A Christ-follower with a limp

Sunday, February 7, 2021

Are Sports an Idol?

“Sports can be a source of distraction
and even idolatry among us.” Dave Miller

Recently, one of my childhood heroes, Hank Aaron died. There was nothing better than a hot night at County Stadium watch Hammerin’ Hank hit one out of the park. Some of my greatest memories from childhood are attending an Atlanta Falcons game. My heroes were Greg Brezina, who’s a committed Christian, and Tommy Nobis.

No doubt it’s always been there to some degree, somewhere, somehow professional sports devolved from entertainment to big business. Professional sports were entertainment. They’re amusement. Muse means “to think;” a-muse means “to not think.” Professional sports were an opportunity to forget about life and just enjoy it.

Most people don’t want to be “preached” at by their amusement. Apparently, the NFL and other professional sports didn’t get the memo. If early reports on the ads coming for Super Bowl LV are to be believed, the funny, heartwarming ads of cute kids and heroic animals are being squeezed aside for “preachy” ads this year. The days of Betty White and Snickers, Budweiser frogs, or Dodge Ram’s “God made a farmer” commercial are being dumped into the dustbin of history, at least this year.

The popularity of professional sports has been waning for some time with salaries fit for royalty, players’ strikes, and abhorrent behavior. Add, the blackmail of asking taxpayers to fund new stadiums or they’ll take their ball and go elsewhere, hasn’t endeared them either. A few scandalous reports of abusing a girlfriend or drugs and the party has been pooped.

One blessing of this pandemic has been some honest evaluation of professional sports. Social scolding has given professional sports the same popularity as your annual physical. Who wants to watch their favorite team play only to feel like they’re being lectured about their cholesterol levels?

This spiritual gut-check has been greatly needed by the people of God. As John Calvin, astutely observed, “the human heart is a perpetual idol factory.” Our human tendency is to take good things and elevate them to the place of gods. The serpent of healing of Numbers 21 became an idol in Israel’s later history (2 Kings 18:4). Satan loves to take the good and get us to give it a godlike status. Sadly, it’s often happened with sports, frequently we’ve been “conformed to the world” (Romans 12:2).

When the game has priority over personal time with the Lord or corporate worship, when we’re skinflints with our finances when it comes to worship, yet have no problem dropping big bucks for a sporting event or fan paraphernalia, we need a heart check. When we know players’ stats but are ignorant of God’s Word and eternal truth, there’s something wrong.

Sports have their place. Scripture uses athletics to illustrate truth. It’s idolatry when we prioritize them over God and allow His good gift to become a god. How do we know we’ve wrongly elevated them?

Sports are idolatry when they’re what we most want our children to be discipled in. If one sport is good, more is better. Parents, as early as pre-school, feel pressure to sign their child up. Many have them in a sport for each season. What’s often jettisoned is a focus on eternal matters, marital and parent-child relationships, and a child’s basic need for downtime, imagination development, and play. Most won’t be the next Aaron Rogers. Few will receive a college scholarship. Most will peak in high school.

If a child doesn’t develop a relationship with Jesus in those first 18 years, the statistics of that happening tumble in adulthood. With the secularization of culture, Sunday games and practices are normative. Parents would question a teacher about an overload of homework. They should question coaches about Sunday games and practices. If no one ever asks, no one ever will. At the very least, with the blessing of technology, schedule family worship via the internet during the season.

Sports are idolatry when they captivate our hearts and focus. God is jealous for His glory and anything that competes for His rightful place of first passion in our hearts. There’s a problem when our heart is centered on our “sport,” instead of on Christ and His kingdom. Jesus doesn’t want to be our highest passion. Imagine if I told my wife, “Of all my women, you’re my favorite.” Would she accept that? Do we expect God to accept that kind of fidelity? God calls us to love Him with ALL of our heart, soul, and mind.

There’s nothing wrong with breaks and relaxation. Time spent watching or playing a game is not, de facto, wasted time. When, though, we add up the hours spent watching sports, or the matters left undone while obsessing over sports, an unhealthy trend often surfaces.

Sports are idolatry when more important relationships are squeezed out. Rarely does a spouse have the same affinity for sports. Usually, one goes along out of love for their mate. Watching a game can be a bonding time or it can be a wedge. It’s all about focus. My mate or children shouldn’t feel as if they must compete.

