My Little Devotional #166: “Leader of the Pack”

Tags

authority, Bible, devotional, diligence, God, Horse Play, humility, inspirational, integrity, Jesus, leadership, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, responsibility, trust

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Horse Play”

Princess Celestia has gotten a lot of flak over the years if you’ve been in the fan community. Often thought of as being useless, lazy, incompetent, or even an epic troll in terms of being a leader of Equestria, most of her good qualities come from the “Positive Void” rather than ever seeing her do anything on screen. Yet, as episodes like this show, when push comes to shove she can be a good, prudent, and fast-thinking leader with only minutes to spare…even if the crisis in question is simply salvaging a play.

Leadership is ultimately a necessity for human society. All communities are made up of varieties of individuals who have an assortment of proficiencies in certain talents or spheres of influence–many of whom are intelligent or knowledgeable in one or many fields. Even in the best of situations, if all of these individuals tried to act independently toward a common goal there would be confusion, disorganization, and a lot of stepping on each other’s toes. In worse situations, there would also be bickering, squabbling, and infighting. And in a crisis, all of those things would be potentially fatal. Simply put, people need those in positions of leadership if only to give a voice that all can march to or a common direction to follow, like a band leader or a conductor. Often it means much more than that, for the same individual to be the one who makes big decisions on behalf of others or takes charge in times of crisis as well. And for Christian leaders, it means even more as they usually have charge of preaching the Gospel and/or directing the community in their interpretation of the Bible and godly living.

It’s a bit corny and overused thanks to things like Spider-Man, but it’s also true: the more power and authority a position has, the greater the responsibility to maintain it (James 3:1). Since Christians believe their spiritual leaders have responsibility for the spiritual well-being of their community, that entails a very special level of responsibility. In the days of the Bible, the leaders were seen as representatives of the people as a whole and, therefore, were especially culpable for both their virtue and vice. It was, after all, their duty and charge to direct the people responsibly. And as such, primary punishment was always reserved for them when they neglected their people (Isaiah 10:1-10; Matthew 18:6), and they had a special obligation to pursue sound judgment and righteousness (Proverbs 11:14, 29:12).

Indeed, history is rife with examples of religious leaders who led peoples, communities, and sometimes entire nations astray with their interpretations of their religions, whether their interpretations were accidental or motivated by personal greed and self-interest. Yet even for the more honest and forthright among us, there probably aren’t many who envy having that position when they consider the responsibility and diligence it requires. Even so, there will likely be at least a handful of times in our lives in which all of us will be offered the chance, voluntarily or involuntarily, to take charge of a small situation. And for the Christian, that means being as responsible in the small matters as the large ones.

So what makes a good leader of Christian values?

1. A good leader consults the Lord.

One common theme of the good leaders in the Bible is that they always had recourse to the Lord; good times and bad. When in times of distress they cried out to him, when in times of fear and despair they prayed to him, and when in times of joy and plenty they praised him. David’s entries in the Book of Psalms are an excellent example of this. He may have been one of the greatest kings of the Old Testament but his life was anything but peaceful and worry-free. Yet no matter the time or the season, he didn’t forget the Lord and always turned to him no matter what he was feeling. Many leaders in the Bible, just like those in real life, frequently had to choose the best option out of several with no guarantee of success even then. Recognizing the limits of human wisdom as well as the uncertainty of the unknown, committing themselves, their people, and their nations to God was always a first and foremost step.

2. A good leader doesn’t rule in a vacuum.

Any leader can give a directive or an order for other people to follow, but a wise leader recognizes their own limitations and delegates responsibility to people of trust. They identify who are good and valuable people in their service who have a good talent and they appoint them to do what they’re best at; making the best use of everyone’s talents and not weighing themselves down with either the exhaustion of being overburdened or the overbearingness of micromanagement.  As a Biblical example, consider King Solomon. He is known as the wisest mortal man of all time who no one on Earth could match. And yet, even he had counselors in his service (1 Kings 12:6). Likewise, in the New Testament, Jesus Himself designated twelve apostles above the rest of his disciples to act in positions of leadership, and they themselves later designated others to handle the normal day-to-day affairs in the Church community so they could devote themselves to preaching the Gospel (Acts 6:1-7). No one knows everything or is a pro at everything, or has the luxury of the time and energy to direct everything. One of the best things a leader might do with people under their charge is look for who knows best about A or B among them and consult them accordingly, and be humble enough to accept their help. “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” (Proverbs 11:14)

3. A good leader seeks the good of others over himself or herself.

In this episode, Twilight Sparkle may have created her play out of a desire to give Princess Celestia a chance to be a star, but Celestia herself realized it was more important for everyone involved to make the play a success. In the same way, all good leaders seek the success of those under their charge as a whole, while poor ones use leadership as an excuse for their own glory. In the Bible, some of the worst rulers ultimately stemmed from ones who cared little about their people compared to their own glory. There was the Pharaoh of Egypt in the Old Testament, who let misery and one plague after another afflict his people without care for their suffering due to the pride and obstinance of his position…until the last one finally struck him personally as well. There was Jeroboam, the first ruler of the northern kingdom of the divided Israel, who sought to preserve himself by inducing his nation to abandon the Lord and serve his idols, and in the end destroyed both his own house as well as Israel with him.  And then there were the latter day rulers of Judah, who became so oppressive and corrupt that eventually the Lord declared their doom through the prophets (Ezekiel 34:1-10). By comparison, Lord Jesus Himself, the King of Kings, set an example by putting the good of everyone ahead of Himself. ““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

4. A good leader makes decisions that are right, not popular.

While it’s generally a good rule of thumb for any leader to make decisions on what is going to bring the most amount of benefit to the most people under their leadership, there comes times…possibly many times…in which a leader must use their position to enforce an unpopular decision in the name of the greater good. No one ever said doing the right thing would earn you praise or even make you popular. Going back to David, part of the reason he had such a tempestuous reign is because he was not terribly popular among all of his subjects. After spending years as a fugitive of his own country and the reigning monarch of the time, he became king at first only over the region of Judah for a period of seven years, and once he did become king of Israel he had to deal with two separate rebellions: one led by his own son. Pretty much every decision Moses made was hated by the Israelites, from the moment he made his first proclamation against Pharaoh which resulted in their workload being increased to their constant desires to return to Egypt while journeying to Sinai and the Promised Land to the multiple occasions of attempted revolt and rebellion during the 40 years in the desert. One need hardly mention just how unpopular Jesus was in His time; not just with the religious leaders but with many of His disciples (John 6:66). And yet all three of these individuals, especially Jesus, were considered to be some of the most upstanding and god-fearing men of the Bible along with the most sound judgment.

Finally, when it comes to spiritual leadership, many Christians have the privilege of “choice” in being able to pick which leader they are going to listen to and let influence them. Likewise, because of the special power and authority a religious leader wields, they have the ability to sway and direct people in many ways that more secular leaders cannot…as well as, if they so wish to, manipulate them. For that reason, even if we find ourselves always being a member of a “flock” and never taking a turn as a “shepherd”, it’s always a responsibility for everyone to choose carefully who they let lead them.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the example of Lord Jesus and the model He gave us to follow when seeking to be a leader. Whether I find myself in a position of leadership or following others, please grant that I will always consult you first and seek your glory, that I will always be humble enough to seek the help of others when necessary, that I will desire the good of others over myself, and that I will always make the right decision rather than the one that gets the most people to like me. And please grant me a discerning heart to do the same toward people I put my faith and trust in to lead me. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

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My Little Devotional #165: “Separation Anxiety”

Tags

Bible, commitment, devotional, divorce, God, honesty, hostility, inspirational, Jesus, marriage, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, relationships, responsibility, Surf and/or Turf, Terramar

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Surf and/or Turf”

I think we all wish life was as simple as this episode.

