My Little Devotional #133: “Bending the Rules”

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Applejack, Bible, Big Macintosh, Christian Life, Christianity, conscience, deception, devotional, fandom, God, Granny Smith, honesty, inspirational, integrity, Jesus, justification, lies, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, rationalization, self-deception, tact, truth, Where the Apple Lies

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Where the Apple Lies”

In my college days, when I was more prone to starting arguments over Christianity, one of the big complaints I heard from non-Christians about my faith was the claim that the Bible contradicts itself. And, admittedly, I can see how that would be an issue in certain places. Jesus Himself addressed it in the New Testament when referring to the case in which David and his followers ate the “showbread”, bread that could only be eaten by the priestly class according to the Mosaic Law, and yet that was never counted as a sin against him (Mark 2:25-26). Yet there are a lot of other heavier examples than that one.

The old Mosaic Law clearly stated that killing was prohibited. It was one of the Ten Commandments that all of the Israelite community heard and wasn’t just handed down to Moses, for that matter (Exodus 20:13). And yet, not long after that, the Israelites waged a God-ordered military campaign against the resident tribes in the land of Canaan. The Israelites were also ordered not to intermarry with any of the Moabites, who were not only often regarded as perpetual enemies but also were feared for turning the hearts of Israel away from worship of God toward pagan gods (1 Kings 11:1-2), and yet King David’s great-grandmother was Ruth the Moabite and actually has a book of the Bible devoted to her. The Mosaic Law had prescriptions against defrauding and cheating with an emphasis on being honest in dealing with others (Leviticus 19:11, 13, 35-36), and yet the nation of Israel’s founding started with Jacob cheating his brother out of his father’s blessing (Genesis 27). And there’s no question that the Sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ seemed to nullify some parts of the old Mosaic Law (we no longer stone people for doing work on the Sabbath, after all) while some parts remained completely intact (you still aren’t allowed to steal; Sacrifice of Lord Jesus or not).

What all of this gives a sense of is, in spite of the claims of objectivity, that morality according to the Bible is nothing more than whatever is relative: whatever gets the “right” party what they want at the time. The rules only apply whenever its convenient. This is certainly the impression that many non-Christians receive, and what those who are against religion in general claim Christianity is guilty of the same as all other major world religions. If nothing else, one can make the claim that there are no “hard rules” when it comes to Christianity. That everything is ultimately based on a standard at the time. And if that’s the case, is what we call “sin” permissible every once in a while? Is sin even something concrete and objective to begin with? Is there really anything that can be considered definitively evil?

The fact of the matter is I don’t know what the answer is to all of this. I struggle with it every once in a while myself, and when other Christians have tried to “explain” the heavier portions I’ve been left either unsatisfied with the answers or even angry with them. I could argue that no system is absolute all the time, and that if people will criticize religion for it then human secular institutions are far more guilty. After all, most countries on Earth forbid murder for any reason yet they definitely have militaries and police forces that can do so whenever they need to. Neither does any country have a totally blameless past even if they laud themselves now. The United States, for example, prides itself in the modern day as being an example of freedom and liberty, and yet it spent decades instituting laws that denied its own citizens full citizenship and freedom, and enacted policies of murder of the native inhabitants of North America and theft of their land. That means that there are two principles that apply to human society and history regardless of which religion (or lack thereof) that you endorse: (1) there are some times people have to do certain things even if they never would normally do so or if they had no other choice; and (2) just because a society or people are where they are today as a result of doing something genuinely evil does not make that past act morally right.

This devotional, however, focuses on the former case in regards to individuals: are there times when it is “ok to sin”? Applying the case of killing to an individual, we can all agree that murder is morally wrong, but we would be excused if we were trying to defend ourselves from someone seeking our own life and had no other choice. Yet what about in smaller situations, like in this episode?

Applejack made a deal that she shouldn’t have as she had no authority to make it, but when it looked like it might hurt her family business she tried telling a “little white lie” to hopefully get out of it. Obviously, Applejack was trying to cover up her own mistake, which might not be too acceptable; but she was also trying to keep from inadvertently hurting her family’s business relationship, which is more of a gray area. When her own mistake could lead (unjustly) to her grandmother’s reputation being hurt by telling the truth, what should she do then?

In the same vein, what about when we want to tell lies to avoid upsetting people, such as telling them the dinner they worked hard making for us tastes horrible or honestly telling them how they look when they’re sick in the hospital? And surely if someone was a government agent who had been captured by a hostile nation and was being interrogated, it would make sense to lie to protect one’s own nation and people. Or think to places like Nazi Germany where a citizen might be hiding a political refugee, perhaps even saving their lives, in their homes, and a corrupt government comes to their house demanding to know if they are hiding someone. Surely we would say it would be idiocy or even immorality to not lie in that situation. Is it acceptable to sometimes deceive via lying if the truth could lead to disastrous consequences?

I’m not going to pretend that I know what to say for all situations. This isn’t something that can be answered with an umbrella statement. Yet to me what everything ultimately boils down to, and what Jesus Himself seemed to indicate, was what’s on the inside. Motive, spirit, and intent. It was keeping with the spirit of the Mosaic Law that Jesus emphasized, as it is impossible for mankind to keep the Law perfectly to begin with anyway. In doing so, in some cases He lowered the standards set by the Law (John 8:7) while in other cases He made them far stricter (Matthew 5:27-28); yet at all times it ultimately came to what was the spirit of man in committing the deeds. If I tell a lie, is it because I don’t want to hurt someone or because I want to protect myself? If I cause another harm, whether mentally or physically, is it because it was pain that was needed to unsettle them from where they were or was it out of spite, anger, vengeance, or a desire to see them suffer? If I’m going to engage in an act of civil disobedience, is it because I want to draw attention to a greater crime that needs to be addressed or is it because I want to use it as an excuse for lawlessness to sate my own personal anger?

Yet even then, it’s important to always note that sin isn’t sin simply because some stone tablets say so. Sin is what it is because it’s destructive and brings death and misery to those who practice it and end up on the receiving end of it. God’s commands and instructions aren’t just to give us special hoops to jump through but because things that are prohibited are almost always genuinely bad. We can probably always find an “exception” to most crimes (i.e. stealing might be wrong; but if you have to either starve to death or steal a piece of food to save yourself it might be possibly overlooked that one time, especially if restitution is made later), but the reason the rule is in place is because in the far majority of cases it’s a genuine crime, and in the small set of cases in which it might not be it’s dangerously easy for a potential transgressor to fool themselves into thinking it’s for a good cause rather than their own selfish desires. As said in earlier devotionals, the key is always to be honest with yourself and strive for a pure heart and a clean conscience. When your primary motivation is to love and to serve God and others wholeheartedly and selflessly, then that motive should help guide you toward making the right choices.