Sports can be a bridge-builder for the gospel or an obstacle. Many lost professional athletes have been won to Christ by a colleague who was a Christ-follower. We can do the same. God designed us with our love for a sport. He expects us to be stewards of that gift and use it to share the most important love with a friend, God’s love.

Sports are idolatry when they greatly alter my mood. We all enjoy it when our team wins. Yet, when a loss affects our mood for hours or days, things are out of whack. It’s just a game, played by those on a financial level most of us can’t even dream of.

Do spiritual losses affect us like that? Are we as excited when someone comes to Christ or when spiritual ground is gained?

Sports are a good gift from God and are to be used in a way that pleases the Giver. Enjoy them yet don’t let them become an idol. To please God, we must keep things in balance. Are they in balance in your life?

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.

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Praying for Our Government Leaders

“It is a great privilege, as well as our responsibility,

to pray for our government leaders.” Billy Graham

When we see through the eyes of prayer we see people as persons. The word person comes from the Latin words per and sonare which mean “sounding through.” When we see people as persons we “sound through” any outward appearance and see them through the eyes of God and prayer.

All persons are valuable, not just the ones we like or the ones culture says have value. We look past outward appearances and see the unique person, the apex of God’s creation, a person for whom Christ died. Prayer gives us eyes to see and alters our relationship to others made in the image of God.

Do we truly believe in the power of prayer? When a loved one or friend is ill, we’ll pray and ask others to pray as well. Why? Hopefully, it’s because we believe in the power of prayer.

It’s noteworthy that while we’re commanded to pray, we are never commanded to complain. Yet, the one thing that most of us do (I’m guilty), when it comes to government and elected officials is complain. The Bible commands us to pray for them. It’s not optional. Have you ever wondered what would happen, if instead of complaining about government, we prayed for our governmental leaders. The results would astound us.

One reason that we don’t pray for them is that we often forget that they are also Imago Dei, made in the image of God. It’s wrong for us to be “prayer bigots” and only pray for those that we like or agree with.

Part of our worship service includes praying for government officials because the Bible commands us to: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

How are we to pray for them?

We’re to pray for their salvation. “Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” From the President to the zoning board member, each person’s greatest need is salvation – to know that Jesus Christ died for their sin, that they can be forgiven, and He will radically transform their life if they will surrender to Him. The greatest difference we can make in our country is not in the voting booth or by complaining on social media or other places. It’s in our prayer closet.

And we’re to pray for all of them, not just the ones we agree with. Some time back we had someone stomp out of church and give us a piece of their mind because we had dared to pray in church for an elected official they despised. We are to pray for our “enemies” (Matthew 5:44) and friends!

We need to thank God for them. While we may not be thankful for their decisions or character or choices, we’re to be thankful that God has placed them there. Our viewpoint is so limited. Our Sovereign God uses even evil rulers to accomplish His will. He used Pharaoh and his enslavement of the Jews to make them long to return to the Promised Land. He used Nebuchadnezzar as His rod of correction to punish Israel because of their continued disobedience to the Covenant and idolatry. He even used Caesar’s tax plan to drive Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Even when it seems that human government is out of control, God is still sovereign and in complete control.

We need to pray that they will govern with justice and righteousness. God is a God of perfect justice, yet this is an unjust world. Much of this injustice happens to the poor. While our world cares little for the powerless, a constant theme of Scripture is that God specifically cares and takes up the cause of the powerless, minorities, and the economically and physically challenged. Our hope must be in God who is the ultimate Judge.

Do we have those who are afflicted, needy, oppressed, and victims of violence today? Yes, their numbers literally reach into the millions. Do our rulers care about the oppressed? Too often no. Political scientists tell us that government and politics operate with, one common ingredient, power. From Machiavelli to Idi Amin, those who have risen to the top in government normally do so by mastering the art of exercising power. It’s why we must pray to our omnipotent God that justice will be done here on earth as it will someday be done in Heaven.

We need to pray that as they govern they promote peace and stability. When there is a lack of peace, it is those who are most vulnerable who suffer the most – children and the poor. In a peaceless world, it seems hopeless to pray for peace and stability. Hope in God’s intervention is our motivation to continue to pray and work for peace. Our ultimate trust is in God, not in politics, policies or weapons of war. God is the God of peace and His peace is the only hope of true peace in our world.

