Tolerance?

I’m so very proud of my family – from my beautiful and intelligent wife, Angela, to all our kids – each of whom are amazing in their own right. Most families have talented members. Just the other day, one of my cousins, Kelly Hudspeth, wrote an excellent piece on tolerance that I just had to republish here. Hope you enjoy and learn from it.

Kelly wrote: “My son brought home an activity book from school on Cultural Diversity. It’s very interesting and informative. It tells about various arts, foods, music, crafts, and traditions from around the world. The diversity of the peoples of our world is fascinating and I love to explore it. The booklet has some great ideas on learning to appreciate cultural diversity. Things like trying different recipes, going to cultural festivals, and concerts. Our world is rich in traditions, art, music. These arts are a wonderful gift for all to enjoy and appreciate. They have value, regardless of the culture from which they are derived. We must appreciate the beauty and diversity of our world’s cultures to a point. In many ways we have gone too far in ‘tolerating’ diversity. Tolerance of diversity does NOT mean we must allow anyone to do anything they please, does it? It seems as if we are fast approaching that definition of ‘tolerance’.

There are many who would hijack our vocabulary and change the meaning of the words we use. Words like ‘tolerance’, or even ‘marriage’ or ‘culture’ for example. While the arts and music of cultures are ‘equal’ in that they contribute beauty to the world, not all cultures’ traditions are ‘equal’. We do not celebrate various cultural traditions for various reasons. Beheading, human sacrifice, genital-mutilation are traditions from other cultures that are not ‘tolerated’ for instance. Polygamy, child marriage, and cock/dog fighting are cultural traditions that are not ‘tolerated’ within our own. Forced racial and gender oppression and segregation are cultural traditions of which our culture is ‘intolerant’.

I received change from a purchase yesterday and it got me thinking. Money has ‘value’. Yet, it’s not all the ‘same’. It comes in different denominations. Some are ‘worth more’ than others. Some money is counterfeit so it is ‘not worth’ anything. Would a store owner be considered ‘intolerant’ for not allowing someone to pay for a purchase with counterfeit money? As a society, we have arbitrarily assigned value to our currency.

In a sense, traditions also need to be assigned value. As an example, the term ‘marriage’ must be assigned a set definition or it will lose its value. Marriage legally refers to one man and one woman, committing to one another for life. (’no-fault divorce’ has done much to devalue ‘marriage’, long before the GLBT ever began to erode its value by trying to change the definition completely).

The word ‘equality’ is not a synonym for ‘sameness’. And ‘tolerance’ is not a synonym for ‘approval’. It’s my hope that our society can embrace diversity without having to assign equal value to all cultural traditions and beliefs. A homosexual who believes that gay couples should be allowed to marry doesn’t agree with the beliefs of a person who believes in upholding the traditional view of marriage being one man/one woman. A polygamist doesn’t either. So why are we forced to ‘tolerate’ (meaning ‘approve of’) the viewpoint of the homosexual but not the polygamist?

It’s time we take back the language and make words mean certain things again. We must repudiate those who will bend, warp, skew, and even pervert a word for their own personal agenda. A current definition of tolerance is “the acceptance of the differing views of other people, e.g. in religious or political matters, and fairness toward the people who hold these different views”. That is not the basic meaning of tolerance at all. It means to “allow without prohibiting; permit”. Tolerance is different from acceptance. This doesn’t mean we must ACCEPT or AGREE with those views that differ from our own, but we must allow the view to exist. (notice it means to allow the viewpoint, not approve of the behavior).

I find it utterly objectionable that anyone who adheres to conservative values or opinions is described as ‘intolerant’ because we state our disagreement with other viewpoints. Yet, those who adhere to liberal views and consider themselves to be broadminded are the very ones who want to squelch the differing view altogether. It is the one who is trying to squelch the mere expression of the viewpoint who is intolerant. This has got to stop. People must know what their values are, how to express them reasonably and then DEMAND that they be allowed to do so. Just because I say I think you are wrong does not make me intolerant of your viewpoint.

I am fed up with being called a bigot because I hold certain convictions. It is not bigotry to hold a strong opinion that is in disagreement with another’s position. It’s bigotry to disallow the other’s right to hold that differing viewpoint.”

Cliches and Other Spiritual Inaccuracies

You’ve heard them.  Maybe you’ve even quoted them.  You’ve probably placed faith in some and possibly even stepped out on faith because of one or more of them.  “They” are cliches, some of which have a measure of truth to them.  Therein lies the danger.

Half truths are more difficult to process and expose than out and out lies.  I’m fully convinced that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable and eternal.  However, His will isn’t always done.  Sin is the proof of that.  It’s never God’s will for us to think, speak or act contrary to God’s character, purpose or plans.  Yet, people do.