The hippogriff Terramar finds himself in a difficult situation when his father elects to move back topside and live as a hippogriff full-time while his mother elects to remain in the sea as a merpony–leading him to think he has to choose between the two of them. The dilemma has a rather handy solution when it turns out he doesn’t have to choose at all and can live between the two as he pleases, which is something both of his parents approve of.

Many saw this as the show making attempt at a metaphor for the issue of children going through a divorce. To me, it’s a bit unfortunate that they danced around it with a metaphor at all, because we are at the point where over half of all marriages in the USA end in divorce (and the number only looks to keep rising) so they might as well face reality. Yet even more unfortunate is that the resolution was so neat and tidy as, in my experience, divorces rarely end so “neatly”.

What I have seen more in my own life is the two individuals involved in a divorce having the absolute worst brought out of them; turning into deranged, irrational, hate-filled “creatures” (because “human” is a rather loose term at best in those cases). Everything becomes bitter, everything becomes hostile, everything becomes about one trying to get an edge on the other, and, in the middle of it all, both of them try to leverage their children as emotional weapons against one another. With few exceptions, I never see people at their most malicious, twisted, and depraved than when going through a divorce.

And of course, every time, it’s all “the other person’s fault”.

When it comes to social problems, a favorite target for a lot of Christian preachers is to rail against divorce. For them, that’s often an indicator about how “corrupt” and “godless” our society is becoming. I do think that’s a bit biased and oversimplistic (It seems one reason marriages last so long around the world has nothing to do with a want to breakup but rather the fact that society and the law frowns on the idea of divorce and often leaves one partner [almost always the woman] with little recourse to obtain a divorce or financial means if they go through with it; even if they are in an outright abusive relationship.), but that being said, I will admit…one of the reasons I think divorce is so commonplace in the USA at least is because we’re all addicted to the notion of instant gratification and hedonism. If it feels good, do it. If it looks cute, get it and get it now. If it feels bad later, then it can easily be disposed of and a new one obtained. That goes from everything from soft drinks to relationships.

As a member of a number of fan communities, I can tell the only criterion for wanting to see two characters as a couple is if they look cute together. Whether they have opposite personalities, no common ground, they’re enemies, or even if neither of them is interested in a same-sex partner…that doesn’t matter. It looks good together so do it. In the end, making a “cute couple” seems to be the only important thing. So it’s no surprise to me that I see younger people getting married while still having outstanding relationship problems or ones on the horizon that could cause a severe interpersonal strain, expecting that “love will let us work through it”, only for those same issues to never be resolved and cause a breakup later.

The very idea of instant gratification and hedonism is the natural antithesis to self-discipline and commitment. On one hand, you only ever pursue what gives you pleasure or satisfaction. If it gives you pain, the solution is to immediately seek out what gives you more pleasure and to abandon the old thing. On the other hand, self-discipline and commitment starts off by promising nothing but pain and discomfort with the idea of a reward either over the long term or in the future. Hence, you can’t emphasize one side without de-emphasizing the other. And since our society embraces one it’s natural the other will suffer.

Any couple that has lasted a long time together will tell you the same thing: marriage is a commitment. Like all misfortune in life, conflicts in a relationship are inevitable. Assuming that you are going to enter one and never have any is more of a fairy tale than a show about talking, pastel-colored ponies could ever be. And people will inevitably lose their temper or give in to their anger, frustration, or hurt and do or say things particularly bad and mean-spirited. What’s important is what you do in those times and what you are committed to doing no matter how painful it gets and how much work needs to be put into it.

Christians often quote Jesus in passages like Mark 10:8-12 when talking about marriage and divorce. However, perhaps they should also quote Luke 14:28-32. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.” While Lord Jesus was referring to the cost of being His disciple in this passage, the same can be applied to marriage because, after all, the reason marriage is considered a sacred institution is because it represents the relationship of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). And as both relationships are lifelong commitments, then one would think it would make sense to not only plan for a long haul, so to speak, but to prepare to stick by it even when times are rough and relationships become rocky.

Finally, if divorce really is inevitable (and in many cases it will be), a Christian has a much greater responsibility to keep themselves from degenerating into hate and spite as so many divorcees do. Doing so means the hardest task of all: being honest with oneself. Contrary to what many exes would believe, it is a rarity that any relationship difficulty is simply the fault of one individual. (If nothing else, the other individual allowed a bad behavior to happen unchecked until it became an irreconcilable issue.) Strive hard to see and be humble enough to admit what was your part of the problem, always maintain a good attitude and Christ-like view of everyone (including the ex), and, like in this episode, make sure that your child never feels pressured to “take a side”.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for relationships and for the institution of marriage. Please grant that all of my relationships, especially those with my significant other, will personify the love of Christ and His people. Please also grant me the strength to be Christ-like in all times of interpersonal difficulty of my relationships, even if it comes to the point where a breakup is unavoidable. Finally, please help me to be honest and open with myself so that, in any difficulty, I will face what I am contributing to the problem and responsibly overcome it. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

 

My Little Devotional #164: “Why, Back in My Day…”

Tags

advice, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, contentment, despair, devotional, experience, fear, fulfillment, God, Grannies Gone Wild, hopelessness, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Rainbow Dash, unhappiness, Word of God

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Grannies Gone Wild”

Rainbow Dash learns one of life’s basic lessons in this episode about older folks: they know a thing or two. After trying to simultaneously ditch Granny Smith and her friends in Las Pegasus on “safe” activities while unsuccessfully trying to sneak a ride onto the Wild Blue Yonder for the bulk of the episode, she learns only late in the trip that the Gold Horseshoe Gals are Las Pegasus VIP members which allow them priority seating on any ride–meaning she spent a great deal of time worried for nothing because she never asked them for any help. Granted, it was likely Rainbow thought they wouldn’t be interested in the ride in the first place, but seeing as they had a lot more experience being around Las Pegasus than she did she might have bothered chancing some advice.

When all of us are growing up, we all go through that phase in our lives where we start growing more knowledgeable and self-sufficient, and at that time we look back on parents, older family members, or simply older individuals around us and figure “they just don’t get it”. We start thinking of them as outdated, obsolete, or applying a mindset of a different era to modern problems. We tend to often conclude, as is the egocentric view of most young adults, that we somehow got it right and they never did because they’re idiots from an idiot era. It not until we get a little older that we start to realize some of these older folks actually do know a thing or two, and we find ourselves going back to them for advice or, at minimum, their own experiences on things we do that are new. That’s not to say that the older generation didn’t make mistakes of their own or that they always know best, but often when it comes to things like doing home repair, buying a car, looking for a life partner, or especially raising your first child, they tend to have quite a bit of experience and know-how that we could learn something from.