We need to pray for prosperity. Not all suffering is caused by wars. While nearly 400,000 have died from Covid-19 in the USA, 2 million have died worldwide. Too often though we have “red, white and blue eyes.” We fail to consider worldwide ramifications of our national policies. The causes of hunger and poverty are diverse and complex, but we can pray that our leaders will have the courage and compassion to wisely make decisions that will help those suffering around the globe. As one poster says: “How can we help two billion hungry people? One at a time.” That’s simple, but not simplistic. It’s a way of saying that we have to start somewhere, instead of being immobilized with shock and by the enormity of the need. We can pray that those in power in America and other relatively prosperous countries will see the folly of devoting the greatest share of their foreign aid to building up the military might of even the poorest of countries. We can pray that basics like food and clean water will abound in these lands.

As Christians, we must not sit back and accept whatever comes. God has commanded us to fight on our knees for our leaders and our Country!

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Gratitude

“Every time I hear the word grace, I am reminded that I must live a life, every day, which reflects my gratitude to God.” Charles W. Colson

A man once lived in his small house with his wife and six children. The house was loud and crowded. There was no peace to be found. For years, his ever-patient wife heard his complaints, shouldering the burden, until one day she asked him to go speak to the rabbi about the problem. “Rabbi, we are too many. Our house is too small. There is too much noise. I cannot think. I cannot breathe. What do I do?” The rabbi instructed him to go home and bring his six chickens inside his house. The man went home and did as he was told. Three days later he returned to the rabbi. “Rabbi, we are now even more. The chickens are pecking away. They poop on our floor. It is louder and messier.” “Go home and also bring your goat into the house,” the rabbi instructed. The man went home and brought the goat into his house. However, after three days he went running back to the rabbi. “The goat is eating at our furniture. He rams into our legs. Things have only gotten worse.” “Go home and bring your cow into the house as well.” The man went home and brought the cow inside the house. Three days later, he went back to his rabbi once again. “Rabbi, the house is filthy and reeks of manure. We can barely move around all the animals. The snorts and moos and sounds of the animals breaking wind keep me awake all night. Rabbi, this is terrible.” “Go home and remove all the animals from your house.” The man went home and did as he was told yet again. Three days later he returned to the rabbi, nearly skipping the entire way, joy radiating from his face. “Rabbi, thank you so very much. We removed the animals. Our house is clean and calm and quiet now. A man can find rest within its walls.”

Gratitude! It’s amazing how much our perspective affects our gratitude. It’s amazing how many things we take for granted and even complain about. I know that I do. This pandemic has highlighted many things that we took for granted prior to all of this.

For example, eating out is nearly one of our “inalienable rights. Even now many restaurants only have a drive-through or pick-up. Yet how often before all of this did we gripe because of the service, food, or cost. We took it all for granted. Places like Starbucks were a go-to place to read or meet a friend. It never crossed our minds that it might cease…even temporarily.

A year ago who would have thought that we’d so appreciate toilet paper, cleaning wipes, paper towels, etc. All things that we assumed would always be there, took for granted, and never gave a second thought.

Smiles. Do you miss smiles? I do. We took facial expressions for granted prior to the pandemic. Often it’s hard to read true feelings behind a mask.

Family gatherings, meeting with friends, worship services…even long chats with neighbors on the front lawn. In 2020 they virtually disappeared. At best, they happen with a good bit of social distance.

How did you respond to all of this? Too often my attitude stunk. I went from disbelief, thinking it’d all be over in a few weeks, to anger and even bitterness. There was even some grieving and depression mixed in there.

Often I begin my day by asking the Lord to use me to encourage someone that day. With the social isolation and self-pity that fell by the wayside.

It all clicked for me one afternoon. I was in a local store where I’m a regular. The clerk smiled when she recognized me but I was in a foul mood. Something petty going on bothered me and I complained to her. I can still see her face dropping, even behind the mask. She’d been glad to see me. I was normally a friendly face, an encourager…not that day.

And I remember getting into my car afterward and the Holy Spirit struck my bitter heart with a thunderbolt. How dare I be so petty, so ungrateful, such a poor representative for the Savior? And I had to confess my sin, my bitterness, my ingratitude, my selfishness, and my poor example.