Despite the cliches that say things like: “If God calls you to it, He will see you through it,” there are times when things happen contrary to God’s desires.  Oh, I don’t mean to offend you; I especially don’t mean to cause you to doubt God’s love, provisions or protection.  My goal is to cause you to be even more aware of God’s presence than ever before - only this time, full of real faith instead of naive bravado.

Hebrews 11 is often called the “Faith Chapter” because it begins with a definition of faith (“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”) and then proceeds to give concrete examples of those who lived by that definition.  We remember very well those whose faith caused them to live in victory- Abraham, Moses, David, etc.   We tend to forget there are plenty of examples in that chapter of those who suffered tremendously because of their faith.  Why?  What’s the difference between these?

Well, we’ve got to come to grips with the true purpose of faith to get to that answer.  God doesn’t give us faith so we can live in ease and comfort; although some will.  God doesn’t give us faith so we will never suffer loss, defeat or hardships; although some won’t.

The purpose of faith is to cause us to be able to know God and walk with Him.  You see, we are so tied to the natural realm, we cannot sense God, hear Him speak to us or understand His ways.  Faith is the only means possible for us to do that.

You see, we have the tendency to evaluate everything in terms of what we personally get from it.  Thus, we tend to believe whatever God does or asks us to do will always benefit us in the short-term, but that’s just not the case – read Hebrews 11:36-39.  What was their short-term gain?

I’m reminded of those who serve in our military, here.  Some are asked to put themselves in harm’s way for the good of the others; and, some of them pay the ultimate price for their service.  Well, we are all called to be “soldiers” of the cross – check out 2 Tim. 2:3-4.  We’re called to active service.  Some will be assigned very difficult tasks while others not so much so.  But the effect of all of us doing our part will result “in the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:16)

If we’re ever going to mature, we’ve got to get beyond our narcissistic training.  Christianity is not about us!  It’s about the Lord Jesus’ rightful place and our surrendering to Him in faith; it’s not about us getting what we want from God, but God finally getting what He wants from us – love, worship and obedience.  It’s truly All About Him!

C or G is a Huge Difference

Today, I received a positive comment about a blog I wrote about a year and a half ago on another blog I used to write called “It’s That Important.”  After reading it again, I decided I should share it on this blog, also.  Enjoy!

I pulled up at the light; actually, at the end of a string of cars waiting at the light. In the lane next door, sitting impatiently like a little boy waiting on the recess bell, was a biker sitting on his semi-customed Harley. He wasn’t your typical “Hog” jockey so I guess that’s why the whole thing caught my attention. He was rather small framed, so he looked odd and out of place.

Most of the time, you see guys riding those wondrous throaty machines that are large enough to spill out on either side of them. This guy was almost dwarfed by the gas tank alone, not to mention the massive rumbling engine he perched atop that made the bike shake noticably as it not so patiently waited to come roaring alive once the pie turned green.

As I studied the unusual site, a question welled up inside me. I wondered how much horse power per pound he had at his disposal? My mind wouldn’t get off that thought. I estimated the horse power rating of the bike’s big V-twin engine and I looked again at it’s controller, who more and more took on the appearance of an astronaut attempting to steer an Apollo rocket with hand throttles.

Then I noticed the other machines around me – most of whom, like so many American motorized vehicles, had only one person occupying space within them. “Let’s see, weight to horsepower… I bet that guy, pound for pound, has a higher rating than even that huge truck over there.”

About then the stack of idled autos started to lurch forward. We were once again moving. I expected my biker buddy on the right to roar off the line (almost as if NASA control had hit the launch button). But he didn’t. The roar was that unmistakeable and patented Harley Davidson rumble, but it had been tamed, like that of a big cat in a zoo. Obviously holding tremendous power at bay, he pulled smoothly off the line; straightening back up off his temporary left foot tripod and onto only his two wheels again.

That’s when it hit me like a bolt of lightning – C versus G! Why would someone want to drive something so powerful when it wasn’t really necessary to get him from point A to point B? After all, wouldn’t a fraction of that horsepower get him to the same place? Of course, the same was true for the rest of us, too. I didn’t need all the space I was occupying on the road either.

What causes us to cling to cars, SUV’s, motorcycles and such that are so obviously manufactured with overkill engines? They aren’t in the best interest of the planet. Therefore, they aren’t in our best interest in the long run. The answer was clear – just change the idea of being eco-efficient with ego-efficient and you have your answer. It’s a very small change – just a C to a G, but what a huge difference to our world.

Someone once asked me what I thought was wrong with our world. My answer was, and is, very simple: we are! At the very root of things, human beings are selfish. That’s the original sin Adam and Eve discovered in the Garden. It’s the basis for every other sin, misdeed, crime, hurtful relationship, etc. It runs so deep in us we’re not even aware of its presence most of the time. To surgically remove it would kill the patient.