For that reason, devotional life can never be discounted. Reading what God’s Word says about a certain situation and praying over a course of action are both good ways to make sure that we’re always treading the right road and that we do indeed have the best motives. So can being accountable to someone else. As Proverbs says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (14:12). Most translations add “to a man”, and to me that illustrates that it’s very easy to talk ourselves into something that ends up appearing perfectly good, but once we talk about it to someone else the truth becomes clear. It’s yet another reason why the true essence of Christianity lies in the community and not the individual.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the instruction found in your Word, which guides us in truth even when we are tempted to rationalize or reason away our actions. Help me to always strive to live in harmony with it and to place you and your Kingdom first in all of my actions and deeds, and thereby maintain a clean conscience and keep from sinning against you and others. Please help me to pursue accountability for my own actions as well so that I can keep from deceiving myself into committing transgressions and selfishness. Lastly, as far as I am able, please help me to live an honest and truthful life with you, with others, and with myself. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #132: “The Way I See It…”

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Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, denial, devotional, distortion, God, inspirational, Jesus, lies, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View), perception, personal honesty, self-deception, truth

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)”

I had a devotional about this topic before, but as it’s a timely one that doesn’t get touched on much, I feel it’s appropriate to revisit it.

In this episode, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie have a disastrous time on a boating trip, yet when they try to explain who was at fault to Twilight Sparkle she receives three different accounts…none of which agree with each other. After carefully considering all three stories and the common elements, it turns out none of the stories reflected reality at all, yet it wasn’t fair to call them “lies” either. Each individual believed they were giving the honest truth, but the problem was each one focused only on certain aspects, distorted and warped them to suit their notions, and ignored everything else. That didn’t stop them all from insisting that their stories were perfectly true, however, and actually getting angry when disbelief was indicated.

I rarely read political news anymore, because whenever I do I feel like I’m losing my mind. Part of that is due to the fact that I look in on both right-leaning networks as well as left-leaning networks, and some days the same reporting on the same incident is so wildly different between the two you’d think the same thing happened in two alternate universes. That clearly shows that objective reporting is dead, as I highly doubt that one of the networks is saying the completely honest truth while the other is telling bold-faced lies. Nor do I believe that either side (at least not completely) is out to totally distort everything to delude people. Rather, I think either network is made up of people of the same political ideology and they, like all of us, see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. Back when I was in college I heard the Christian Science Monitor had a reputation for being one of the genuinely unbiased news sources out there. I read an article from them and I was overwhelmed. Seeing a news report that genuinely just reported facts without any spin or bias was so shocking that it hardly even looked like what we call “news” nowadays. (I can only hope it’s continued that trend…)

Usually it’s impossible to get either side to look in on the other’s network. In fact, usually when you suggest it, you get mocked for being a “mindless sheep”…as if the person who did the mocking wasn’t already clinging to their own source as absolute “Gospel”.  The fact this exists at all in news is distressing, but it really does just simply illustrate the greater truth about people in general.

People claim that they want to hear all of the facts to know the truth about something and then make a decision, but this is usually a lie or, at minimum, a form of self-delusion. The reality is none of us see the world the way it is no matter how many facts we read. We always see the world the way we are.

This isn’t any clearer than in the political stories I just mentioned. I’ll take the recent incidents with the James Comey hearing. Once it was concluded, one side claimed that it completely vindicated the Trump administration of any wrongdoing whatsoever. The other side claimed it was such a scathing indictment that they could start impeachment proceedings immediately. That’s insane. The exact same factual event happened, and yet two different news sources said two completely different things occurred. But this sort of self-delusion and distortion of truth can happen anywhere, especially within us.

Just as a personal example, as I’ve said before, I suffer from perfectionism; the need to be externally pleasing and do things just right in order to be a good and conscientious person. Sometimes that can interfere with my work. Let’s say I put in a full day during a busy schedule and it’s time for me to head out. Sometimes, however, I’m afraid to. Knowing it’s a busy time, I’m afraid that this will reflect poorly on my work ethic because I’m not willing to put in extra time. Sure I’m not required to put in more, but if I don’t will that show I’m not willing to make any sort of sacrifice for the team? And sure, my supervisor may be fine with me putting in normal hours, or perhaps even has said to me before not to work later, but I second guess myself. What if he didn’t really feel that way? What if that was just something he said to be polite? What if he naturally expects that advice to be ignored by anyone else on the team? What if he expects me to put in at least a little extra time? What if I inadvertently slacked off today and I really am “in the red” when it comes down to it? It’s not long before I start imagining scenes of my supervisors being disappointed with me or angry about failure to turn things in. Sometimes I even obsess over it all weekend, ruining what down time I do get. And this is all in the face of compliments and praise I get both at work and on my performance reviews. None of those things matter anymore. My perfectionism now dictates reality to me rather than having the ability to see things the way they are.

Bad childhood experiences, past hurts, phobias, irrational fears…all of these things can do the same to people. People might stay isolated and alone because they think everyone is untrustworthy and “out to get them”. Or maybe people choose only to see acts of violence or crime by individuals of a certain race on TV and conclude an entire race is bad, while ignoring hundreds of thousands of members of the same race who are neither violent nor criminals. Perhaps they say all Christians or Muslims are psychopaths because of a terrorist attack, while they ignore millions that live normal, peaceful lives. Or maybe they demand that a particular race, creed, or religion “prove” their peacefulness by demanding they denounce and rally against an act of violence or terror…while at the same time if a member of their own race, creed, or religion does the same they get angry if someone tries to say it’s representative of them.

From a personal standpoint, I believe that one can conclude God is real and that Jesus is indeed the Son of God and Savior of Mankind through exposure to genuine Christians, one’s own conscience, and the natural world along with the Bible. And people who are honestly seeking God or truth have indeed become Christian as a result of doing so. Yet there are others who demand more concrete proof before they will say they believe in God. For them, there’s all sort of books like “Jesus Freaks” and “The Case for Faith”, as well as personal witnessing, testimony, and miracles from thousands of Christians worldwide; but more often than not they’ll say: “that’s not ‘concrete’ enough…I need real proof”. For those people, I’m not even sure Jesus Christ manifesting Himself before them would be enough, because they’ve already concluded God isn’t real. At this point, in their mind it’s simply rationalizing away anything that says contrary.

If you’ve read the first few books of the Bible, you’re familiar with how the Israelites that left Egypt during the Exodus almost continuously complained against Moses and sought to return to Egypt after every difficulty that arose, and this was after they saw God bring the plagues of Egypt, part the Red Sea, feed them daily with manna, and guide them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It’s easy for us to shake our heads and laugh at these people, but I take it more seriously. If even they continuously doubted God when he acted explicitly on their behalf, how much less would it take us to fall away from faith and start seeing the world through our own narrow vision?

I believe one of the most important instructions the Bible emphasizes is the need to be honest with ourselves and, above all, to strive to remove any inner lies and deception from inside ourselves. “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.” (Psalms 36:1-2); “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:22-24); “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23) “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:41-42)

So long as we aren’t honest with ourselves, we will distort the world and everything we see and hear to fit our own warped lenses. And when that happens, we will never accurately see any truth, including God’s Truth.