The tendency to consider sources of advice obsolete and outdated isn’t limited to adult figures and older people, however. It also applies to certain traditions, beliefs, or philosophies. And among those things, for both Christians and non-Christians alike as they get older, is the Bible. And it’s a fair point to make. There are quite a lot of things in the Bible that really don’t apply anymore. One can point to the obvious being most of the Law in the Old Testament. I’m not about to ritualistically kill a bull or a goat the next time I go to Church or lose sleep over wearing clothing that’s made of two different kinds of thread.

However, there is a lot more in the context of the Bible than just that which now seems to make the bulk of the content antiquated. We aren’t living in a society that’s mostly poor with just a few rich people in power. We aren’t in an era where the only medical care we can get is prayer and animal sacrifice. At least in the Western World, we aren’t in a society where women suffer dishonor for not being able to get pregnant and are dependent on males. We aren’t surrounded by temples devoted to idols from every nation for a thousand miles. We aren’t an agrarian economy where marriage is mostly a land and business deal and children are raised up for extra farm hands or insurance on the family legacy either. Hence, critics of Christianity often raise the point that what is said in the Bible doesn’t really apply to modern society any longer, and that many of its precepts and concepts are archaic and obsolete.

I will agree that traditions and customs shouldn’t always be upheld, especially if they are only being upheld for just that–tradition and custom. That includes religious ones. There are a lot of older practices and beliefs that we would honestly all be better off without. And it is indeed true that a lot of things have changed throughout history. Technology has changed. Countries have changed. Society has changed.

But the reason so many Christians still defend the Bible and look to it for answers about people is that we believe human nature doesn’t change, whether it be now or thousands of years ago.

Everyone wants food, water, and shelter and those needs tend to take priority, but people aren’t satisfied with just having those needs met. We’re all social creatures. We all feel the need to be understood by someone else. Maybe some of us like large social gatherings and maybe we don’t, but all of us want at least one person to fully understand us and accept us for who we are. Nobody wants to be completely alone. Everyone wants to feel loved.  Everyone will eventually have to come to terms with their own mortality. Everyone will have regrets in their life and wish they had done or hadn’t done something. Everyone will go through a dark period when they feel alone or helpless without any control. And everyone will sit down one day and call into question their own worth as a human being and the value of their own lives.

Society has indeed changed, and science and technology has enabled us all to live easier, more comfortable, and more connected lives than earlier generations ever dreamed possible. But you need only look to those around you to see that none of this guarantees happiness. None of it guarantees peace of mind. None of it guarantees a feeling of self-worth. Those of us in the USA live in a land of abundance, comfort, and plenty. And yet we still deal with depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, and abuse because we still have needs that this alone doesn’t satisfy. Celebrities who make more money that I could ever dream of somehow still go bankrupt because nothing they can buy gives them happiness. Politicians who have power and respect the likes of which most of us will never come close to possessing throw it away on illicit sexual relations and affairs because it still doesn’t bring them satisfaction out of life. In spite of the fact many of us in the Western World live in reasonably safe societies where we don’t have to worry about starvation, homelessness, or joblessness, we still commit suicide because we still feel hopeless and worthless.

Christians feel these things the same as everyone else, and that is why the Word of God is as valuable to us today as it was over 2,000 years ago. We believe it holds the key for a human being to become complete and fulfilled because we believe that it was written by the Creator of human beings–that because the Bible is the Word of God itself that it holds the key to having not only a fulfilling life in this world but in the next one to come.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” (Matthew 4:4)

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

I can’t speak for every Christian, but for me personally the various things of this world often do leave me temporarily enthused, happy, or entertained, but they don’t grant me fulfillment and they don’t satisfy my desires beyond temporary boredom, recreation, or relaxation. And they don’t support me when I feel I am crushed beyond measure, facing horrible odds, in fear for my own life and safety by powers beyond my control, or I’m at my most depressed and hopeless. It’s this book, this book that many non-Christians scoff at as being an antiquated set of millennia-old fairy tales, that sustains me. And it’s this same book that’s changed my life, many of my family member’s lives, and countless other lives for the better.

For those of you looking for more in life but think that the Bible is nothing more than worn-out words by doddering old folks, I invite you to “taste and see” (Psalm 34:8).

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your Sacred Word, which brings life to all who look to it. Please give me a deeper love for it so that, by examining and studying it, I might better understand you and make choices that lead to greater life for myself as well as greater building of the Kingdom of God. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #163:”It’s a Fake!”

Tags

authenticity, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, God, honesty, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, self-deception, truth

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Fake It ‘Til You Make It”

Fluttershy finds herself in another situation where she’s jarred out of her comfort zone in this episode; namely being asked to run Rarity’s own bustling and highbrow boutique in Manehattan. Being naturally shy and with no retail experience, Fluttershy elects to handle running the store by “faking it”–pretending to be a series of alternate personas that appear to be more confident and knowledgeable in the field.

Disaster soon resulted when Fluttershy took her fake personas too far and ended up embodying all of their negative characteristics while simultaneously not knowing when it was time to “drop the act”.

A rather crazy example, but still drawing attention to the fallacy of trying to be a fake person.

All of us probably have met at least one person in our lives who we saw was “fake”. On the outside they may have appeared to be any number of things: nice, empathetic, generous, fair-minded, or even a devout Christian. In phone conversations, in public, and on the Internet they might have painted themselves as a model citizen, a certified genius, or a fantastic friend. Yet all we needed to do is be with them at home or in private for fifteen minutes and we started seeing what kind of person they really were. Less patient, more argumentative, possessing greater self-centeredness, or showing off any of a host of biases and prejudices. These individuals can often be frustrating because, similar to Fluttershy in this episode, they have put up this fake front of being this different person for so long that they’ve ended up fooling themselves. They’ll insist on their own virtues or qualities, and as a result never confront reality about their own character flaws and need to change.

That is not, however, to say that these individuals are necessarily narcissistic egomaniacs or suffer from delusions of grandeur. If you’re at all socially awkward (like me), chances are at some point in your life you tried to get through a conversation by “faking it ’til you made it”. Perhaps you pretended to be a sports’ enthusiast when you knew nothing of a sport but were surrounded by fans, that you were knowledgeable about this or that TV show when you had only heard a few reviews and didn’t want to be left out of a conversation, or even tried to pretend to be more cheerful and talkative than you really were to fit in with an odd crowd.

For me personally, however, the biggest time I ever “faked it” was early in my college years–namely when trying to be “more Christian”.

At the time, I constantly heard stories of great men and women for Christ as well as tales of martyrs and miracles all over the world that took place due to the power of their faith. I was also reading the “heavier” parts of the Bible that mentioned the demands of keeping the Law and of being holy before God. I eventually got to the point where I was feeling seriously inadequate compared to “real” Christians…and more than a little envious. I concluded that I would have to be like a saint or foreign missionary in my level of action and commitment if I wanted to call myself a real Christian, but hearing of their great acts, self-sacrifice, as well as everything they gave up for their respective ministries left me feeling nervous and ashamed because I knew I could never match those things. So, instead, for a time, I tried getting into whatever I could in terms of service and ministry and then decided I would “fake it” by saying all the right things a good Christian would say and espousing the Gospel while acting good-natured and like I was everyone’s friend until it came more naturally to me.