That’s why God alone is the only one qualified to fix the problem. He alone has the ability to perform such a delicate operation without destroying the very one He is attempting to save. As one Bible verse puts it: “A bruised reed He will not break.”

All self-effort at improvement, therefore, is nothing more than window dressing on selfishness; changing what was once putrid into palatable, according to taste. It never addresses the root cause but merely coats the sinful essence with a measure of tolerability.

God’s plan to redeem us from our sin through the sacrificial and completely atoning death of Jesus is still the only cure. Even with that, we’ll not see the total restoration of a pure nature until we stand before Him in eternity. But, at least we know that freedom from selfishness is possible, and promised in Him. The next time you sit at traffic light, think about it. You might spend that time talking to God about getting free in Christ yourself. It’s that important!

Distracted Evangelists

Have you noticed we’re now inside two months until this federal election cycle is finally over?  It seems like this thing has been going on and on forever.  Choosing our national leaders is very important, but there’s going to have to be some restrictions placed on when someone can start running for office.  Otherwise, we’ll inaugurate a new President one day and start seeing political ads by hopeful candidates the next.

No doubt, running for any public office is difficult, but the cycle winding down right now has been one of the most grueling in history.  The fallout isn’t limited to the also-rans.  The gospel has been the big loser!

Think with me for a moment.  Whatever captivates ones imagination secures ones emotional energy.  When that emotional energy is politically wired to a protracted campaign, such as this one with so-called “history” on the line, it leaves little energy for an even deeper and more important discussion – eternity.  People can only take so much “heavy hitting talk.”  Once they have expended their intellectual and emotional energies, they aren’t interested in talking for awhile.  In fact, they often don’t have enough reserves to even privately ponder another deep subject.  Thus, the gospel gets relegated to the back burner, whose energy has been shut down for replenishment.

While the policies of particular candidates are bantered back and forth, bisected and disected into oblivion, one thing remains the same - regardless of their sincerity, little will change in Washington, D.C.  There is such a huge political machine protecting the status quo in place, it would take a dictator with greater powers than Hitler to effect the change necessary to make a massive difference in the way things are done.  Yet, cycle after cycle, there’s just enough visible change taking place that we, as good Americans, continue to cling to our hope for a better future via another election.

Although there are a few shifts here and there, if you’ve been around long enough, you’ve seen election cycles come and go; you’ve seen one new President after another – some more effective than others, and all with their good and bad sides.  However, the United States government remained in tact throughout each one’s administration.  As sure as night follows day, there was another election cycle lurking just around the corner with a list of hopefuls wishing to put their stamp on history and promising to change everything for everybody.

Sadly, all the while, people were being born, living, winning, losing, and dying throughout each cycle.  Solomon told us it would be that way when he said: “There’s nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) 

But here’s the toughest part.  While the world played the fiddle for politics, millions of real people – some well-known and some obscure; some with important accomplishments to their credit and some with nothing more to show for their time on earth other their birth and death certificates – went into eternity.

Discussions about eternity are not in vogue right now; at least, not discussions about the Biblical view of it.  If you’re into the spiritual version of “I’m Okay; You’re Okay,” then it’s not such a disdained discussion.  Talk about it from the exclusive point of view of its rightful owner, however, and you’ll likely see people move away from you as quickly as one would from someone who just encountered a scared skunk.

I’m not arguing that we, as Christians, bury our heads in the sand, completely ignoring the great debates and political tug-a-wars that can effect our nation so powerfully.  I am contending that we not allow ourselves to be suckered into placing political conquests above the priorities of spiritual transformations. No one, not one single person, went to heaven because he or she held the right governmental view on some issue.  Not one was ever allowed through the gate of pearl because he or she was an active member of a particular political party.  And, not one was judged by the God of all creation solely upon their voting record.  Eternal salvation isn’t politically based.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is still the one and only way God has set forth to redeem humanity.  “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

I’m praying that when this election cycle concludes, the church will get back to making the proclamation of the gospel it’s number one concern once again.  We’ve spent enough time (and money) on candidates who have no real power to change lives.  It’s time we got back to the business of lifting up the name of Jesus so the world can see the its real Savior!

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”  (John 12:32)

Wrong Emergency Room

Angela was searching through the onscreen menu of TV viewing options last night and concluded “there’s nothing on.”  Instead of turning it off, she punched the select button on an old episode of “ER.”  As the show droned on through one critical patient’s delimma after another, I became intrigued with the overall theme of that episode. 

Apparently, the head physician in charge of the ER, Dr. Kerry Weaver, discovered her long lost birth mother.  Her mom was a born-again Christian whose life had been turned around by her faith in the Lord Jesus.  She gave as clear a testimony as you could expect from a secular TV show.  The mom even sang in a choir in which we, the viewing audience, were privileged to hear a beautiful rehearsal of the old song, “Just As I Am.”