A good prayer for today (and perhaps regularly) might be to ask God to confront us with anything that we are being dishonest or in denial about, so that we can remove it and clearly see what we’re overlooking. This isn’t necessarily easy, because the first step of this is admitting that we’re currently wrong about something we may have a strong opinion about and even adamantly defend. Yet if we want to keep growing to become more mature and perfect in Christ, we have to be willing to face it. As Lord Jesus said: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your instruction to be on guard against self-deception and the warning for the consequences. Please help me to always be honest with myself so I can see the world clearly and truthfully, as you do, rather than to suit whatever distortion I want to see. In doing so, help me to live a life more eagerly pursuing genuine truth, including your truth. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #131: “Humble Bumble”

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being humble, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, concealment, devotional, evasiveness, Every Little Thing She Does, fandom, God, honesty, humility, inspirational, Jesus, lies, meek, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, pride, Starlight Glimmer

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Every Little Thing She Does”

As I’ve noted in my reviews, Starlight Glimmer seems to “get off easy” for a lot of the stuff she does; whether accidental or intentional. What I thought was rather surprising for this episode was the first character who ended up holding a grudge was Pinkie Pie. (It was over cake, of all things, but ignoring that for now.) But what I keyed on for today’s devotional was something that occurred later. Starlight earlier admitted that she only wanted to do things that showed off her strengths and aptitudes. She hates doing anything that shows off her shortcomings, her anxiety, or her ineptitude, because she measures everything including her relationship status with others at how good she can do things and not by the emotional connections involved. Ironically, at least for her, it’s only when she takes Twilight Sparkle’s advice and lets herself make something of an embarrassment of herself trying to bake a cake with Pinkie Pie that she not only gets her forgiveness but ends up connecting with her.

While it’s sort of subordinate to the main lesson of the episode, it serves as a nice little reminder that a little humility can go a long way. Perhaps even better than showing off what we’re good at.

There are a number of issues in English translations of the Bible from the root words, as they don’t always have the exact same meaning that one was trying to convey in the modern sense. One of the more noteworthy culprits is the term “meek”. It’s used importantly in two passages, the more well-known being Matthew 5:5 (“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”), and the other in Numbers 12:3 (“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” ESV). In modern English, meek is usually synonymous with shy, timid, withdrawn, and easily cowed and compelled through threat and force. The impression that is given from someone who is “meek” is someone who is “wimpy”.

Looking at Matthew 5:5 it might be easy to draw the same conclusion, but looking at Numbers 12:3 it’s easier to point out the mistranslation. The phrase is used to refer to Moses, saying he was the meekest man alive on Earth. Well, going by the modern English connotation of “meek”, that’s obviously not true if you know anything about Moses. Moses was bold enough to appear before the Pharaoh of Egypt on multiple occasions and proclaim against him in most of them, all while the Pharaoh was in a position to have him executed on the spot. He also proclaimed the words of God to thousands of Israelites time and again when many times it was met with hostility or even threats of death, and led them through natural disasters, divine encounters, and hostile nations attacking to the edge of the Promised Land over the course of 40 years. While I’m sure he had some assistance from God, someone who was very timid, quiet, and impressionable couldn’t have done this.

In this sense, that word refers to being humble. Some translations even directly change it to say that Moses was the most humble man on Earth, and in that context that makes sense as in this passage Moses is being falsely accused of using his status as Prophet of God to set himself higher than everyone in the community. It was pointing out how Moses was never self-interested or thought of himself as higher than any other Israelite, and the Bible attests to this. Many times Moses diminished himself, pointing out his own inadequacies and fears to God whenever he was called to do something (“Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”” Exodus 4:10; “But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”” Exodus 4:13). And it was the accusation of one of his own countrymen that he wanted to become king of the Israelites that drove him to abandon his comfortable lifestyle among Egyptian royalty and take up the meager life of a herder for decades (Exodus 2:14). Yet in spite of being humble, Moses ended up being one of the most important historical figures of the ancient world and doing amazing things that changed human history forever.

A lot of people suffer, in one area or another, the same affliction that Starlight Glimmer went through. They feel the need to only ever show off their “good side”, or only talk about things they’re comfortable with, or always make themselves look like they’re at their best. There’s a number of reasons for that. In Starlight’s case, it was because she didn’t know how else to interact with people. For others, it’s from a mindset of perfectionism–the idea that our worth is measured only by our ability to please everyone. For still others, it’s an esteem issue–if they can’t be “externally great” then they’ll focus on their own deficiencies and obsess over them.

The problem is even if we acknowledge that being meek and being humble are two different things, the latter connotation isn’t too admired in society either. We have the idea that it’s the big, bold, loud, and daring who shape the world. The ones who proverbially “make waves”. Who speak out fiercely as overt forces for change on a national level. The people who seem perfect in every way and everything they do is a raging success. This, however, is an illusion. No one is perfect. No one has ever been perfect. No one can do everything perfectly either. Yet the sides that we see of other people, especially celebrities or public figures, including those who do altruistic work or try to improve the world, is often only one side. And because we only see the good side, that’s how we identify that person, and how we end up judging and measuring ourselves by that standard.

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve done this but I’m sure everyone else has felt the same way at some point. Can you recall the last time you heard of some amazing missionary, or some incredible witness, or even someone who managed to organize a massive community event or charity…and you thought to yourself: “if only I was more like that person”? Or when in the company of others who seem to be swapping stories of their own goodness, generosity, or experiences, do you find yourself choosing your own words carefully to try and make your own successes look better and your own shortcomings look smaller?

There are good reasons why God desires that we be humble. For one, the opposite of humility is pride, and pride leads to a whole host of problems from alienating people; to causing us to resort to any means to maintain that pride; to blaming external factors or others for anything we do wrong; to swearing off our dependence on God and others in the first place. But for another, being humble means you are being honest: with yourself, with God and with others. It means you acknowledge where you are deficient or fall short in life; if unchangeable you accept it as a part of who you are, and if changeable you accept it as something that needs to be worked on. It means you are willing to show your true self rather than a fake face hiding behind perfectionism, pride, or the need to be someone else. And that means that you are fully open to God’s love, as he accepts you for everything you are, and you can fully acknowledge the love of others who accept you with everything you are. It also means “selling yourself”, as a normal, average, flawed human being and admitting the same. And admitting one’s own weaknesses is the first step toward overcoming them.

My message for this devotional is to take a page from Starlight Glimmer: perhaps be humble enough to show those around you the sides of your life you’re not so good at or the parts of you that aren’t quite as perfect as you would like them to be. You might find you’re in good company.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you again that you accept me as I am, both in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Please help me to always be honest with you, with others, and myself. That includes not putting up a false front or hiding behind pride, but being open with my inadequacies as well as my aptitudes. And if I have been hiding behind a wall of pride myself, please help me to pursue the kind of “Godly humility” that Lord Jesus preached. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #130: “Trust Me”

Tags

acceptance, Applejack, backstabbing, betrayal, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, faith, fandom, Fluttershy, Gladmane, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, secrets, trust, Viva Las Pegasus

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Viva Las Pegasus”

Most of this episode centers around the owner of a resort in Las Pegasus named Gladmane who has some of the most talented performers in Equestria working under him, although each one is talented enough to move onto bigger and better things if they want. On the surface, it seems that they stay purely out of loyalty, as Gladmane prides himself on being everyone’s “friend” and keeping them happy. Yet it turns out as the episode progresses that all is a farce. In truth, he keeps the performers poisoned against each other and constantly fighting so that they won’t ever pair up long enough to leave him for better deals or greater success. Yet because he acts so friendly and concerned all the time, no one ever suspects anything. They assume he has their best interest at heart the entire time, when in reality he was taking their trust and faith in him and violating it.

One of the greatest sins that can be committed, not only in terms of damage it does externally but also internally, emotionally, and spiritually, is betrayal. Taking someone’s complete trust and then purposely and willfully violating it completely. It’s such a terrible crime that when Dante wrote the “Inferno” he made it the worst possible sin in Hell…one Satan himself is guilty of. And as anyone who has ever suffered betrayal in one form or another knows, what it leaves behind is terrible. A more recent example in history is the people who sunk their life savings into Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme and will now never see a fraction of that money back, nor will any amount of time he spends in prison undo it. Debatably, such a crime does far worse damage than theft, burglary, or property damage, even though those crimes usually carry stiffer penalties.