It was a disaster. As I mentioned in earlier devotionals, my true nature came through and what attempts I did make to “be Christian” were either incredibly weak or obviously fake, especially when authentic Christians came in and showed me up big time. I came off more as a crazy person with nowhere to go. It became very clear very quickly to everyone that I didn’t want to be in those situations, that doing so was making me overwhelmingly uncomfortable, and that I wasn’t being very Christ-like to anyone. I eventually learned a good lesson from all that: when it comes to being Christian, there’s no way to fake it ’til you make it. Sooner or later your true nature will come out, and at best you’ll just embarrass yourself while at worst you’ll embarrass the Body of Christ as well.

The Bible warns against trying to “fake your way” through being a Christian. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:9-10) “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). For years, however, I didn’t pay attention to these, because I thought the alternative was doing nothing and loving no one. I figured it would be better to be a fake yet upstanding Christian than a real yet uncaring one.

But my problem was I was focusing on the wrong issue. Christians don’t love God because they do good things. They do good things because they love God. I needed to focus on strengthening my relationship with God and loving him more and wanting to understand him more, and, by doing so, learn to love other people as he does. If you love God and other people, you no longer have to compel yourself to be good, kind, generous, or compassionate toward them, because you already do those things out of that love. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45). You may still need to push yourself out of your comfort zone from time to time, but it’s important that you do so for the right reasons and with the purer motive.

A bit cliche but still true…God created you to be you, not anyone else. He designed you to do what you can do…again, not what anyone else can do. When tempted to be “fake” for the sake of pleasing God, my suggestion is this. Don’t try to be as good or a better Christian than “him” or “her”. Focus on being a better Christian than the you from yesterday.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for making me the way I am; unique in my own way and not quite the same as anyone else in history. Grant that I will appreciate how you made me and help me to better develop my talents and “good parts” for serving you and others. When I’m feeling inadequate or envious of others and desire to be more like them to make up for my own faults, help me to remember that I am your unique creation, to focus more on improving my deficiencies rather than trying to mask them, and to consider how I, [your name], am best suited for and can best further the Kingdom of God. Please confront me if I am guilty of lying to myself and others about who I am, and, if so, forgive me and help me to be more authentic to all people and especially to you. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #162: “The Next Man…or Woman”

Tags

Bible, devotional, fear, God, inspirational, Jesus, love, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, non-Christians, Old Testament, relationships, responsibility, The Maud Couple, toxicity, trust, vulnerability

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Maud Couple”

As Pinkie Pie demonstrated so succinctly in this episode, for most of us there will always be that one person or individual in our lives we just don’t “get”. I almost think it’s easier in some cases for a Christian to love a complete stranger than someone they actually know a little, because then they start noticing things about them that seem “off”, that are contrary to their own preferences, that clash with their own personality, or that just plain get on their nerves. Maybe it’s something they did, something about their background, some personality quirk, or their choice in hobbies, but each of us have some individuals in our lives to whom we just fixate on the negative. Even if we want to be nice and polite to everyone, these are the people where we constantly seem to look for fault or annoyance in their actions and words, and we can’t ever see walking up to us without feeling just a tiny bit uneasy or uncomfortable inside.

And, for my family as well as Pinkie Pie, no more often does this one person or individual seem to arise than in someone we know’s choice in a relationship.

In my own family, we’ve had numerous outings or get-togethers in which individuals were invited to welcome their respective boyfriends/girlfriends/significant others, only for things to get uncomfortable when said individuals begin to interact with everyone. Sometimes it’s from a legitimate bad habit that we find hard to ignore. Sometimes it’s just an unreasonable fixation that isn’t really fair. Sometimes it’s like in this episode–an individual who is the sort that only a select few are able to connect with and whose behavior can be alienating or strange to others, which is certainly true for many people.

Sometimes, however, it’s something that’s a bit more legitimate cause for concern. Perhaps the individual in question has a bit of a “checkered” past, especially with their own former boyfriends and girlfriends. Perhaps they come from a very different background than the family member or friend in question. Perhaps that same background also means they have much different values from those of the friend or family member.

And for the Christian, there is a special concern that comes when seeing a friend or family member who is also Christian pairing up with a nonbeliever.

In modern US society and culture, the whole fairy tale idea of “love conquers all” is still heavily espoused and endorsed, with the idea that any couple can stay together so long as their love is strong and true. As a result of that, we have record divorce rates in this country; indicating exactly what happens when decisions are made based solely on a feeling that people weren’t sure would grow colder with time. It’s not one of the more popular messages from the Bible and probably one that many Christians think can be ignored, but it does clearly say: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Without going around pointing fingers at all non-Christians and shouting “Wicked!” and “Darkness!”, it’s a fact that a practicing Christian and a non-Christian in the same relationship will probably run into some friction at some point. Christians are called to abstain and refrain from a great number of behaviors and interests that we see as immoral, impure, or unrighteous that non-Christians don’t have to worry about. Many also have a devotional life of which Church attendance is regular that might not sound too appealing to a non-Christian. On the other hand, non-Christians who are agnostic or atheistic might excuse themselves from much of the life practices of the Christian partner as a way of compromise, but they’ll still be a constant exposure to a non-Christian way of living and likely have to constantly hear about things they don’t (or won’t) believe in from their partner. And if the non-Christian happens to be a follower of a different religion, that creates tension of an entirely different sort if both members of the relationship are regularly practicing. That’s to say nothing of the issues that might arise in regards to shared use of money, time and talents, what should and should not be allowed in the house, how to raise children, how to bury dead relatives, etc.

Many Christians in a relationship with non-Christians may hold to the idea that they can be the ones who “lead them to Christ”, and I will admit that’s a distinct possibility. I feel everyone eventually feels a need to conform more to those around them whenever they’re surrounded by an alternative lifestyle or culture, whether subconsciously or consciously. However, as a Christian myself, I know that I’m often weak, and I know all Christians can fall away or slip if we’re not vigilant. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.'” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Hence, the opposite could just as easily be true. Getting in a relationship is exposing yourself at your most intimate to someone else. In a sense, it is the most emotionally and mentally disarmed you will ever be around someone. That is why so many people are cautioned to be on guard from being lured into mentally and emotionally abusive relationships as a result of exposing themselves so much to people they barely know. However, the same also goes for a relationship being the point at which one is their most spiritually disarmed. An individual’s partner is likely the first person who will respond to them when they are at their most weak and vulnerable, and at that time their support, advice, and outlook on a problem will be the first thing they look to and rely upon. That includes who or what they look to when they feel they are abandoned by God or helpless and hopeless.

Many people, especially older individuals, understand this well and that it applies to everything; whether it be in regards to Christianity or not. As such, there can be a considerable amount of stress on seeing a friend or family member pair with someone based solely on, by all outward appearances, nothing but initial romantic affection when the individual in question seems, but all outward appearances, to be no good for him or her. And often this leads to a reprisal–with anywhere from hostility at family events; to outright banning individuals from social gatherings; to, in some cases, even going as far as to try and physically separate the two (as some parents might attempt using both legal and purely physical means).

It’s true that nothing is set in stone and that one can’t predict or prejudge how things will certainly end. It’s also true that history tends to repeat itself in most occasions and the old adage of “if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck” is also usually true. It’s also true that younger folks don’t know as much about themselves and who they are (much less other people and what they need out of them) as they would like to think…which is why most youngsters are encouraged to date rather than settle down with their first crush as a life partner. However, it’s also true that you can’t control other people and they need to make their own mistakes, and trying to force someone into a situation where someone else makes their decisions for them, including in their relationships, will only make things worse in the long run–especially if it incites rebellion or opposition.