If there is anything that makes a Christian different, it’s gratitude. It’s not that we’re pro-life, go to church or read our Bibles. Gratitude, a thankful heart distinguishes us as children of our Heavenly Father probably more than any other one trait. A grateful non-believer is an anomaly.

If anyone should be filled with gratitude and joy, it should be us. We know that we’ve been forgiven an unpayable debt of sin and guilt by our Savior on the cross. We know that we’re loved even though we know how terribly unlovable we are. We know that everything, the absolutely worst hell that this world can dish out is temporary. We know that even when are alone and isolated, we’re never alone. We know that nothing happens to us by accident. We know that we have friends not just for this life but for eternity, brothers and sisters who have also trusted Christ as their Savior. We have confidence that we can share our hearts, even our greatest hurts, worst failures, and deepest struggles with Jesus, our great high priest. We know that whether we’re rich or poor, talented or untalented, beautiful or ugly, live in a mansion or are homeless, drive a sports car or walk everywhere…and a million other details, that we have a Savior who loved us so much that He came to this world to rescue us from ourselves. We have a new Home beyond the stars with streets of gold where there is no sickness, pain, or loss…ever again!

What will make the difference in your heart? Gratitude! What will make the difference in your marriage and in your relationship with your children? Gratitude! What will make a difference in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in our church? Gratitude! Gratitude changes everything because it changes us. And as believers, we have so much to be grateful for. Our theme for 2021 is: “Gratitude is the Attitude that Changes the Altitude of our Life.” And it does.

But here’s the tragedy. We who have so much to be thankful for are often the worst complainers and grumblers. We too easily forget that every good thing is from our Heavenly Father (James 1:17). So, for the next eight weeks, to help us grow in this vital area and to assist us with doing a reset on our hearts, we’re working through a sermon series, Thank-FULL.

You don’t want to miss a single one because we all need this! Our Lord wants this for us! Our world desperately needs to see grateful Christ-followers! Will you be one? Will our church be a grateful, joyful church?

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Perfectionism

“Perfection is an illusion. Yet perfectionists demand it from others while being far from flawless themselves.” Stewart Stafford

For a myriad of reasons, mail delivery has been slow this year, especially during the Christmas rush. But I’m not aware of anyone losing their job over it. Apparently, we’re a little kinder on this side of the pond.

Royal Mail carrier, Robert Lockyer, wasn’t so fortunate. He was fired from his 28 year job after being just one minute late with a special delivery. The postal management accused him of “gross misconduct.”

Lockyer was making a special delivery at a bank. Special delivery items are guaranteed to arrive by 1 pm the following day (he’d already made around 1,500 of these in his career). Yet, because he was made to wait in line with other customers, it was 1:01 pm by the time he was able to obtain a signature to confirm the package was delivered. He was at the bank four minutes before the deadline but was a minute late getting the signature.

But it’s not just bureaucracy that’s perfectionistic. It’s everywhere, even in the Church. And perfectionists are miserable people. Worse, they’re miserable to live with. As someone observed, “a perfectionist is someone who takes great pains and gives them to others.” One Christian blogger asked followers for examples of perfectionism. Here are a few of the responses:

· Doing all the household chores because that way they will be done right. Then feeling resentful because no one ever offers to help and here she is, doing all the work herself.

· Reading Every. Single. Greeting card. To make sure they picked the perfect one.

· Rearranging the dishes in the dishwasher to her standards.

· Correcting details in your spouse’s stories.

· Laying out your children’s clothes every day. Making their beds. Cleaning their rooms. Not letting them learn how to do anything for themselves because it won’t be perfect like you do it.

· People who drive in the fastest lane and go exactly the speed limit, trying to control others’ behavior.

· Staying up all night to clean for a party because someone might see one speck of dirt, or one thing out of place (as if someone is going to look in every corner of your house).

Frequently, fear is the driving force for a perfectionist. “I am not okay and I’m going to be exposed as not okay.” But perfectionism and total control are illusions. This a sin-contaminated imperfect world and we’re part of it.

Are you a perfectionist? Do you feel like what you accomplish is never quite good enough? Do you often put off handing in papers or projects, waiting to get them just right? Do you feel you must give more than 100% on everything you do or else you will be mediocre or a failure?