Betrayal is a crime against trust. We all know that we take a chance when we trust people with anything. Some risks are small and some are high, and how much we trust someone with is a measure of faith we put into other people. How badly that trust is violated hurts our faith in others that much worse. It’s likely that those victims of Madoff will never trust anyone with a single dollar of theirs again, even if a different investor has a good chance of recuperating at least some of their losses. Nor are they likely to trust anyone else asking for money, such as a charitable organization that fulfills a genuine need or a church asking for a tithe. In that sense, the wound of betrayal continues to linger on and impacts others downstream.

While many of us may be lucky enough to have not been a victim of a loss of retirement or savings, chances are all of us have had to deal with betrayal before. Some of us have been have had it come from someone we genuinely trusted and perhaps even loved. And it’s likely to have impacted how we regard others in the future and how we treat them. The emotional wound that it leaves behind is terrible, because it doesn’t easily heal. Having exposed ourselves to the chance of being hurt so badly before, it is unlikely after feeling that pain that we’ll ever want to expose ourselves again. It can lead us to locking other people out, keeping them at arm’s length, or simply shunning the company of others. It can also lead to warping our perspective of humanity rather badly.

But the worst impact of all is how it effects us in our relationship with God.

A good part of Christianity is based on faith and trust in God. It’s the ultimate foundation for our faith, right back in the Old Testament with the patriarch Abraham, (“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6) and stemming all the way to the Apostle Paul (“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). In between, from Moses to Joshua to Samuel to Daniel to Solomon to Mary to Jesus Himself and with everyone else who came before and after them, it was all about acts of faith and trust in God. But if we’ve been betrayed in the past, we’re likely not to have much trust in others; including God. And if we’ve been betrayed by a different religion or even a “Christian” Church, then that much more less so because that’s what we associated God with.

On a personal note, I know someone who’s suffered most of their life with feelings of distrust toward others. They feared that they can never expose the truth about themselves and certain things they’ve done because no one would ever look at them the same way. Yet this dishonesty, both with themselves and others, did nothing to help anything. By thinking they couldn’t expose it to others, they ended up thinking that a part of them was evil and unlovable…both to others and to God. And that came out in a brutal way when they finally did confess, and it almost ended up disastrously. And that’s bad any way you look at it.

As Christians, it’s not only important to recognize God is love (1 John 4:8), but to also accept it. If we fail to do so, if we see God as only a judge and someone “out to get us”, we’ll never fully trust God to forgive us of our sins; much less be with us in difficulty or in whatever he calls us to do. And if we don’t trust God to be with us to lead us and guide us in times of trouble, and we don’t trust that God loves us, then we won’t act from that perspective and do anything for the Kingdom of God, because we feel we’ll be “on our own” everywhere we go.

While it’s important to be careful about whom we choose to trust, we can’t go through life never trusting anyone. As I mentioned in earlier devotionals, humans are social creatures. We need relationships to live: both with God and with others. Anything less is failing to live as a human and sentencing us to a miserable life. But if our trust is violated, or we never had much trust in others to begin with, how do we learn to trust other people?

That’s not an easy answer, especially to someone who has had their trust violated. It might require psychiatric help or counselling, or facing up to a lot of painful things. I have no universal answer because all people are unique. Yet from my perspective, the biggest thing I can encourage is we need to take a chance to at least look for someone to trust. When one is emotionally wounded, the only way to ever be cured is to risk getting hurt again, unfortunately. We have to find someone we are willing to take a chance on trusting. (That’s also why I suggest a professional, because they, at least, are required by law to keep your secrets or they can’t practice.) Once we’ve experienced that we can trust someone with who we are, and all of what we are, we can accept that others, including God, will do the same.

As uneasy, uncomfortable, and fearful as this might be, I strongly urge anyone wrestling with this trust issue to do so. Don’t be like the person I knew and spend years of your life needlessly living in fear of what will happen if people know the “real you”. Remember, God already knows the real you and accepts you completely (Jeremiah 1:5).

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that you have promised to never leave me or forsake me, and that this saying is trustworthy even in the darkest of times. If I am having trouble accepting this, or having trouble placing my trust in others, especially if I am still hurting from an earlier betrayal, please help me to open my heart to others once again and to seek the help I need to open up once again. In doing so, I will be better able to minister to others and fulfill the Kingdom of God. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

 

My Little Devotional #129: “Seeing Mud and Seeing Stars”

Tags

Bible, blessings, Christian Life, Christianity, CMCs, despair, devotional, dread, fandom, fear, God, Greta Griffon, happiness, hope, hopelessness, inspirational, Jesus, joy, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, optimism, pessimism, sadness, The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Fault in Our Cutie Marks”

In this episode, Greta Griffon goes to the Cutie Mark Crusaders with the intent of getting a Cutie Mark; believing that it’s the key to being able to spread the magic of friendship to the rest of griffonkind. Unfortunately for her, griffons getting Cutie Marks is simply impossible–only ponies can get them, and no amount of trying, wishing, or wanting will change that for griffons. However, by the end of the episode, both Greta as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders realize that even if she can’t get a Cutie Mark, she can still embody friendship and spread it to others. She can still have something that makes her happy even if it isn’t what she would prefer, and she shouldn’t let the fact she can’t have some things make her forget she can have others. In either situation, the idea is that even if there are some things that we as individuals have no control over, we can’t let those things stop us from working with the things we do have control over…and, most of all, we can’t let those things we can’t change keep us from being happy.

It’s actually a shocking idea to many people that all individuals can choose to be happy. The cynic would say that it’s easy for someone in a first-world country to say that, but what about people living abroad in situations of war, famine, poverty, or total lack of civil liberties? Can they “choose” to be happy then? Well…for me personally, although I won’t be conceited enough to say they have to be happy, they can still choose to be happy. That’s something I had to learn for myself.

The fact is no one can make us feel one way or another. There is no magic set of external circumstances that will force us to be happy or sad…or angry or enthusiastic or tranquil or depressed or any other emotion. Feelings are God-given and they arise naturally from things that happen to us, which leads some people to think we can’t “own” our feelings. To an extent that’s true, but nevertheless there is nothing that makes everyone happy or sad. Take a tearjerker movie, for example. Some people are emotionally impacted by it and break down in tears; others laugh at the whole thing and make fun of it. Some people would be overjoyed and believe their worries were over if they could be making the US median income, while some millionaires sit around depressed and suicidal. Why does that happen?

While we may not have control of our feelings, we have control of what we let “get to us”, so to speak. What we allow to impact us emotionally and what we don’t. That’s why people we love often can hurt us far more with minor infractions than strangers or acquaintances who initiate a major betrayal. We may be angry at the latter case, but devastated in the former. Some people let everything in, and those people are especially emotionally vulnerable because everyone can hurt them deeply. Others do what we call “building up walls”, which is where they never let anyone in for fear of being hurt, but end up miserable and alone because God designed us to be social creatures.

As individuals, we can choose to let things in to make us happy or sad, or we can choose to block out the same things. And this, I have found, is the key to being emotionally stable. Depending on what you do, you can be an optimist or a pessimist–able to keep a smile on your face when the world is ending, or sad and despairing even if you have financial success and are surrounded by loved ones.