Taking all of that together, I ultimately believe that if you are in a position where you see a loved one getting into what appears, by all accounts, to be a bad relationship headed for disaster that it is perfectly acceptable to talk out in a calm and rational manner why you think it’s a bad idea and to even set some boundaries about behaviors that will not be condoned or supported if they are engaged in (provided there is proper justification). Yet once all of that is done, I believe it’s foolishness to try and physically stop one individual from being with another. That only breeds resentment, anger, and defiance; even if most people would see the move as perfectly justified. As painful as it may be, there comes a point where we should stand aside and let an individual make their own choices, whether they end up as successes or mistakes.

It is, after all, ultimately an individual’s own responsibility to take charge of who they let in and out of their life–not anyone else’s. Part and parcel with that is also learning to understand and care for oneself emotionally and to realize what they need and why they are attracted to the people they long for.

For the rest of us, once we’ve laid out our case, all that’s left is to “let go and let God”; perhaps praying that whoever we’re feeling standoffish about ends up being just another Mud Brier.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that even when I see those I love around me entering into what I feel is a dangerous or destructive situation, especially with someone else, that you are still in control. Help me to trust to always put my faith in you first. Please deliver me from all my irrational fears and prejudgments, and for all my rational and justified fears please help me to convey to all those I love my care and concern for them in a loving, Christ-like manner, and then to commit them to you with total faith and trust. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #161: “Everyone Outta the Melting Pot”

Tags

Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, culture, devotional, discrimination, equality, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, multiculturalism, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, prejudice, racism

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “School Daze”

This episode (and Season Eight as a whole for MLP:FIM) introduced an important series of topics that had either been sparsely touched on or stepped around on the show until now: multiculturalism. By introducing the School of Friendship and opening it intentionally to both pony races and non-pony races, Twilight Sparkle introduced the opportunity to create a common ground for a variety of races to not only interact but to share their ways of life with one another. In doing so, both this episode and much of the season focused on how an individual’s culture shapes their identity and what happens when that same identity is exposed to a culture (or variety of cultures, in this case). And I think it did a pretty good job of it.

Of course, this episode also introduced the more “negative” response to multiculturalism that also appears frequently in modern society. Namely, by showing even in a “friendship-loving” country such as Equestria there are still individuals who treat other kinds of creatures with racism and prejudice, and who view opportunities to exchange culture as simply exposing vulnerabilities or a chance to tout their own culture (and even species) as above others. It also showed the most extreme example of this: enforcement of prejudice by legal policy. By refusing to give the School of Friendship EEA approval, Chancellor Neighsay essentially was saying the school had to be Equestrians-only or it wouldn’t be legally considered a “real” school.

Multiculturalism is (to me) a surprisingly touchy subject in the modern world. I mostly blame political rhetoric for why it’s so controversial, although there is some justification behind why it’s not more readily promoted. As part of my own verdict, I think human society is at the point where there is no way we can’t advance some form of multiculturalism and expect to still coexist or functional peacefully. The world is only getting “smaller”. People are more connected every day and working with more diverse groups every day. To make the best living for everyone, we have to acknowledge one another and respect one another. The only way you’re going to escape multiculturalism is if you invoke some sort of draconian measures like some countries are desperately doing and cutting off Internet and media access and/or sentencing anyone who tries to report the news to torture and imprisonment–as if you were trying to make-believe you were somehow the only country/culture/people on Earth.

Yet that doesn’t change one simple fact: everyone tends to think their own culture is best. When two different cultures come into a conflict on an issue, it’s likely whoever is the proponent for their own culture will say the way things should be is with their own way of thinking. Moreover, if one tries to change things to be more in line with something that is against their culture (even if it’s something so “obvious” to one culture versus another, like giving a woman an equal inheritance as a man or saying signs should be printed in Spanish as well as English), it can lead to anger and outrage at trying to impose a different culture’s views on their own; leading to the same draconian measures I stated earlier in an attempt to “protect” one’s culture by essentially banning a different one or forcing them to assimilate.

And, sadly, considering the fact that there is a great deal of conflict in the world still driven by clashes of ethnicity, some of this discriminatory persecution has a reason behind it that’s not simply hate and distrust. (It’s not a good thing, but it would be sticking one’s head in the sand to pretend it isn’t there.) The truth of the matter is even in a society that embraces multiculturalism, eventually the society will say some cultures have to either restrict themselves or won’t be allowed in. (At the bare minimum, a multicultural society isn’t going to tolerate a culture that says there shouldn’t be multicultural societies.)

That brings us to Christianity and, for the most part, all religions and faiths in the world. One of the main criticisms, and more justifiable ones, about Christianity and religion in general is that it is, inherently, anti-multicultural.

Even from its inception, the ultimate goal and destiny of Christianity was not to be confined to one people but to incorporate all peoples, nations, and races. All Christians are committed to the idea that the future Kingdom of God will put an end to international and intranational conflict and war. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'” (Revelation 7: 9-10). “he says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6). “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28: 18-20).

However, that doesn’t change the fact that the ultimate desire in this case would be for everyone to become Christians. What does that mean for countries and peoples who have part of their cultural identity be their own faiths, whether they be Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or even old ethnic religions? Would converting to Christianity in that case mean abandoning part of their identity? Historically, for many Christian missionaries, mission work didn’t mean simply sharing faith in Jesus Christ with other people but in using it as a means to control, conform, or even ethnically cleanse other groups. One needs to only look at the history of Europe displacing the natives in the New World for that. Yet even if there is no malicious or ulterior motive behind it, promoting any religion means, implicitly, that you believe that one religion is superior to all others and worth following more than any other, and there aren’t many religions in the world that allow you to follow more than one at the same time.

To single-out Christianity, does that ultimately mean that Christians, by definition, should be against multiculturalism?

Well, from a personal standpoint, here’s the way I see it. I’m for eating a good diet and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. That doesn’t mean I’m going to push for legislation to make it a crime to be at an unhealthy weight or try and ban sugar.

While there are some important details that need to be taken into consideration for a multicultural society, as a Christian I feel both I and other Christians, even if our ultimate goal is to bring as many souls to Christ as possible, need to endorse one as part of that. Whenever legal coercion or societal pressure becomes part of an attempt to influence someone to join Christianity, Christianity is no longer something “genuine”.  It’s a response to a worldly threat.  What more, I see it as an act of cowardice. When looking over the situations in various countries in the world where Christianity is oppressed, I see a normal checklist of common themes: proselytizing is made illegal, “apostasy” is made illegal, people of this one religion get more legal benefits than others, religious literature that is not for one religion in particular gets banned, non-mainstream religion has to be done behind closed doors, etc.

Exactly how great, profound, and true is your religion if you have to take extreme measures to keep anyone from even knowing another religion exists for fear they will immediately abandon yours for that one? How secure is your faith if you’re terrified it will get cast aside if someone breathes a word of alternative? Frankly, how much of a coward does that make you or how flimsy does that make your faith?

All forms of racism, prejudice, and discrimination, both legal and societal, are ultimately nothing more than expressions of fear. To me, to subscribe to them means to live in an attitude of fear. And how can we claim to live in Christ’s love if we’re letting our fears rule our society? Or how can we claim to be changed and emboldened by faith in God if we look on this, that, or the other group as individuals to be controlled or constrained by laws and government?