As the show unfolded, Dr. Weaver revealed her lesbianism to her mom and chided her for a faith that wasn’t freeing but restrictive and unaccepting of her “true self.”  I was shocked to see such a blatant attack on Christianity and even more amazed at the arrogance of such writing.  Dr. Weaver told her mother that she didn’t want her love if it didn’t come also with the acceptance of who she was, and that if God did love her, He would accept her just as she was.

As I was watching this ideology come to light via this show, my first thought was “no wonder we have so many people today who have bought into the so-called ‘gay agenda.’   It was being force-fed them through almost every mainline TV in America during that era.  The kids who grew up through this barrage of pro-homosexual propaganda would naturally see the religious person as a closed-minded and uncaring spiritual snob who refused to accept people unlike themselves. 

My second thought was even more penetrating.  How can we share the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ with a generation that has been brainwashed to believe we are the enemy of enlightenment?

Truth has taken a beating in this last generation – my generation.  We grew up in the sixties with the idea that conventional mores were nothing more than an oppressive Christian religion withholding the exciting from us because it knew it would lose us if we were ever freed from such restrictive tentacles. 

Unfortunately, there are so very few genuine Christian apologeticists who have the intelligence to stand toe to toe with the anti-religious crowd and present a compelling antithesis to their tripe.  We have been losing ground by default.  We lost in the election of the public mind not because we aren’t right but because we failed to run a viable candidate! 

Don’t get me wrong, here.  We have many who hold solidly to Biblical Christianity, yet they do so without a deep enough understanding of our faith so as to allow the deconstruction of it in an argument, and the ability to reconstruct it once again in perfect harmony, on the fly.  That’s what it will take to refute the so-called enlightened crowd, and to share the gospel with this emerging generation.

Today’s skeptic is not like previous versions.  They have been craftily indoctrinated with positions they hold dear and think true.  Yet, for all their claims of openness, they haven’t honestly studied all sides or carefully weighed all arguments.  They began with a skewed view of Christianity via their (our) addiction to New York’s TV producers biases and Hollywood’s insatiable “pushing-the-envelope” morality ringing in their ears.

All that being said, the real delimma of winning our world to the truth in Christ doesn’t reside within the minds of those apart from God, but within the minds and hearts of those who claim Him.  That “ER” rerun made me realize how much of that stuff we, the Church, have swallowed over the last few decades.  We’ve ingested so much of that brainwashing dribble that we’ve started shrinking away from sharing the gospel as if we don’t possess the truth; merely our beliefs.

Unless we come to our spiritual senses and realize every person apart from Christ has the right to hear about a God who loves them so profoundly that He sent His only Begotten Son to become a propitiation for their sin by giving His sinless life as payment, then it’s the Church that has been brainwashed the most.  Thus, we have decided for all those who don’t have faith in Christ that they aren’t going to be responsive to the eternal love of God.  We have stolen their hope by keeping it closed up within the four walls of our buildings and locked away from them within the confines of our thoughts.

The Church is supposed to be the “ER” for lost souls.  The Church was designed by God Himself to be the place of eternal healing.  We alone have been given the mystery of the gospel to share with a world desperately needing its life-changing message. 

If we have shrunk into timidity about sharing the gospel with those who need a physician (Matthew 9:12), then it is the Church, God’s own people, who are preventing the lost from being saved.  We’ve turned God’s “ER” into a convalescent home for aging saints.  We’ve given up on winning this world and have decided to sit out the remainder of our lives in the comfort and safety of our own salvation.

People are seeking healing today.  I’m convinced there is still a longing in every human heart that can only be satisfied by a saving relationship to God through Jesus.  Millions are secretly, maybe even subconsciously, searching for truth.  They are longing for fulfillment.  They are open to the gospel if it shared by someone that cares about them and personally demonstrates the life-change that is promised in Christ. 

We must begin searching for them; sharing our hearts, lives, homes, faith, and Savior with them in ways that are genuine and honest.  We must share with them that God does accept us just as we are, but He also loves us enough not to leave us in the same condition He finds us.  That’s the truth of the gospel!!

People are hurting and looking for a place of healing.  It’s too bad that because of our timidity, many will find the wrong “ER.”

Thank God for Broken Radios

We just returned from a family vacation to Orlando.  It’s the first family vacation we’ve taken in five years or so – although with our third son not present because of his service to our country, it wasn’t quite the whole family.

We did the normal kinds of things you do when families visit Orlando – Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc.  I wish I had purchased a pedometer before we went.  It would have been fascinating to see how many steps per day we actually walked.