I still remember when I read the Bible for the first time that I got caught on several passages, but one in particular that stuck out to me is Proverbs 17:22. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” For a long time, I thought this proverb as an empty platitude. “Well, duh. Obviously it’s good to have a cheerful heart and not to have a crushed spirit, but how is that advice? You either have it or you don’t. What kind of proverb is this?” It wasn’t until years later that I started to realize that this wasn’t just a statement but a directive, because at the time I thought that I was helpless to my own feelings and had no control over them. Either I’d be happy or sad, and I had no control over it. But the truth is quite the opposite.

Just this last weekend I went to an anime convention. It’s the only anime convention I go to all year and I spend a third of the year preparing for it. Yet when I went this year, I kept thinking…all weekend long…about how the laptop I use at work had crashed and how I needed to get it fixed early on Monday morning. I kept dreading the worst. I kept thinking it would ruin me getting my tasking done on time. I kept thinking that my supervisor would be upset. I kept thinking how much it would mess up my normal schema and flow of a work day. And the truth is I didn’t really need to worry about any of that. It took some time to fix but it was no big deal and no one else cared. But because I was worried about it,  and wouldn’t stop being worried about it, I didn’t enjoy myself the entire weekend. Always whenever I sat down to do anything or enjoy anything, that fact was in the back of my head. It didn’t give me a moment’s peace until the car ride back from work on Monday.

I let that get to me. I let it dominate my thinking, because I thought to ignore it was to diminish the problem all together. I refused to mentally “put it down” for even a second. And so, surrounded by a fun time, with events and attractions I waited a year to see, with nothing to worry about for three days…I had a miserable time. I let one thing beyond my control destroy any chance of happiness I had even when I had plenty of reasons to be happy.

This is a rather simplistic example, but I hope that all of you can see the meaning behind it and apply it to bigger things. We can choose to let things tear us apart or let them slide. Likewise, we can choose to let things fill us with joy or ignore them completely. We can let the bad in our life keep us in a low, dark place or we can choose to see the bright things in our life and focus on them.

The Bible has examples of people who could have let their circumstances and problems bring them to their knees, but always managed to look beyond them. When thinking about David in the Old Testament, most people only think of him killing Goliath and becoming a great king of Israel. The truth is much of his life was rather hard and something no one would wish on themselves; such as his years on the run from King Saul leading him to be an exile from his own country, the constant wars he had to fight for his own survival and that of his nation, and eventually even seeing his own household turn on itself and his own son try to kill him. There were many times David was miserable and scared, as attested to in his Psalms. But whenever despair threatened to choke him or beat him down where he couldn’t rise, he always looked to God and put his hope in him. He focused on the fact that he knew God would be with him and deliver him, and that enabled him to rejoice even in dire circumstances. Just look at Psalm 27:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
“The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

“When the wicked advance against me
    to devour me,
“it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
“Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
“though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

“One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
“that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
“to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
“For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
“he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
    and set me high upon a rock.

“Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
“at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

“Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
“My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
“Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
“Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
“Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.
“Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
“Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

“I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
“Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.”

 

Likewise, in the New Testament, Paul was definitely a man of affliction, and none of us would wish the same life he had to go through. “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27) And yet he always was able to keep going and have peace and even contentment in the worst circumstances. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phillipians 4:12-13) Paul put his faith in Lord Jesus, and in spite of being in situations that would leave most people physically as well as emotionally and mentally crushed, he always persevered and kept going without lack of enthusiasm. He knew his salvation was assured and the work he was doing was making a difference, and that carried him beyond all of his trials and troubles.

In both cases, the person looked to God. They knew he was there for them and would sustain them no matter what happened, would grant them success in their undertaking so long as they clung to righteousness, and none of that would change due to their circumstances. They kept their eyes on what was above and not on the pain and suffering they had to deal with below. As a result, they were never overcome by their depression and sadness but conquered all and went on to become great men of not only the Bible but of history.

My take-home message from today’s devotional goes out to all those who feel helpless, hopeless, and in despair. Don’t give everything bad in your life so much power as to choke out what good there is still there. Instead, remind yourself of what you have, or possibly still have, and let that carry you through any times of darkness.

Choose to let something make you happy today.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that you are always with me and that you give me blessings in my life when I trust in you, if only I will take the time to look for them. When darkness, dread, and fear come upon me, especially when faced with tragedy, sadness, or loss, help me to always remember what I have now and to look forward to, and let these joys that you have granted me not be snuffed out by the gloom of things beyond my control. Help me to remember, in the words of William Ernest Henley:

‘It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.’

“Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #128: “Toil and Trouble”

Tags

Applejack, Bible, Buckball Season, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, doubt, drudgery, fandom, fear, Fluttershy, God, grace, inspirational, Jesus, mercy, merit, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Pinkie Pie, pressure, Rainbow Dash, salvation, sanctification, toil, works

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Buckball Season”

In this episode, when Applejack and Rainbow Dash find a new sport to get competitive about, they get a rather tall shock on seeing their friends Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are natural pros at it, and decide to recruit them for the Ponyville team in a game against Appleloosa. Yet though Pinkie and Fluttershy have a natural love of the game, it isn’t long before Applejack and Rainbow are putting them through the wringer on demanding practice sessions and pressuring them to win for Ponyville. The game goes from being fun to nerve-wracking and miserable from pressure to succeed, and causes both to slip up repeatedly before it finally nearly drives them to quit the team all together rather than have to deal with the demands placed on them. It’s not until Applejack and Rainbow ease back on their approach and focus more on getting Pinkie and Fluttershy to enjoy themselves that they’re able to play at their best again.

There’s a folk saying that if you do what you love for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life. I think that’s one of those proverbs that’s more empty wind than anything meaningful. To me, following that advice is a quick way to learn to hate doing what you love.

From academics to performances to hobbies to actual jobs, there are a lot of things in this world that people can have natural talents for and/or have to work at in order to be good or the best at. To some people getting that good is impossible, while to others who are “naturals” comes a love of both the activity and the challenge associated with it, as that’s “part of the fun”. I’m an amateur writer myself. Give me a subject and I can usually write a short story of it lickety-split, and even if I can’t I love the creative process of coming up with something for it. But I can’t draw for the life of me, and I’m astonished at people who can do that at the drop of a hat. There’s also sports, public speaking, leadership roles, cleaning, community organizing, singing…all sorts of things.

For the Christian, probably the biggest one is one’s own ministry or personal way of serving God; how they walk with him and promote the Kingdom in their daily lives. Often this one is a continual challenge, with finding new ways to minister and better ways to connect with people, to say nothing of all the need in the world there is for the Gospel and for other forms of assistance. Yet this sort of work, along with any other aptitude, hobby, or proficiency a person might possess, can still be vastly rewarding even in its challenge when it’s the right personality for the right job.

Yet often a problem that occurs is the same as that presented in this episode: it stops “being fun”; or rewarding, effective, stimulating, or any of a million other things that take something we like and make it a drudgery. Sometimes this is due to being stuck in a rut and becoming stagnated, but it can also be due to too much pressure, either external or internal, applied to a person. It goes from being a pastime to something more serious and pressing. Something that has no real reward or penalty for doing well other than our own satisfaction and enjoyment that now requires ever greater commitment and attention. And with that commitment and attention comes unnecessary and unwanted pressures that take something we are enthusiastic about and make it a chore.