Please understand perfectionism is not the same as the pursuit of excellence, though sometimes the lines can blur. Pursuing excellence is encouraged by Scripture (1 Cor. 10:31), perfectionism isn’t. When we pursue excellence, we’re determined to do something as well as possible within a given set of talent, resources, and time limits. On the other hand, perfectionism is a form of pride or fear-based compulsion that either fuels an obsession of doing something perfectly or paralyzes us from acting at all. Both often result in the harmful neglect of other necessary or good things. The bottom line is that being perfect is impossible. Worse, it hinders us from accepting grace.

Nowhere does the Bible encourage perfectionism. While Scripture promises us perfection, imputed perfection now ( 2 Cor. 5:21), and future perfection in eternity (Rev. 21:3-4), as a free gift of God’s grace, we won’t get close to perfection in any realm of our being on this side of eternity.

In fact, the Bible goes to great lengths to expose the imperfect, clay feet of the Bible’s faith heroes. Abraham, the father of the faithful, has his Hagar episode. Moses has his angry disqualifying rock incident. David, the man after God’s own heart, has a Bathsheba adultery and Uriah murder episode. Peter trips over his clay feet throughout the Gospels and beyond.

Page after page of God’s Word gives us a warts-and-all view into the very imperfect lives of the earliest Christians. God knows our perfectionistic temptations, and so He fills His Word with stories of His amazing and phenomenally patient grace toward sinners, who continued to imperfectly fight with and stumble in their own sin throughout their lives. He wants us to know that perfection is completely out of our experiential reach. And our gracious Heavenly Father has something far better for us to strive toward than our idealized imaginations of perfection, which only end up enslaving us and cause us to hurt those closest to us.

Perfectionism’s subtle, but sinful danger is self-orientation. Since it’s a fueled effort to win approval for the self, its primary focus is de facto on self, not God or others. Perfectionism, even in the battle against sin, is not motivated by love or faith (Rom. 14:23).

God wants us to be free from the tyranny of pride and fear. He wants us to live in the freedom of knowing that He has our past, present, and future perfection issues completely covered. They were all paid for at the cross. So, in our ongoing battles with sin, God isn’t looking for perfect, externally performed behavior or perfect, internally performed motivation from us. God is looking for love and faith, knowing full well both will be always be imperfect, no matter how much we grow in them.

It’s time to blow up the false image of perfection because in Jesus Christ, you’re free! You’re free to follow the Savior imperfectly. You’re free to fight the fight of faith defectively because that’s the only way you will ever fight for faith in this age. If you're a believer, you’re already as loved and as accepted as you will ever be. Relax and rest in His love. Enjoy Him, enjoy others, and enjoy life! It’s time to focus on living out a childlike, dependent faith through authentic acts of love. It’s time to be free and live in His grace!

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Was 2020 a Root Canal?

“Do I learn through dark providences,

or simply seem relieved when they are over?” Sinclair Ferguson

A man went to his dentist for a root canal. The dentist made him comfortable and injected a numbing agent around the tooth, then left the room for a few minutes to allow the medication to take effect. But when the dentist returned he found the patient standing next to the tray of instruments. The dentist asked, “What are you doing by my surgical instruments?” Without looking up, continuing to focus on his task, the patient replied, “I’m taking out the ones I don’t like.”

So if you had the power, what would you do with 2020? What parts would you take out? Many of us would eradicate it. But does that line up with a biblical worldview? Do we really believe that God is sovereign? Do we believe that God is in control, even of years that from our perspective are as horrible as 2020?

Nobody likes hard times. I know that I don’t. Yet, I know that as I look back on my life, the times that I have grown the most spiritually, the times when I’ve grown closer to God…haven’t been the easy times. They’ve been when I’ve walked through the fire, through deep waters. You’ll find that nearly every believer who has been walking with the Lord for any length of time will say the same thing. And while I don’t want a repeat of 2020, I don’t want to forget the lessons. I want them to be ingrained in my soul. I want them to help me walk closer to Jesus and trust Him more.

During this pandemic it’s easy to see bad things happening all around us. However, with a biblical view on our circumstances, it may become clearer that what God could be doing during this time of taking things away is actually giving us something wonderful and eternal - Himself! So, here are some things that I’ve learned (you’ve probably learned them too).