Years ago, a cynical person told me that “a boat is a hole in the water where you put your money.”  If that’s true, then Orlando is the land-lubber version of that same hole.  I shudder to think how much money is spent every year by families, like mine, who are trying to create lifetime memories from these artificial environments.

It dawned on me as we were crawling along Interstate 75, a road that seems to be under perpetual renovation, that lifetime memories are created, not from man-made parks with rides designed to simulate danger, but from real interaction with the real Creator. 

At one point, I looked around the van and we had 3 laptops blaring and a portable DVD player holding two people’s attention like a mini-theatre.  The only one who wasn’t plugged in was the driver.  That’s when it hit me – we are so entertainment oriented we hardly have any down time when God can speak to us.

I’m firmly convinced that I’m saved today, in a large part, due to a broken radio.  You see, when I was in college I would make the one-hundred mile drive home nearly every weekend.  At one point, the radio in my car went out.  I made that trip week after week in dead silence.  I believe with all my heart that God allowed my radio to go beserk so He could speak to me about my need for Him.

It happened at a time when I was struggling with spiritual issues; especially the issue of my salvation.  Having grown up in church, I was very well acquainted with the gospel, but I had never given my life to Christ in a penitent surrender.  On nearly every drive home, the Holy Spirit would speak to me and the conviction he brought was palpable!

After having been saved, those moments of silence ceased being wrestling matches with God and became my private worship time. a welcome time with my Savior.  That car became a sanctuary.  My call to ministry was received during one of those trysts.  For obvious reasons, I never fixed the radio in that car. 

With all the personal entertainment choices we have available to us these days, I wonder how many broken devices God needs arrange for us to experience a national spiritual awakening?

Outpourings and Outbreaks

Have you heard about the lastest revival?  Apparently something great is happening down in the peninsula of Florida and people are flocking to it. 

Wasn’t the last revival outbreak in the panhandle of Florida?  Pensacola, wasn’t it?

It seems about every decade or so, a regional revival breaks out somewhere.  I call it a ‘regional revival’ because these things don’t seem to extend much beyond the area of the church in which it is happening.  I certainly don’t question the movings of the Holy Spirit.  He is known for doing the unusual. 

Looking back into history there are plenty of examples of when He poured Himself into particular people and at specific places, and the miraculous became the ordinary (if you can ever call His movings “ordinary.”) 

One of the greatest stories of such an outpouring happened when John Wesley was preaching outdoors.  Apparently, whenever people came within earshot of his preaching, the Holy Spirit would draw them to Christ in large numbers.  The story is told about one weary traveler who merely rode his horse near to the place where Wesley was preaching and the anointing of the Spirit knocked the man from his mount.  He immediately sought out the place of the meeting and gave his life to Christ.

I’ve been privileged to experience mini-versions of that kind of outpouring.  It is unlike any other experience, so I cannot compare to anything else, but having once experienced His magnificent outpouring, attending the typical worship service where the supernatural movement of God isn’t palpable becomes intolerable.  This could explain why so many flock to these regional outbreaks.

There is something within us that longs, and even pleads, for God.  We want more than just a cursory meeting with Him.  Our soul clamors for the reality of His presence – the supernatural presence that we read about in the Bible; the palpable presence of God that defines reality.  People used to call that the “Sweetness of God.” It’s that very place where revival becomes a temporary trip into eternity. 

I remember attending a meeting that started out as a typical church meeting and turned into an outpouring.  When the meeting was over, I had no idea how long we had been in worship.  It didn’t matter.  It was as if time had been suspended.  Since then, I’ve discovered that is one of the ways you can know you’ve been in the presence of God. 

You see, minutes, hours, days, years, etc., are all relative to the spin and orbit of earth.  Because God is not limited to earth’s restrictions, His time is totally different than ours.  That’s why 2 Peter 3:8 can say: “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”  Whenever we get into His presence, time shifts to eternity time and away from earth time.

That fact makes it relatively simple to realize who is worshipping and who is biding their time until the service is over.  The one who is worshipping is engrossed in God’s presence and loses a sense of what time it is.  He or she doesn’t care what else is going on around them because they are in awe of Him and rapt by His majesty.  The one who is merely waiting until the service is over has a tendency to be distracted by noises, people movement, the temperature of the room, the volume of the music, the quality of the singers, or the personality of the preacher.  He may even look several times at his watch.  He is definitely on earth time.

Does an outpouring have to include large numbers to be a real revival?  Most of the time, we won’t hear about it unless it does but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in small places with small groups.  There may be large numbers who attend a revival that never get into His presence.  They may flock to the place of revival and fail to flock to the author of revival.  They may be looking for a particular experience and actually miss the God of that experience.

