like you don’t matter anyway. These are the best years of your life. Your life begins now…”

  I’ve only been asked to give one graduation speech, yet, if I were giving one today, I think I could sum it up in five words: “It’s time to grow up!” That’s a message that not only this year’s graduates need; it’s a message American culture needs. Tragically and ironically, it’s a message we need in the Church of Jesus Christ.

  Thomas Bergler of Huntington University observes what’s been called “the juvenilization of American Christianity.” He writes, “Juvenilization is the process by which the religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for adults. It’s adults embracing immature versions of the faith.” It’s really not a new phenomena, just seemingly a much more predominant one.

  2,000 years ago, it was to the church which thought that it was the wisest, most mature and sophisticated that the Apostle Paul wrote, “I…could not address you as spiritual people, but as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready” (1 Cor. 3:1-2). It’s the malady of big, baby Christians. Are you one? How do we spot a Christian desperately needing to grow up? One that’s stuck in childish spiritual behavior? 

  Christians stuck in childish behavior are self-absorbed. What’s the predominant trait of a toddler. They’re focused on “me, myself and mine.” It’s what makes me happy. It’s my way, my toy, my seat by the window. It’s my Mommy (even if there are multiple siblings). Sadly, narcissism is epidemic in the Church today. We’re infected with self-absorption rather than self-sacrifice. Often we believe spiritual maturity is synonymous with Bible knowledge or even just being a Christian a long time. It’s not. Spiritual maturity is evidenced by a Christ-like heart and lifestyle.

  Jesus made Himself a servant, though He was the Sovereign. The typical American Christian either goes to church or goes looking for church with one criteria: What’s in it for me? That’s often accompanied by, What’s in it for my family? It’s guised under questions like: Do they have programs for my children? (Interestingly, the Bible never once mentions youth or children’s programs). Do they sing my music? Do I feel comfortable there? Are they meeting my needs? Are they like my ideal picture of church? (Not necessarily a biblical one).

  I can’t recall anyone ever coming to me, and I don’t know of any pastor who’s ever had this experience, where a believer came to church and said something like, “I believe God is leading me here so I can serve Jesus as part of this church family.” Instead, pastors and church leaders are to serve them and meet their perceived needs. It’s an immature Christianity that needs to grow up.

  Christians stuck in childish behavior whine. Toddlers whine. (It’s why naptime was invented J). They want a cookie. Don’t want to go to bed. If  they don’t get what they want, they whine. Immature Christians do the same. “Thank you” is missing from their heart and vocabulary. They’re spiritually flawed because praise and gratitude are absent in their soul.

  Yet, not only do they whine, often they up it with harsh criticism. Services are too long. The church is too cold…too hot…people aren’t friendly enough…they’re too friendly. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

  Mature Christians are overwhelmingly grateful. They’re filled with gratitude because they realize a holy God not only has given them underserved mercy in withholding His judgment, He’s given them undeserved grace in making them part of His forever family with its inheritance and blessings.

  Are you a thankful believer? When was the last time you thanked our custodian for keeping our church clean? Or, those who make coffee for having it ready? Do you thank the worship team for their hours of preparation? How about a Sunday Morning Live teacher or youth leader?

  Christians stuck in childish behavior throw tantrums. All of us have felt empathy for the parent who’s tyke screams or throws themselves on the floor, kicking and hitting it with their tiny fists. While most Christians don’t throw themselves on the floor, I’ve seen some who came pretty close to that. Some actually scream. Most just complain, criticize and sow discord behind the scenes. They often don’t realize little ears are listening and are later shocked when their now adult children want little to do with church. The church was ripped down in front of them though during their formative years, and they remember. The bill has come due.

  Mature Christians problem-solve. They realize they themselves probably need to grow and potentially so do their other family members in Christ. Yet, if there’s never a humble dialogue and attempt to problem-solve, spiritual growth is stunted.

  Christians stuck in childish behavior tend to be passive/aggressive. Usually, when they’re ticked off about something at church, they first stop giving. They miss that if they were giving to the “church,” they’re ignorant of biblical giving. We give as an act of worship to Christ, not a church. Then, they start pulling back on involvement and become sporadic in their attendance. Like a divorcee who fails to solve the core issue, they frequently will repeat the same cycle in their next church and the one after that and the one after that.

  Our Heavenly Father is looking for men and women of faith, not tykes. That’s because we have been given an adult mission, the greatest responsibility, sharing the Gospel. It’s the only hope our world has. It’s what Jesus the One who gave His life for us commands us to do (Matt. 28:19-20). And that’s the worst problem with a baby Christian, they don’t  share and don’t even care. “It’s time to grow up!”

  Friend, please look in the mirror of God’s Word (James 1:23-25). Let it spur you on to spiritual maturity, to grow up in your faith. Jesus needs adults, mature in the faith to fulfill the mission. Can He count on you?