The most precious people on the planet are the ones that live closest to me (or used to live with me). Spouses, family, children, parents, relatives, close friends, roommates, etc. are people that we care for the most. During this pandemic, I’ve realized anew how blessed I am to be married to Jane Carson. Her love for the Lord, her faith, and joy has helped encourage my own love for the Lord, faith, and joy. Living with someone and seeing them at their best and worst gives us a sense of care and compassion that can’t be adequately expressed. This pandemic has helped us to not take our spouses and children for granted. The ache of not seeing my son and daughter-in-law has only been increased by not being able to see them. Too often I take those closest to me for granted. Yet, when things get serious, I wanted them all close. I want to make certain that they’re all okay.

Gathering as a church family is one of the most undervalued and underappreciated events in the whole world. This is the first time in most of our lives (since getting saved) that we’ve not been able to be with our brothers and sisters each week. It’s unnatural. It’s discouraging. It’s debilitating. Prior to this, we failed to value how important it is to be with other believers regularly. It’s a blessing that we have the technology to broadcast our services, yet the digital world doesn’t have skin on it. It doesn’t wrap an arm around another believer as you pray with them. It misses the nuances of a smile or a tearing eye. It misses the vital part of a maturing Christianity, giving as well as receiving. But we didn’t realize how much we were gaining from being with the “family” until we weren’t.

Being busy gives us a false sense of accomplishment while stillness feels deceptively like idleness. When we’re running to work, school, events, etc., and are constantly on the move, we feel like we’re accomplishing something but often without much to show for it. Our overly busy lives have taught us to disdain times where we’re sitting still and in the same place. This season has been a lesson for us that busyness is not the same as accomplishing what has significance. It needs to teach us something that we easily forget – God did not create us to be human “doers,” but human “beings.” Being somewhere and being with someone supersedes doing.

Petty disagreements and the little things that tend to consume us are even pettier and smaller when compared to eternity. Many of us either abandoned social media, limited it, or unfollowed neg-aholics. Yet, when I think about the things that have caused strife among friends or even in the church, they’re generally very small matters that were blown out of proportion. When you compare them to eternity, most aren’t worth the breath to speak them or the energy spent to post them on social media. Were they worth our time or energy at all? Are they worth our time now? What value are they in this world if they have no bearing on the one to come?

I’m a lot more selfish than I thought I was and not nearly as patient as I thought that I was. When you can’t go where you want to go or do what you want to do, you find warm emotions rising up that are a bit shocking. Why does not being able to go to a coffee shop or movie or travel freely matter so much to me? Why was I so obsessed when this all started to see how far the numbers went up each day as if watching to keep score in a tragedy? It was easy to forget that those weren’t just numbers, they’re people. So, I want to learn to be more thankful for what I do have. I want to learn to be more aware and compassionate, especially for those experiencing loss firsthand.

No one is guaranteed tomorrow, and as much as I try to understand that I still don’t get it. Though I know better, I still live my life like I will always have a future on this earth. I think about next week, next month, and next year like they’re guaranteed dates on my calendar. But the psalmist speaks into my heart by turning focus for the day I have. “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). While we need to wisely plan, God has only given us today to use. Too often I’ve wasted today assuming I’ll have tomorrow.

This life is short and there are many ways to squander it, but only one way to redeem it – Love Jesus with your whole life, and love Him above all else. It really is a straight and narrow path but the road that leads to destruction is broad and too many go down it. Yet, it’s not as difficult to find as it is to maintain. Yet, I’m so easily distracted by the trivial. If I learn nothing else from 2020, I want to learn this and never forget it: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain!” (Phil. 1:21).

I don’t want to repeat 2020 but I don’t want to forget it. How about you?

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Are You a Little Tipsy?

“My life is a Bible for some folks to see,

I wonder just what they are reading in me.”

One of the Ad Council’s most effective public service commercials is the “Don’t Almost Give” campaign. One ad shows a man with crutches struggling to go up a flight of steps. The narrator says, “This man almost learned to walk at a rehab center that almost got built by people who almost gave money.” After a pause, the narrator continues, “Almost gave. How good is almost giving? About as good as almost walking.”