One of the greatest revivals in history was a supernatural meeting between only one man and God Himself.  Moses met God in the burning bush and that encounter revolutionized a nation.  On another occasion, God sent a single preacher to share His Word with a single seeker on a road in Gaza, and that lone encounter sparked an outpouring of God’s power in Ethopia.

Unlike us, God isn’t impressed with the numbers who gather.  He’s not seeking to win a popularity contest.  He is, however, seeking.  Jesus said He seeks hearts who want to genuinely worship in spirit and honesty. (John 4:23)  He longs to connect with those who want nothing more than to be in His presence – who are willing to leave earth behind and enter into eternity, if but for just a little while.

A revival can break out anywhere.  It doesn’t take large numbers or exotic locations.  God is willing to pour out His Spirit anywhere upon anyone who is open to His supernatural presence and willing to surrender to Him on His terms.

Where Have All the Builders Gone?

I took a trip to my hometown recently to see my Mom.  It’s a small mid-south county seat town with a rich history of producing musical people that even today impact Nashville and the whole music scene.  However, as I drove through town, I noticed it’s starting to show the signs of decline.

This decline is gradual and probably isn’t noticeable by those who have grown accustomed to it day by day.  It’s not an all out full-blown death spiral, but the decline will continue if the reason for it is left unaddressed.  The reason is obvious – the builders are dying.  Even during my short visit, my Mom attended the funeral of a good friend and neighbor down the street.  One more builder lost.

Don’t misunderstand me.  Builders aren’t contractors.  They are ordinary people who put the good of their community above their own personal gain.  We have a whole generation of them who are dying at an alarming rate.  They weathered and won World War II and then helped ”build” this nation into the greatest on earth.

What’s happening to my hometown is indicative of what’s happening all across our country.  Builders spent their lives improving everything they touched.  They sacrificed for the sake of their children saying: “I want my kids to have a better life than I’ve had.”  They invested themselves and their money into their communities and expected that same from others.  I can still hear my Dad chiding me about wanting to go to Memphis to purchase something saying: “If you spend your money out of town, before long you won’t have a town.”

Builders gave generously to community causes. They worked tirelessly to expand local libraries and local schools.  They built locally-owned businesses and dealt with locally-owned banks.  They built community hospitals and community churches.  In short, they built communities.

Now, they’re dying, and they’re not being replaced with like-minded people.  The kids they had such high hopes failed to grasp that same sense of community mindedness. That’s why my hometown is showing signs of decline.  The builders aren’t in power anymore to ensure the best for the community and their kids are doing what my generation have always done - personally reaped the benefits of the prosperity of our parents.

I don’t mean to come across sounding so cynical, but it’s true.  We’ve all seen it happen over and over.  One generation builds and the next generation rides what was built.  By the third generation, what was once a viable entity has been riden down to the point where their is little vibrancy left to pass on. 

It’s a fact that most family-owned businesses don’t make it past the second generation.  It’s well documented.  A vital ingredient is missing in the acumen of that second generation which was so prevasive with the first: SELF-SACRIFICE. 

No community can be built without it.  Everything that can be created to outlast our lifetime requires it.  The opposite of it is self-indulgence – the ultimate consumeristic mentality.  It’s the lack of self-sacrifice that will be the demise of the church in America.  While builders invested their lives in starting, serving and maintaining the witness of churches all over this country, boomers are spiritual consumers. 

My generation wants ready-made congregations that offer a host of specialty programs staffed by someone other than themselves that cater to their every need.  As a consequence, as builders pass away so do many of the churches they lovingly sacrificed to build, maintain and hoped to pass on.

Granted, not all these churches deserve to live on;  not all have a compelling reason for ministry;  not all want to reach the world they currently live in.  But certainly, not all that are dying are unworthy congregations, either.

As long as spiritual consumers are willing to drive out of their communities to attend the newest, hottest, most consumer-oriented mega-church in the city, then the spiritual climate of local communities will continue to decline just as surely as my hometown.  Mega-churches skim the cream off the top and rarely do the difficult work of penetrating deeply into the local areas from which they draw people to reach the lost in those areas.  They rarely disciple large numbers of those living in those communities into passionate, productive followers of Christ who in turn invest themselves in reaching and discipling others.

However, all is not hopeless.  There are hundreds of thousands of churches dotted all over the landscape of America in whom God has invested His life.  Many are doing an outstanding job of reaching their communities with the gospel.  And, there are a few mega-churches that are starting new churches to reach new people for Christ.

As long as those who love Jesus continue to hear His call to deny themselves, pick up their crosses and follow Him, there is hope – hope that a self-centered, self-indulgent and self-satisfied generation will wake up to realize “The Great Generation” was called that not because they had everything, but because they were willing to build everything.  There is hope that the DNA they inherited will stir passions long buried by years of prosperity and cause us boomers to invest our lives in order to give them away for the sake of others.