At the bare minimum, all Christians would like the opportunity to be able to witness and proclaim the Gospel without the threat of legal reprisal, so my own feelings are that we should, to be fair, advocate for a society where all religions including our own are free to do so. Only then can we claim that we have the Truth and not merely whatever is popular in our corner of the world. Doing so, of course, means that Christians will have to show a bit more clearly how our faith changes our lives and inspires us to be better people so that people will know that Jesus does change lives and does give us life “more abundantly”, but, in all honesty, that should have been clear all along…and if it isn’t then perhaps the issue isn’t a matter of multiculturalism at all.

Twilight and her friends in this episode introduced their values of friendship to their students by sharing, teaching, and demonstrating it in their own lives rather than coercion or forcing conformity. Maybe Christians should do the same when sharing the Gospel.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that, with you, “here is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) Grant that I may see all in the world the same way you see them: creations so loved by God that he gave his Only Son to die for them on Calvary. And if there is any hate or fear in my heart keeping me from even seeing another person or people that way, much less from reaching out to them and loving them, please confront me with it and please forgive me as I repent of it. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #160: “Filter Feeding”

Tags

bias, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, filters, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, optimism, pessimism, prejudice, Shadow Play, Starlight Glimmer, Starswirl the Bearded, stereotyping, Stygian, the Pony of Shadows, Twilight Sparkle

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Shadow Play”

While meant to be a drama, this episode ended up serving well as one of the “friendship lesson” episodes–illustrating the dangers of perceiving the world the way we are instead of how it really is. The epic battle that lasted over a thousand years between Starswirl the Bearded and Stygian, the Pony of Shadows, all boiled down to neither individual seeing the truth. Starswirl interpreted Stygian’s attempt to copy the powers of the Old Pillars of Equestria in order to earn appreciation as an attempt to steal their powers for himself, making him a villain in his eyes. Stygian, on the other hand, interpreted being cast out as an act of ingratitude and hate, making the Old Pillars, and his old friends, his enemies in his own eyes. In the end, their banishment and their fight was the result of misunderstanding reality rather than truth, but that didn’t mean both of them didn’t defend such misunderstandings vigorously. Starswirl saw Stygian as a monster to be banished, and Stygian wanted to destroy all of Equestria if it meant getting his revenge on him.

When thinking about this episode for this devotional this past week, a thought occurred to me that tied in with it. Many of you are probably aware of the abuses of social media. How they seem to be used as an excuse to vilify, insult, shame, and breed every kind of discord and intolerance imaginable to get everyone at each other’s throats, whether consciously or subconsciously. Enough to where a backlash has begun where people are beginning to swear it off. However, I myself don’t have much of a problem with it and I use Facebook regularly. How, you ask? I discovered a couple years ago I wonderful option to block posts from certain groups. Before then, anyone and everyone I friended would repost things that were political, aggressive, argumentative, and occasionally obscene. I used to always find the urge to respond to them, often resulting in arguments breaking out and the desire to feel justified overriding the desire to be Christian, but I eventually decided to go with the “if you can’t say anything nice…” maxim and simply blocked sites that had nothing but political and inflaming rhetoric. Since then, Facebook has become far more manageable for me (especially in election season…). Now that I filter out the stuff that ticks me off and leave only the stuff I’m interested in, things are much better.

How does this tie in to today’s episode? As I’m emphasized in other posts, we never see the world the way it is but the way we are. Everything from our view of international affairs to our outlook on our job to our attitude toward strangers to how we wake up in the morning and look around our rooms…whether it’s good or bad, hopeful or depressing, an opportunity or a lost cause: it all comes down to our outlook. And what many of us don’t realize consciously is just how many “filters” we put on everything subconsciously.

Such was definitely the case in this episode. Both characters had put up their own “filters” so that they could see nothing in each other except what they had already decided on seeing. In particular with Starswirl. To him, Stygian was nothing but evil to be stopped. He wouldn’t bother listening to anything Starlight tried to say about it, dismissing even considering an alternate viewpoint as irrelevant, and adamantly refusing to see anything but his version of history. In other words, anything that challenged his mental schema was blocked out entirely. Only things that confirmed it were let in.

Getting back to the topic of politics. I try to stay out of them, but my family listens to them and I get feeds from news sources both liberal and conservative. I’m amazed at how it seems as if they’re reporting on two different realities most days. Essentially, each source casts everything one way or the other. If it’s something that the party they’re in favor of did, no more how horrible, disgusting, illicit, or harmful, it’s always cast to make it look like it was either not a big deal or even a virtue. By comparison, if it’s something that the party they’re against did, no matter how good, noble, wholesome, helpful, or even innocuous, it’s always cast to make it look as if it’s the worst thing ever conceived by mankind. Or oftentimes they simply ignore whatever news story makes the other side look good as if it never even happened. Again, it’s all a “filter”.

Politics is an easy target, but it extends to everything. How you view this race or that gender. How you think of this religious group or that country. Even how you view the homeless and the needy, or what personal choices you make for recreation or fun. People don’t realize how often they have made a subconscious yet firm decision to love something or hate something. When that happens, they put on “filters”. And as a result, they often won’t give anything a chance or think up reasons to not do something or try something. Sometimes it’s used as an excuse for hate or intolerance. And sometimes it becomes just plain crazy. (I myself know one person who refused for ages to try a restaurant named “Cheddar’s”. Why? Because he hated cheese…in spite of the fact the restaurant doesn’t specialize in cheese and that’s just the name.)

Whether you pick the Old Testament or the New Testament, the Bible warns against the sin of showing partiality and seeing the world according to human eyes rather than God’s eyes. “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'” (1 Samuel 16:7). “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:2-4). “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). In short, we are to strive to see things the way God sees them rather than according to our own internal “filters” and all of their associated biases and prejudgments.

However, to me, the good news is that the right kind of “filtering” can also work to our advantage.

Just as internal filters can keep us biased toward seeing the world in a negative light, it can help us see the world in a positive one. We can train ourselves to stop looking for reasons to hate or dislike things but instead to look for the living spirit of God in everything. When looking at a group or individual we dislike, we can choose to see how they are a precious child of God and loved by him as much as we are. When disaster strikes, we can choose to see in what ways we are still blessed and what opportunity we might now have. When feeling attacked unjustly or persecuted, we can choose to look for how God is guiding us and how he wishes for us to grow in that situation. It’s possible, even in the worst of circumstances, to still see the presence of God, his spirit, and goodness and love in everything, while at the same time filtering out anything negative, externally terrible, hostile, or that in any other way tries to get us to react with a hostile, angry, or hard-hearted attitude. But even if you’re not in the worst of circumstances, you can do the same in everyday occurrences, no matter how mundane or simple.

And over time, we can train ourselves to see the world that way by default, and to keep growing to see the world the way God sees it. And when that happens, like it did on my Facebook page, the world becomes a much more pleasant, hopeful, lovely, and opportunity-filled place.