Another ad shows a homeless man curled up in a ball atop a pile of rags. He’s covered with a ratty bed sheet. The narrator begins, “This is Jack Thomas. Today someone almost bought Jack something to eat. Someone almost brought him to a shelter. Someone almost gave him a warm blanket.” Then after a pause the narrator drives his point home, “And Jack Thomas? Well, he almost made it through the night.”

We know this yet far too easily forget it. It’s not enough to “almost” love for Jesus. As D.L. Moody said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.” Knowing without doing is worthless. Yet, before you can do, you must know.

A term often thrown around in the Church is “Biblical Worldview.” But what does it mean to have a “Biblical Worldview?” A biblical worldview is essential for having a successful Christian life. A biblical worldview is essential if you want your life to count for eternity. A biblical worldview is essential if you want to truly make a difference.

As we enter 2021, may we all determine to grow in a biblical worldview. A biblical worldview is like a three-legged stool. Each leg is vital.

The first leg is knowing. Knowledge is like med school for a doctor. It demands reading and studying. But in American culture we value doing, not knowing. Knowing must always precede doing or you won’t know what the right thing is to do. God gave us a mind and we’re to use it.

Christians should be the most voracious readers. We must be committed to study (2 Timothy 2:15). God has given us a written revelation. We must faithfully read His Word. Study demands reading books about the Bible and about God. It means digging deeper. It takes time and discipline.

Can you imagine having an appointment with your doctor, you describe your symptoms, and he says, “I think it might be…but I’m not sure. I’ve never been much of a reader. I just go with what feels right.” How fast would you run out of his office?

Think of the top five areas of your life, those areas that consume most of your time and focus. God’s Word speaks to each of them. Yet, if you don’t know God’s Word, if you don’t know how to think through the grid of a biblical worldview, then you will stink at all of them because you’re using man’s wisdom. A biblical worldview means that you must read and study.

The second leg is talking. Just for a moment stop and think about all that you talked about this past week. Was any of it significant? Yet why is that we’re so uncomfortable talking about matters, well, that really matter? That have true significance?

A healthy conversation that helps us grow must be a dialogue, not a monologue. The emphasis in our culture is wrongly on sharing what we think, yet failing to listen. And too frequently, we only talk with those who agree with us. But to have a biblical worldview we need to have deep conversations. We must have our assumptions challenged. Reading, studying and thinking should precede talking. Talking then helps us to grow and stretch, especially when our assumptions are challenged.

The third leg is doing. American culture skips ahead to doing and jumps over reading and talking. Doing is essential. Truth needs work clothes. Yet when we get the order wrong, we do the wrong thing because we simply don’t know what we’re doing. Successful Christians know it takes all three: reading, dialogue and then doing.

Our culture wants to rush the cycles and shoot from the hip. The outcome is that we become frantic doers and not even sure why we’re doing what we’re doing. All three legs are necessary. Knowing without doing is empty and sterile. Many Christians know what’s right and what they should do. They just never get around to doing it.

Then, talk by itself is cheap. It takes deeds to validate the talk. But deeds by themselves are ambiguous; it takes words to explain their meaning.

God, throughout history, has been gracious to provide His people with all three—deeds powerful enough to show He’s not just someone who promises. He’s revealed Himself to us in His Word because He wants us to know Him. His words are clear enough to keep us from misunderstanding what His deeds are all about.

Recently, I heard about a factory worker who longed to see one of his fellow laborers become a believer in Christ. His witness was to befriend this fellow, to treat him kindly, not just to see him as an object but very much as a person. Theirs became the epitome of a relational witness.

Some time later, the unbeliever became a believer—but it happened through someone else. Coming back to the factory, he spoke of his new faith to the man who’d been a Christian for many years. “That’s wonderful,” said the first fellow. “I’m a believer too.”

“You are?” the new Christian said, incredulously. “Did you know that I’ve put off becoming a Christian for months just because of you? To me, you were the very embodiment of someone who could be a good person without Christ. I thought maybe I too could become that good without becoming a Christian.” So much for works without words as a witness.

As we celebrate our Lord’s incarnation, it’s what He’s called us to be as well…we’re to be incarnational. We’re to be Jesus in our world. You can’t be Jesus without knowledge. Study His ministry. It included talking and doing. A biblical worldview has all three. Determine to make 2021 your year to commit to balancing them out in your life. Read, talk and do!

Sunday, December 20, 2020

God is not Santa

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout

I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
And checking it twice;

He’s making a list.