If that happens, there is hope for the revival of my hometown.  More importantly, there is hope for real spiritual revival in America.  I praying for that!

MisSpeak, MisSteps and MisTakes

It’s going to happen.  Regardless of how accomplished a speaker is, there are bound to be times when the brain is sluggish yet the mouth is unaware of it.  So, it chatters on long after the brain has taken a respite.

I’ve done it.  Every pastor has.  I did it just this last Sunday. The subject was rather deep and I was in the middle of sharing the thoughts the Lord had given me when I sensed I needed to add a little levity.  All of a sudden I remembered a joke that would have been perfect for the particular point I was making.  All went well except no one laughed.  It wasn’t until later that I realized I had only told half the punch line. 

No wonder nobody joined me in amusement.  I had misspoken.  Over the course of giving nearly 5,000 messages over 31 years, it certainly wasn’t the first time.  My wife still recalls all too fondly the time I tried to convince Dad’s one Father’s Day they needed to “curdle” their babies.  You see, my mind could not decide whether to say “cradle” or “cuddle” so it combined the two.  The minute it left my mouth I knew it had a wrong ring to it but couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.  So I tried to correct the problem by repeating the phrase.  However, my mind was just as confused the second time as with the first and I “curdled” those babies once again.

Down through the years, we’ve had a good laugh about it, but there are times when misspeaks aren’t funny.  Recently, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have experienced how serious they can be.  It seems there are always those hanging around who relish such missteps and who will never allow the speaker to correct himself/herself.  I’m not trying to excuse either person, or attempting to prove their misstatements were actually lapses in memory or were simply times, like all speakers experience, when the mind runs amok.  I’m certainly not endorsing either one or attempting to excuse or explain away what seems to be a few obvious falsehoods.  I’m just trying to remind all of us of two very important facts.

1.  Fatigue can create odd situations and cause the mind not to function properly.

In fact, It’s been proven that a severe lack of sleep produces the same reactions as being drunk.  I watched a program that compared the reaction times of automobile drivers.  The drivers were asked to manuever their cars through a series of cones on a track while they were sober and alert.  Then the reseachers kept some of the drivers awake for an unusual amount of time and gave alcoholic drinks to the others.  Result: those who were sleep deprived had the same reactions as those who had been drinking.  

2. We need to be careful not to allow our personal or political agendas to release us from our obligation to be fair.

Jesus taught us that only those who have no sin are allowed to cast stones at others.  If I understand things correctly, that excludes all of us from rock throwing (Romans 3:23). 

I know, I know.  We’re Americans and we have the right to our opinions; especially when it comes to politicians and their positions.  While that’s certainly true, in the political sense, as Christians we are also called to a higher way of life.  Following Jesus isn’t just a game we play at church – it’s a way of living we choose when we accepted Him as our Savior.

Although we might gain some mileage out of berating the poor soul who misspeaks, we belittle ourselves in the process.  Two Presidential election campaigns ago, I received an email about one of the candidates that I knew couldn’t be true.  It claimed that one party’s nominee had misspoken and misquoted the scripture, though the candidate claimed to be a devout Christian.  The message asked me to pass this earth-shaking news along to as many in my contact list as I could. 

Instead of passing along the info as directed, I decided to chase down the source of the information and check out it’s validity.  I found the article had originated with BNN – Bogus News Network.  I then replied to the person who had naively sent it to me with the truth I had discovered, along with the tag: “I want our side to win, not based upon false statements but upon the truth and the rightness of our position.”

That advice still holds water, and in more than simply political elections.  People are people.  In protracted campaigns, such as the one we’re currently experiencing, there are bound to be many moments of fatigue.  And, a weary mind is bound to play havoc with facts and words.  But don’t be so quick to look on the ground for rocks.  Who knows.  Maybe one day you’ll be the one needing to duck for cover and hoping people give you a second chance to straighten up a mistake.

The “Cold” Hard Facts

Insanity.  That’s what it seems like these days.  I grew up in an era when TV shows portrayed the best about families; they oozed with hope, love and togetherness – shows like Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, Leave it to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Donna Reed Show.  Lately, my television has shown a completely different version of family.  It’s not the beautiful picture of a caring home, but the picture of a world gone mad.  No, I’m not talking about the ridiculous barrage of sitcoms and cartoon caricatures that seem to inundate mainstream programming.  I’m referring to real life stories on the news.

I’m sure you remember the stories, too.  Stories like the father who had a fight with his wife and threw his four small children over the bridge into Mobile bay.  Or, the Dad who kidnapped his kids and shot them along with himself.  Or, the mother who threw her two kids onto the interstate from an overpass before jumping into traffic herself (this news story at least had a semi-positive ending – they all survived).