My suggestion for this devotional is to focus a bit more on trying to identify filters that we have set up that are keeping our world view rather grim and pessimistic, and instead to focus on seeing things more the way our Lord wants us to. It might make all the difference in the world.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that the world is filled with your Spirit and blessings, and that they are all around us no matter the situation if we will look for them. If there is something in my life that is keeping me from seeing the world the way you want me to see it, or is warping my view toward others and keeping me hard-hearted, please help me to identify it, and I now renounce it and repent of it. Instead, please give me eyes to see the world the way you see it, so that I can better grow to love this world you have made and especially the people you have created to fill it. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #159: “No Son of Mine”

Tags

Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, faith, God, inadequacy, inspirational, Jesus, justification, merit, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, salvation, shame, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Uncommon Bond, works

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Uncommon Bond”

In this episode, Starlight Glimmer invites her old friend Sunburst over for a friendly visit to Ponyville and some quality time. Unfortunately, the visit doesn’t go very well. Most of the time Starlight spent with Sunburst was during their childhood, but now that he’s an adult he seems to have more interests and things in common with Starlight’s other friends. Before long, he’s more eager for chances to spend time with them during the visit than her. It eventually gets so bad that Starlight herself starts to feel like a “fifth wheel”, and begins to fear that Sunburst would rather abandon her in favor of her other friends; leading her to take extreme measures to try and reconnect with him.

This was another episode I had to think about for a long time, but eventually what stood out the most to me was Starlight’s feelings and, as a result, behavior. I eventually realized it wasn’t all that different from my own feelings as a Christian and, I imagine, the feelings of other Christians.

The New Testament emphasizes that we are only saved by the Grace of God and the Sacrifice of Lord Jesus. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). He loves us because of who He is and who we are, not due to anything we have or haven’t done. Yet the Old Testament and much of the New Testament are still devoted to the pursuit of righteous living. Some passages indicate that doing so is proof of our acceptance of Lord Jesus’ Sacrifice and our devotion to live for Him, while others indicates that God shows special favor to those who lead more righteous lives as opposed to those who lead less righteous ones.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:22-27)

“Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
    he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
    who conducts his affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved;
    he will be remembered forever.
He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.” (Psalm 112:4-8)

And we need only look around our own congregations to easily see that some people donate more, some give more of their time, some praise louder, some press on through tougher challenges, and some speak out more boldly than others. In spite of the idea that, as sinners, we are all equal in God’s sight, there’s much external evidence to give reason to believe that some Christians are “better” than others.

And when people start believing that, naturally what happens next is they start feeling ashamed. After all, most of us can look at, say, Mother Theresa and then look at our own lives, and start realizing there doesn’t seem to be much comparison. We may start wondering how we can call ourselves Christian when people like that walk around far more righteously, more boldly, and seemingly more devoted to God. In the worst cases and in our darkest moments, we may start to question how God can really love us compared to those people as we seem to be so much less and have so little of “what he’s looking for”, and we may feel we need to start doing external acts of our own to start to measure up to those standards and be someone more like the person God wants.

While regular self-evaluation is an important part of any Christian lifestyle, as is the need to challenge ourselves to be bolder and to step out and do greater things for Christ, it’s important that we don’t fall into the trap of starting to believe these works make us greater or lesser in the eyes of God. That’s, as King Solomon once said, meaningless and chasing after wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14). We can’t do anything through our own actions to elevate our status before God. Only the Sacrifice of our Savior could accomplish that. However, as a result of what He did, we are now considered sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:5-7). Christ’s Sacrifice makes us perfect and without blemish before him. That was all the work of our Lord without any input from us.

What we do now is the result of a desire to live for Him and to become more perfect/complete as He is. It comes from a growing relationship and affection for God and his heart and a desire to be as loving and gracious as he is. It’s nurtured by developing greater trust and faith in God to surpass all trials and tribulations and to do great things in His name. Therefore, doing “greater works” is not so much from greater effort on our part but instead having more faith in God’s own sovereign power and the willingness to let it act through us.

Always strive to live in greater harmony with his Will, but do not think your salvation is key upon it, and get the mindset of God just sitting there waiting to brush you off into condemnation for not “living up to expectations”. Rather, learn to see God as someone encouraging and empowering us to succeed in all the plans he has in mind for us.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the blessed Sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has made us blameless in your sight and your own sons and daughters. When discouragement comes upon me of not being able to “live up” to your expectations, let me always cling to the absolutely unchanging and unbreakable reality of the Cross that has already made me clean, and rather than fear your disapproval draw closer to you for strength and encouragement greater than anything I myself am capable of, and through relying on your Will and Power do more than I ever thought possible. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #158: “To Whom It May Concern: Nevermind”

Tags

Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, evangelism, God, Gospel, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Pinkie Pie, preaching, Rainbow Dash, Secrets and Pies, sharing the Gospel, the Great Commission, witnessing

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Secrets and Pies”

Rainbow Dash doesn’t care for pie. Nothing’s necessarily wrong with that, as everyone has things they like and things they don’t like. However, what complicates this particular instance is the fact Pinkie Pie likes making Rainbow Dash pies. And rather than telling Pinkie that she doesn’t like them, Dash is so scared of offending her and hurting her feelings that she keeps graciously accepting them, complimenting her highly, and then disposing of them at the first convenience. In not telling Pinkie that she hates pies, she figured she was doing her a favor by sparing her feelings.

As it turned out, the opposite ended up being true. As someone who himself is an amateur writer, I can tell you that it would be extremely infuriating, frustrating, and even disheartening to have someone tell me for years that they loved my work only to find that they hated it the whole time and were just trying to spare my feelings. That’s because praise has the side effect of making one try harder to please the fan even more next time, even to the point of devoting extra time and effort to it, because they believe it makes them happy. Not to mention it has them take more pride in their work than they might otherwise. And so it was for Pinkie Pie. As the girls point out, Rainbow Dash set out to keep from hurting Pinkie Pie’s feelings by omitting the truth, but she ended up hurting them even worse.

There comes a time in everyone’s lives in which they believe that a “little white lie” or simply omitting the truth would be preferable to sharing it. And in some cases that might very well be true, but not most. Like I said before, I’d want someone to be honest with my work. Even if they were “brutally honest”, I might sulk or fume for a while, but I’d eventually realize what they were saying and realizing it was something I needed to change. Obviously when there’s a situation of abuse, whether physical, mental, or sexual, the last thing to do when asked about it is to omit the truth. And if we see someone indulging in self-destructive behavior, trying to ignore it or excuse it won’t do anyone any good in the long run, even if, as I have said in earlier devotionals, we run the risk of alienating a loved one or “driving them to do something worse”.

But naturally, for the Christian, the biggest truth we can’t afford to omit and also the hardest one to share is the truth of God’s Judgment of the World (Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:31-46) and the saving hope of the Gospel message (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9).

I’ve heard the sermon many times before about the importance of sharing the Gospel, and likening it to seeing someone about to walk off of a cliff. If you saw someone about to do that who was in mortal peril, you’d yell and tell them about it, wouldn’t you? That’s true, and it is important, but it omits a few key details. To be more applicable to real life and the Gospel, you’d first have to convince the person that there’s a cliff there at all, and that the way you’re taking is the only safe way to avoid the cliff out of all the other paths out there…each of which you claim all lead over it. Then you’d have to deal with the person shouting back at you that you’re just trying to get them to go on your path because you like exploiting people and controlling them, forcing them to go down your trail and no other one. Or perhaps they’d argue about how you have the nerve to tell them to walk away from the cliff when they’ve seen you put your feet over the edge many times before. Or how you know that your path is the safe one and all you can say is you have a sign that says it’s the right one and all the other signs out there are lying.