And sadly, Christianity and serving the Kingdom of God is no exception to this, and the problem is made worse in some Churches.

Part of being a Christian is to grow toward being more like Christ, a process that will not (and cannot) ever be completed in mortal life but will only happen after our own death and resurrection. Yet some Churches have started what I tend to view as a potentially dangerous precedent. They talk about the blessings and power of God moving into the lives of Christians right now if they only have faith; leading to material prosperity, excellent health, and continuous miracles in their lives. The idea is you only need sufficient faith, prayer, and devotion to God and you can count on all problems in your life being resolved supernaturally as soon as they arise, and you yourself can be empowered to be a good and wonderful Christian to minister in every situation that comes your way; even ones you aren’t prepared for.

While that all sounds good, the problem is that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes misfortune still strikes. Sometimes Christians still suffer. Sometimes prayer isn’t answered the way we want it. Sometimes you don’t know what to say or do to minister to someone even after you pray about it. Sometimes you still feel awkward and uncertain in a foreign situation even if you’re committed to following Jesus. And that’s where the bad part comes in. This little voice in your head…

“Well, if you had really wanted your prayer answered, it would have happened.” “If you really committed more to your devotional life, you would have been healed.” “If your faith had been stronger, God would have answered you.” “If you call yourself a real Christian, you’ll have the power to succeed in any situation.”

And that’s where fear and despair comes in; the thought that if you did pray more or have more faith or, deep down inside, wanted to serve God better, you’d be a more natural Christian and be able to have all these blessings and do all these things, and the fact that you aren’t means you aren’t a real Christian. So you must do more things and act a certain way to prove you are a real Christian and have really been saved and to prove that you love God. Now you start doubting your own salvation and, even more importantly, the Power of God’s Grace.

This is a dangerous path to follow. As the message of this devotional goes, it’s not long into doing this that Christianity stops being about an outpouring of love and concern for other people and more about trying to earn yourself merit points to feel more comfortable about yourself and your status before God. Christianity loses all semblance of letting God work through you and of honestly sharing the Gospel and becomes all about the self. And that is the most fruitless and exhausting chore of all.

Just as in ancient Biblical times the old religious orders measured their worth before God by the good works they did and earning the titles of “rabbi” and “teacher”, nowadays worth is measured by how many miracles and blessings you have earned through your faith and devotion. I heard one author actually call this the “Gospel of Glory”, but not of God’s glory or the Lord’s glory but rather the individual’s; measuring one’s own spirituality and holiness by how much spiritual power and gifts they possess.

I don’t doubt that spiritual blessings, miracles, prophetic utterances, and straight up healings do happen, but it’s important to note that these things don’t happen as a result of any action on our part or by becoming “holier than thou”. Ultimately, we’re all the same. Through and by our own merits and good works, there is no difference between the faith-healing pastor at a pulpit and the drug-addicted criminal lying in a gutter. “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) Both will eventually receive the same sentence for their sins, for God shows no partiality. It’s the Power of Christ and the magnitude of His Sacrifice that makes all equal, done without the input of man and without any conscious will or merit on their part. “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) It’s all about His Glory and Majesty. Accepting Him as Lord and Savior makes us clean before God, with no remembrance of past sins or wickedness and no tallying of our own works. All done through Christ and not earned at all by any effort. All we can do is accept it when offered to us.

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:22-26)

Far from turning the Christian life into one of drudgery, fear, and doubt, this Sacrifice is to set us free from those things. Now that we know that we can’t “earn” any salvation or favor from God but rather we freely have it showered down on us, we should be empowered to be more genuinely loving and thankful. To reach out and minister to people out of care, affection, and thankfulness other than out of a meaningless attempt to gain favor or prove ourselves as Christians. No one can “prove themselves” to be a Christian because becoming a Christian had nothing to do with any meritorious action originating from us. God merely offered us the opportunity and we accepted. He is the one who declares us Christians, not ourselves or anyone else.

If you’re like me and constantly fighting battles with worry, self-doubt, and concern that you’re not doing “good enough” to be a real Christian, perhaps you’re looking to the wrong individual for the source of salvation. Instead, try to focus on the power of the Cross and the One who died upon it, and just how clean you have been made by the power of that Sacrifice. You are now a child of God.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1: 12-13)

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, I can never thank you enough for the blessed and holy Sacrifice of your Son, Lord Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty of all of my sins and to make me born again as a child of God. Now that I have this blessed assurance, grant me the power to never cheapen it by succumbing to false worry, self-doubt, and despair but to cling to the Power of Christ and His unbeatable Sacrifice. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #127: “Opportunity Rings the Doorbell and Finds No One Home”

Tags

Bible, calling, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, Discord, faith, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, opportunity, Spike, vocation

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Dungeons & Discords”

This was one episode I had to watch more than once to get the real hook for it, but once I did I found it to be rather poignant. Discord finds his normal time of the month with Fluttershy cut off due to her being called off on business, and ends up reluctantly heading out along with Spike and Big Macintosh for a “Guy’s Night”. However, when it turns out that “Guy’s Night” is nothing more than tabletop RPGing, Discord vents not only his distaste for the two as unsocial nerds, but ends up, in his usual fashion, trolling them to boot. Yet he gets a major shock not long after when Spike blows up and reveals the only reason they even invited him was because they felt sorry for him, and he, much to his own embarrassment, realizes as geeky and pathetic as he thought Spike and Big Mac were, he was the one who didn’t have any other friends to hang out with besides the one pony who would tolerate him. He quickly realized, far from being the life of the party, he was in fact receiving pity and had inadvertently thrown it back in the face of those distributing it.

This episode made me think a bit about how we can become so focused on achieving one thing or focusing on one good thing that we completely ignore what’s right in front of us.

Given the recent horrendous flooding in my area, it brought to mind a story I heard in a sermon once:

There was once a very devout and religious man. His faith was great and he put his complete trust in God in every situation. One day it began to rain very hard, and the river near him started to flood. But he wasn’t the least bit afraid. Instead, he prayed to God to deliver him from the flood, and he believed completely that he would save him.

The water climbed until it reached the doorway of his house. At that point, an emergency vehicle came by offering to evacuate him. Yet he shook his head, saying that he had already prayed to God and he would take care of him.

The water continued to rise until it entered the house and was up to the man’s waist. At that point, a boat with emergency workers came by and offered to evacuate him. Again, he shook his head, saying that he had already prayed to God and he would take care of him.

The waters continued to rise dramatically after that, until the house itself was submerged and all that was left was the roof. The man sat on top, but the water continued to climb and would soon cover that as well. At that point, an emergency helicopter came by and a man went down on a line to take him away. Yet once again, he shook his head, saying that he had already prayed to God and he would take care of him.

The flood waters continued to rise, the roof was covered, and the man was washed away and drowned. Yet being a man who had accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, he went to Heaven and came face to face with God. Only then did he express his disappointment. He told God that he prayed to him to deliver him and had been faithful and trusting the whole time, never wavering and faithfully awaiting him to save him, and yet in the end he had let him drown.

God, in response, could only shrug. “Well, I sent you a car, a boat, and a helicopter. What else did you want me to do?”