What on earth is going on in America?  How did we get to this point?

Recently, I read a quote from Jesus that I don’t remember ever noticing before that I believe explains it.  (Isn’t it amazing how that happens - though you’ve read something over and over, one day you finally see it as if it had never been there previously?!)  It’s a simple little statement in Matthew 24:12 where He said: “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

Jesus was talking about what will happen in the end times; the last days.  First, it’s a fact that lawlessness will increase.  People will lose their concern for authority, and that fact will have a monumental impact on our world.  No doubt we are there now! 

Some say this bent toward lawlessness began in earnest with President Richard Nixon’s Watergate debacle.  They claim that’s when America began losing faith in it’s elected leaders and therefore lost respect for authority in general.  While I agree President Nixon has some responsibility for that, humanly speaking, I think you can take our current crisis of authority back even further - back to Adolf Hitler. 

Because of World War II, Mom’s had to leave the home to work in war factories.  “Rosie the Riveter,” she was called back then.  Her contribution to the war effort was priceless and absolutely vital to our winning that great conflict.  However, after the war was over, our society began a slow march to the breakdown of the traditional family.  Prior to that, the vast majority of homes had a family where Dad went to work outside the home to make money and Mom stayed home to work developing the family.

By the time the 50’s were in full swing, the bulk of American families still matched the traditional frame but family life was slowing changing.  By the time the 60’s hit, the love revolution was in and the traditional family structure was being replaced by live-in partnerships and multiple careers.  Nixon was merely the dot on the top of “i” that stood for individualism and relativism.

Finally, along came the 70’s with the Women’s Lib movement, Gay Rights activism, soaring divorce rates and secularists whose vision of an America devoid of Christianity pushed the traditional family nearly into oblivion.  These convergent forces have led to the breakdown not just of the traditional family structure but also of the respect for authority in young lives.  As American courts have continually overturned one traditional collective law after another in favor of individual rights, the average young American has lost his sense of community responsibility and replaced it with self-indulgence and personal anarchy.

Sure, you might argue there are plenty of exceptions, but look at the overall effect on our country and Jesus’ words come clearly into focus.  The lack of respect for authority breeds personal lawlessness, which, in turn, produces a coldness of spirit, and that results in a loss of love.  Thus, we are seeing a host of dysfunctional families and crimes against children like we’ve never known in the history of our nation.

WHY?  Why does that work that way?  It’s very simple.  Love isn’t a romantic feeling.  Love is a sacrificial commitment.  Jesus commands us to “love one another.” (John 13:34)  You cannot command feelings.  They come and go.  We can control our will to act on feelings.  Therefore, love isn’t a feeling; it is an act of our will.  When the will of a human being has never been trained to be concerned for others above concern for self, love doesn’t exist beyond self-gratification.

For years I have proposed a definition of love that stands the Jesus test.  It goes beyond infatuation; beyond lust; beyond self-fulfillment or personal gratification.  Love is: “My commitment to someone else’s best interest via my attitude and actions.”  Whether I feel like being committed on a particular day isn’t the issue.  The other person’s needs and my commitment are the issues!

Lasting marriages cannot be built upon the fleeting sense of romance.  They might start that way, but that is too fragile a cord to bind them together.  Neither can a society hope to survive based strictly upon authoritarian rule of law – that’s the hope of every incumbent politician, but it just won’t last.  Take a look at every society in antiquity that tried it.  They’ve all crumbled from within. 

If my commitment is based upon what I want, the results will look radically different than if my commitment is based upon what is right and what others need.  You see, lawlessness always approaches life’s questions from the “I” position.  Love always approaches them from the opposite perspective.

That’s how a father can be so consumed with self that he can convince himself that if he no longer wants to live, his children do not have the right to live anymore either.  Or, a Mom who has decided to take her own life does not want someone else raising her kids, so she decides to end their life before she ends hers.

The “cold” hard facts are these.  No society can survive in an environment where there is little to no concern for the welfare of others.  Sin destroys our ability to love unselfishly and sacrificially.  Jesus is the only answer to the sin problem of humanity.  Those of us who know Christ as Lord, are called and commanded to share the life-changing gospel with those trapped by sin before it’s too late.  Until we realize our God-given responsibility to help others find a saving relationship to God through Jesus, our world will continue to travel down the road to oblivion.  Finally, every tragic headline is a poignant reminder that we don’t have much time left to do the works of God before our Lord returns and the age of grace is over.

There’s an old hymn written by an 18 year old named Anna Coghill, that expresses so very well our responsibility of love toward those who are apart from God – “Work, for the night is coming, Work through the sunny noon; Fill brightest hours with labor, Rest comes sure and soon.  Give every flying minute, Something to keep in store; Work, for the night is coming, When man works no more.”