Sometimes, particularly antitheists, will make a comparison between God and Santa. They’ll suggest, that after all, you can’t see either of them. Then, some believe in Santa but most don’t. Both see all – weighing up your good and bad deeds – and reward you based on how good you’ve been. The clincher is that both are essentially myths that bring people a bit of comfort and joy with not much behind them in the way of evidence. But the parallels are really only there for those who wish to force them.

Drawing a link between God and Santa Claus because you can’t see them is weak. There are lots of things that we can’t see that exist, nonetheless. For example, consider time, emotions and history. All things we can’t see but all things that every sane person accepts exist. Not being able to see something does not mean it doesn’t exist.

Nor is existence determined by the number of people that believe. As it happens, if it were determined by the numbers, theism wins. There are more theists in the world than atheists and agnostics combined. The validity of God’s existence isn’t determined by popularity. Even if we insist that “experts” get to decide, truth isn’t determined by some sort of popularity contest. For a long time, the overwhelming majority of people believed stomach ulcers were caused by stress or a terrible lifestyle. Dr. Barry Marshall won a Nobel prize proving that view wrong, insisting that he was repeatedly told – and held by the majority – to be entirely wrong. That is until he infected himself with bacteria causing him to get a stomach ulcer and then curing himself. Truth is not determined by majority rule.

God is not like Santa Claus. For one, few adults come to believe in Santa. While it’s common for children to believe the Santa myth and then, as they grow older and examine the evidence, it becomes clear Santa is only a fairy tale. Compare this to the multitude of people who grow up to examine the evidence, having never believed in God before, who come to believe in Him as an adult. On top of that, there are the people who are taught about God as children who never shake their belief in Him. You’ll have a tough time finding anyone who holds to the Santa myth later on in life.

Add to that, we need to compare the behavior of God and Santa Claus. Santa is a distant figure who watches the world and rewards people based on their deeds once-per-year. But the God of the Bible is the One who cares about this world so much that He sent His only Son to enter it. God is not a moralist who rewards you based on how “good” you are. Instead, God is a gracious father who gives us the very opposite of what we deserve. He doesn’t hold out rewards based on whether we please Him with our behavior, He gives us good gifts out of grace because He loves us.

Most people grow up to stop believing in Santa not out of a lack of evidence for his existence but because of the positive evidence against his existence. Most stop believing in Santa that moment they catch their Mom or Dad laying out all their gifts on Christmas Eve. Even if that clarifying moment never comes, most begin asking questions that defy logic. How can Santa fly around the world in one night and deliver all of his gifts? How does he get down chimneys when he’s so fat? Why has nobody ever seen a flying reindeer? Why are parents okay with a stranger wandering their house at night at Christmas but no other time of year?

There are good reasons to actively disbelieve the Santa Claus myth. People don’t reject it because of the lack of evidence. They reject it as a result of the overwhelming evidence that he doesn’t exist. Yet, contrast that with those who come to believe in God, particularly God as revealed in His Word and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe because the evidence is so overwhelming. It’s not evidence that’s simply poured into them as children which they never managed to dismiss. Many come to faith entirely apart from being taught it as children.

Add to that, there are unanswered questions. Where do morals come from? Is it more likely that the universe has always existed or that it has a cause? Is the fine tuning of the universe better explained by necessity, chance or design? What explanation best accounts for the Jesus’ empty tomb, the postmortem appearances and the birth of Christianity? Many conclude that the evidence points in the direction of the existence of a real God. They conclude that it’s the answer that has the widest explanatory power for all these questions, the least ad hoc of all available explanations.

Maybe you think that God is a myth and Christianity is a big fairy tale. But are you sure? Aren’t there other “beliefs” that you were very sure of at one time?

Can I challenge you to give yourself a gift this Christmas? Examine the evidence for yourself. Don’t just believe what you’ve been taught or what others have told you. Check it out for yourself. Read Jesus’ biography for yourself. It’s the original Fab Four – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And maybe pray this simple prayer: God, if You’re real then reveal Yourself to me. Christianity isn’t a blind leap of faith. Countless skeptics, when they were honest and examined the evidence, found themselves overwhelmed by the truth of a loving God who gave His Son as that first Christmas gift for them. I know that’s true because I was one of them.