There are many people in this country and around the world who not only call themselves Christian but also pray for more power and more opportunity to make a change in the world around them. Yet how often do they witness to others? How often do they do charitable work? When there’s an emergency in their area, do they volunteer any time? When there’s a shortage on food for the needy or blood for the sick, do they make any donations? When a friend or co-worker is hurting, do they go out of their way to do something to make them happy? Do they try to connect with their own families and children, making a conscious effort to make time for them?

I’ve shared this in an earlier devotional, but now’s a good time to bring it up again. Back in college I volunteered at a soup kitchen. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to proclaim Jesus to the people who came in and out. Yet whenever people came in, I’d always get tongue-tied and tense as I tried to think of the perfect way to break the ice and share the message, and as a result I always ended up sounding stressed and miserable, and the few times I could bring up God I got into religious arguments rather than provided anything persuasive or constructive. Meanwhile, the other Christians who volunteered there connected far more readily and easily with people just by talking to them as fellow human beings. They didn’t even mention the name “Jesus” to them and yet frequently got “God bless you”s back from the people who came in. Clearly, I was doing it wrong…focusing so much on saying the perfect line or getting out the core message of the Gospel that I missed a golden opportunity to minister right in front of me.

There is never any shortage of need in the world, and God calls people both to higher vocations as well as to “lesser” ones that are all around them. “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12:4-8) In fact, the Bible indicates that if we want more responsibility, God wants us to prove ourselves responsible in smaller matters first. (“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10) And being a Christian isn’t just in one sphere of influence, but happens everywhere in every aspect of life. Therefore, we must be sure we aren’t so focused in one possibility that we let everything God is sending our way go unnoticed as it lands right in front of us.

I take today’s episode as a little friendly reminder to not be so focused on obtaining a goal, gaining a vocation, or making one achievement that we neglect to see the very answers to our prayers and callings of God spread before our eyes. I don’t think any of us would like to come to the end of our lives and see God shrugging in bafflement at our cluelessness. 😛

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that when I ask for opportunities to do your will and make a difference in the world, you always provide. And thank you for everything you have given me that enables me to serve some need in this world and make it better for those around me. Please open my eyes to all the opportunities you send me each day and not let any of them ‘float down the river’. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #126: “Mad About ‘Mongering'”

Tags

bias, Bible, character, Christian Life, Christianity, compulsion, conviction, Crystal Empire, devotional, God, inspirational, integrity, Jesus, mercy, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, persuasion, prejudice, racism, The Times They Are a Changeling, Thorax, will power

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Times They are a Changeling”

There’s a new word trend in the USA in recent years: “(Insert-negative-word-here)mongering” (i.e. hatemongering, fearmongering, etc.). In politics it’s basically a cruder and more blunt way of performing the Appeal to Emotion logical fallacy. It’s trying to push forth a policy based on fear or hate toward something. Sometimes it’s applied correctly and sometimes it’s used as an excuse or misrepresented. I’m not going to use this devotional to pick on that, however, but rather to pick on the variant on the same practice that occurs in society, and in particular, once again, on the Internet.

This refers to the tendency to get people worked up over something by picking on a subject that can be hated or feared. While in it’s most basic form it’s just a variant on racism, stereotyping, and/or prejudice, I personally feel it’s a bit more of a special case or even its own thing. In the situation of more “pure prejudice”, there can ultimately be no justification for the fear and hate other than bias, misperception, or prejudgments. By comparison (and what makes it more potent) the latter situation usually involves at least one very real incident in which harboring a bit more fear and uneasiness about the subject at hand would have prevented a disaster. Just as a quick example, let’s consider the MMORPG “World of Warcraft”. Some people have become so addicted to it that they neglect their own lives and even, in some cases, the lives of their children to play it. If someone was to suggest that the game needed to be banned as a result of that, they would point to those instances even if they don’t represent everyone who plays the game. A bit simplistic and “light”, but it illustrates the point.

That’s the situation in today’s episode. Obviously, the Crystal Empire took a rather strong reaction to the presence of a potential Changeling…probably an overreaction. On hearing a report that there was a Changeling in the area, the entire Empire virtually went into lockdown, guards were hunting for Changelings in all corners, and even friends and family members of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had to pass an identity test before they would be allowed anywhere near Flurry Heart. When the Changeling was actually spotted and everything degenerated into a witch hunt, even the rulers who instigated the situation began to wonder if they were taking things too far.

The problem, however, was that there had been a case in recent history in Equestria where not enough caution was used around Changelings. As a result, both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were impacted, and all of Equestria ended up being put in jeopardy and nearly conquered by Queen Chrysalis. In addition, none of the residents of the Crystal Empire had ever encountered a “nice” Changeling before. So while everyone did go into a panic and, when the Changeling in question, Thorax, revealed himself they reacted unfairly with hostility and fear, it was unfortunately more justified and understandable in this situation. Even if they wanted to stomp or capture Thorax on sight, considering a rather bad past event, most others in Equestrian society would have thought nothing of it.

As a Christian, I think the ultimate thing that we preach that the world will not accept, will possibly reject, and (especially in many developing countries) will react to with violence and suppression is the saving message of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice for salvation of the world. Yet as Jesus told us to be the “light of the world”, I’ve always believed that this wouldn’t be the only thing. After all, if the only difference between a Christian and an atheist is a Christian tells you to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or spend eternity in Hell, then Christians aren’t much better (and possibly worse) than the other world religions we claim are false. To me, being a Christian also means outreaching to those in the world that have been rejected and made outcasts, to love the unlovable, and to stand up for those who no one else will stand for. That’s what Jesus did, and in His infamous parable about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) He set out quite clearly what it means to care for one’s neighbor as well as expressed how great of a commandment that was.

Yet one of the greatest fallacies that Christians fall into that conforms them to the world rather than to God’s image is falling victim to societal bias based on fear and suspicion. Christians may fear and reject certain people from entering their communities, or favor or oppose certain national policies, or endorse certain practices that all are contrary to much of the Bible; but they do so anyway because they’ve moved away from considering the Word or the viewpoint of Jesus and moved toward thinking about things in worldly terms, including fears and biases.

I don’t want to dig too deeply into this to try and prevent snap judgments and reactions, so I’ll focus on just one example for now: the death penalty. This is a situation that not only are most Christians in favor of maintaining, but so many are in favor of it that a Christian being anti-death penalty is the exception rather than the rule (enough to where most pro-choice individuals justify themselves against pro-life individuals by pointing out they’re in favor of the death penalty, meaning they obviously “don’t think life is that sacred”…but getting off topic). There are religious arguments that can be made for it, but that’s not what I see people defer to. I see people pointing out the most heinous of offenders and venting their raw hate and disgust of them, saying how there’s no point to keep such despicable people alive on a taxpayer’s dollar. Some of them, they might point out, are not only clearly guilty but totally unrepentant, although even if they were (such as with the Son of Sam serial killer) no one would ever risk having them in society again. Sometimes they even bring up cases like with Ted Bundy, a serial killer who escaped police custody to kill others before he was captured again. And if they want to make a “Christian” argument, it’s that it would be better to protect innocent people by killing these offender than keeping them at risk by leaving them alive.