In my darker moments, I’ve asked myself before if the greatest thing a Christian can do really is convince people God loves them or convince them that they should be scared of him. Like it or not, all of us became Christians at least partially out of fear of the Final Judgment. There’s a good chance most of us wouldn’t be Christians otherwise. It’s not a pleasant thing to think about or dwell on, and it certainly isn’t something we want to go around blasting people in the face with (unless, perhaps, we’re one of those campus soapbox preachers). Common sense and human nature tells us we’ll make some people irritable, angry, or hostile…not just to our message but to us as individuals. In some cases, we might even end up driving away people or getting ourselves in trouble with the law, in public, at work, or even at home. After all, the Bible cautions that the Gospel will make us the enemies of most.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,

    a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

    a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39)

However, as this episode pointed out, omitting the truth can be even worse, and no more so in the case of the Gospel. We profess that Jesus Christ is the only hope for a doomed world and the only way to salvation from sins. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” (John 14:6) “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) No amount of other good works or other religion can replace Him. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) We believe that and attest to that, and we have accepted and received it to become Christians ourselves. And that sort of message is too important not to share.

We may not all be called to be mass evangelists or preachers, but we are all Christians, and we do all have a story to tell. And while the time may come where we are called to minister or witness to a stranger we meet and we need to be ready and waiting for that, we all have our own sphere. Our family, our friends, our co-workers, and our children. The people who know us personally and we know personally. These are the folks who most likely would hear us telling them to “watch out for a cliff” and realize we wouldn’t be telling them to if there wasn’t one there.

Furthermore, don’t think that God just tells us to do something like this and then sits back and waits for us to mess it up. On the contrary.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) “I can do all this through him(Christ) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Not only does he not abandon us when he asks us to do something, but he wants us to call on him for help. He wants to grant us power and ability that we don’t have ourselves so that he may be glorified through us. (2 Corinthians 2:9) Don’t lose sight of that.

Lastly, if you happen to be a non-Christian and you are interested in learning more about this “warning message”, you can learn more here: Click here.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your saving message of the Gospel and the glorious sacrifice of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ; by which mankind can find salvation from its sins. Thank you for allowing me the providence to have had that message shared with me. I commit myself to you today and to the great Commission Lord Jesus gave us all  (Matthew 28:16-20). Please help me to so live that I may share the Gospel with every life I touch both today and for the rest of my life. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #157: “You Couldn’t Have Picked a Worse Time”

Tags

Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotion, devotional, evangelism, exhaustion, fatigue, God, inspirational, Jesus, ministry, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Once Upon a Zeppelin, sincerity, struggle, Twilight Sparkle, understanding, witnessing

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Once Upon a Zeppelin”

Twilight Sparkle had it rather rough in this episode. She set out with her family on what she thought would be a relaxing cruise to give her not only some time with her loved ones but some good old fashioned R&R and a break from her “princess duties”. Quite the opposite ended up being true. It turned out the reason her family got the cruise for free was because it was a “Princess Tour” in which she and her sister-in-law were expected to be the main events for the passengers. In order to buy her sister-in-law and family a break, she ended up having to take the role of princess more than ever as she went about hosting events and making appearances, and soon needing a vacation from her “vacation”.

While for Twilight this served as a lesson in needing to make time for herself, for me it brought to mind a different Christian dilemma. The fact that ministering the Gospel doesn’t tend to keep “normal hours” and often blindsides us unawares.

I’m sure all of us as Christians would love every time we were called to witness or be as Christ to someone to be practically gift wrapped to us. To come right after a Sunday service in which we’re feeling particularly energized and “holy”, to the tune of a golden ray of sunshine or a rainbow encircling the very specific target of what God is calling us to do, and in a situation we are perfectly suited and prepared for. Naturally, that sort of idealistic situation never occurs, but often we don’t even get anything remotely close.

Instead, opportunities to witness and minister hit us unawares. Maybe when we’re driving back from work and thinking of everything we have to do when we get home. Or when we’re waiting for the bus or a taxi while going out running errands before needing to make an appointment later. Or when we’re at the work concentrating on our jobs and what deadlines we have to meet. Or, possibly in a vein similar to this episode, when we’re out with our families at an attraction or on vacation just trying to get some relaxation in. Life doesn’t operate according to a normal schedule, and neither does God. As a result, we could often find ourselves tired, stressed, preoccupied, or even desperately trying to get a moment for ourselves when we find we’re being called. Odds are it often happens at times when the last thing we are thinking of is being Christian. And even if we are willing to make an effort, we’re probably too distraught or haggard to put our “best foot forward”.

The Bible tells us to be ready to preach the Gospel at all times (“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2; “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” 1 Peter 3:15-16), but that, like most things in the Bible, is far easier said than done. How can we be ready to minister at all times, including the majority of times when our minds are elsewhere or when the last thing we’re thinking doing is “acting Christ-like”?

For me, I think it’s important to realize that being a good witness for Christ is not like preparing for a test or a competition, in which we will get one big event where we’ll have a chance to show our stuff and then it’ll be over. Christianity isn’t just poignant acts of ministry or evangelism; it’s a way of life and a state of mind. To me, far more important than trying to be prepared to say or do the right thing at that one big instance that could come up (or, more appropriately, that we think will come up) is to maintain a more Christian frame of mind and heart. To make our lives as a whole more in line with the heart of God and the things of the Bible. When you do that, everything else, including witnessing, ministry, and even being able to be “as Christ” at the worst of times, becomes more natural because it’s simply an extension of who we are rather than us trying to be something we’re not. Furthermore, it’s our ability to naturally turn to God and to count on him to bear us through all difficulty, both in the best and worst of times, that ultimately shows the world why our faith is so powerful.

The Bible cautions not just to pretend to love people or to care about them. (Romans 12:9; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3) To me, that goes part in parcel with ministry. If it’s simply memorization and training ourselves for specific moments or instances to give out some well-crafted and yet canned response, it’s no good in the long run. No ministry or witnessing is truly effective unless it comes from the heart and what God has placed in our hearts. And I feel the best way to have something placed in our hearts is to strive to draw closer to God in a greater relationship and have him place something there. For the closer we are to God, the more we understand him. The more we understand him, the more we understand his desires both for us and others. And the more we understand those, the more we want to work toward fulfilling them even if we’re exhausted or overwrought. After all, as Twilight illustrated, no matter how tired or stressed we feel, we’d all do something for our own loved ones that needed to be done.

A suggestion I have to aid in this is a challenge I received a couple Sundays ago. Just for five work days, Monday through Friday, make a commitment to devote time three times a day purely to God. No other tasks, no other thoughts, no other concerns during that time…just nothing but you and God. I myself was only able to find five minute periods, but I did try it out and it did make quite a difference. For anyone wishing to enhance their devotional life and draw closer to God and his desires for us, I recommend it highly.

As a final note, something that I always find encouraging (which those moments of prayer I just mentioned helped me realize) is to remember that God will never ask you to do something that, with his help, you cannot do.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your blessed assurance, in my times of fear, exhaustion, self-doubt, and anxiety about doing your Will, that you will never forsake me or abandon me but will guide me through all difficulty so long as I commit to follow you. I seek to draw closer to you today and understand you more and your desires for both me and the rest of mankind. Please draw me nearer so, in getting to know you more, I will have a greater love and enthusiasm for the riches of Heaven and the salvation of the world. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”