I can’t answer for everyone, but for me personally…even if I was to completely ignore Jesus’ defense of the woman caught in adultery (a capital offense) (John 8:2-11), the fact is our justice system is beyond biased. Just as one example, African-Americans who are found guilty of killing Caucasian-Americans are far more likely to get death penalty sentences than Caucasian-Americans found guilty of killing African-Americans. Furthermore, in one state alone in this country, Illinois, over a twenty year period 12 inmates were executed…while 20 on death row were exonerated in the same period. There were more people wrongfully waiting to die than people actually put to death. Even DNA tests are only as good as the agency that performs them, yet the magic word “DNA” automatically biases a jury into thinking someone is 100% guilty. It’s a tragedy whenever we hear of people who spent decades serving life sentences only to be cleared of all wrongdoing, but at least then they have a chance of regaining their lives. Not so with someone executed.

If I wanted to quote the Old Testament, which most consider to be nothing but God’s wrath and vengeance, even then it would be revealed that God would have spared Sodom if there had been only ten righteous people in it (Genesis 18:22-33). If God finds sparing ten people worth letting thousands endure in wickedness and depravity, I personally think that God would think for the sake of sparing the lives of  wrongfully sentenced individuals it’s worth tolerating keeping many genuinely wicked people alive.

Of course, this is only one example. Stances on pro-life and pro-choice, immigration, foreign policy, national charity, outreach to others, issues with the homeless…those are all things that I feel God’s Word says one thing and, due to fear or distrust, Christians flock to the “world view” because it’s safer and easier. It’s these points, as well as in witnessing, that we are challenged to go against what the world says is acceptable and even, in many cases, to risk their ire. Probably in these situations more than ever. After all, decisions made out of fear and distrust are usually based on a societal fear and distrust. To go against these likely means we’ll not only become an object of fear and distrust ourselves, but that people will misread our motives and level accusations against us, as people tend to do. From personal experience, I’ve had a moment in my life I was fearful to come out publicly with my stance on something because I knew my own close relatives would call me foolish and idealistic at best and a traitor at worse; even though neither were true and I knew they weren’t in my heart.

But ultimately, a serious question we all have to ask ourselves is whose interests we’re wishing to defend and who we want to look good in the sight of: the world or God.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives man insight into who you are as well as direction for eternal life. Give me a love for it so that I can know the mind of God and what he wishes for this world and for others, and then help me to follow that in spite of what other powers in the world try to do to dissuade me or persuade me. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #125: “A Matter of Justice”

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28 Pranks Later, adoption, atonement, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, faith, God, inspirational, Jesus, justice, justification, law, mercy, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, redemption, retribution, revenge, sacrifice, salvation, sin, vengeance

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “28 Pranks Later”

Rainbow Dash gets rather out-of-hand in this episode. While it’s well-known that she likes causing pranks, in this episode she got into a rather bad streak; constantly pranking those who wouldn’t appreciate it and being more interested in her ability to fool and trick others rather than making a laugh both she and the “prankee” would enjoy. Eventually, it got so bad that the residents of Ponyville decided to teach her a lesson. They worked out a town-wide prank of a zombie invasion as a result of eating tainted cookies to fool Rainbow Dash, ending up scaring and upsetting her quite a bit; showing her firsthand what it felt like to get pranked by someone more interested in getting the best of her than making sure it was enjoyable for everyone involved.

There’s a lot of terms for this sort of thing. “Teaching a lesson”, “giving a taste of their own medicine”, “getting even”, etc. The fact of the matter is those are all nice ways of saying one of two things…and possibly both: justice or vengeance.

Humans naturally long for justice. I think it’s part of our makeup, DNA, or even souls. As children, obviously when something happens to us such as another child steals one of our toys, or we get blamed for something a sibling did, we feel a desire to do the same back to the offending child or go to an adult to administer retribution. Once we get to the point where we start feeling empathy for other people, such as when we see those in public, on TV, or in books who are starving, oppressed, stolen from, or otherwise abused, we may feel sadness but we also want the offenders to be punished for it. We feel when someone does wrong, they should be made to feel the same unpleasantness that they themselves inflicted. And usually that carries forth into adulthood. Sure, there are some adults of certain qualities of character who are able to forgive and overlook wrongdoing, but that’s usually a matter of moral choice and self-discipline, and, at least at the more basal level, they likely still have the feeling of wanting to inflict retribution even if they don’t act on it. The reason we seem to gravitate to the idea of superheroes is, in part, because we like the idea of someone having the power to impose justice on those who, through their own power or cunning, can avoid having to suffer the penalty for their actions.

Yet there are many times in which people shy away from the idea of justice. In some cases, such as with many (but not all) Christians, it’s because we think of the times we ourselves did something wrong that demanded retribution, but we wished that people would have been compassionate and understanding of our motives and, therefore, been lenient. We are even encouraged to think of that in regards to forgiving the sins and crimes of others, or simply giving people another chance. In other cases, it’s because people realize that humans are imperfect. We’re prone to bias and hate that clouds our judgment for giving people the punishment they deserve; whether we defer to an easier punishment on people we favor or whether we condemn with a stronger punishment on people we hate.

Another reason, however, stems from the other side of the “justice coin”: vengeance. Justice is seen as a good thing, while vengeance is seen as a bad thing. While administering justice is seen as an important thing for society and even an invaluable virtue, vengeance is seen as something terrible: the feeling of positive energy, thrill, or even a rush from hurting someone in response to having been hurt by them. Some say that vengeance is distinct from justice. For one thing, vengeance is applied to all situations, including where the hurt that is being redressed is imaginary or unwarranted. (Case in point, if you turned in a co-worker for lying, causing them to get fired, and they responded by slashing your tires, that wouldn’t be considered justice but vengeance.) For another thing, justice is considered to be something fair and equitable to the hurt, while vengeance is something that can go beyond what was called for and disproportionate to the crime.

But the fact is one can make the argument that justice falls entirely within the sphere of vengeance as “righteous vengeance”. Some can even make the argument that the only difference between justice and vengeance is that vengeance is where you punish someone yourself; justice is where you get your peers to do it for you. We are left with a situation in which we feel unpleasant and uncomfortable about something we pride as a virtue. As a result, something that we all feel and are told to aspire to becomes something potentially miserable and terrifying.

When considering the Bible in the view of justice and vengeance, things become more troubling than ever. One of the leading criticisms non-Christians have of the Bible is the claim that God has such a different stance on vengeance in the Old Testament and the New Testament that he’s two different individuals. In the Old Testament, God was often severe: smiting and killing men, women, and children by the tens of thousands. Punishing those who violated his commandments and, in one case, even nearly annihilating everything on Earth as a result of sin (Genesis 6:5-13). Great, terrible, and wrathful. By comparison, in the New Testament God is portrayed more as a loving father; having such compassion and mercy toward Israel as well as the human race as to have his only Son put to death for the sins of mankind that they may be with him forever.

The contrast is so stark and sharp that many Christians largely ignore the Old Testament and focus on the New, or find themselves in turmoil as they try to envision how the great and terrible destroyer and conqueror of the Old Testament can possibly be as compassionate and merciful as the God of the New Testament. How can the God who visits such wrathful vengeance be the same as the God who abounds in endless mercy? And is this a testament that justice and vengeance is righteous and good or a condemnation of the same?

Those are complex questions that religious scholars have thought about for centuries and it would be wrong to try and trivialize them with pat, easy answers. (I feel many pastors do more harm than good trying to do so.) It’s likely questions we will never have fully answered in this life. However, while I will not presume to know the motives and reasons people back in the days of the Old Testament did what they did or received what they received, much less the mind of God in administering it, I can say that the reason this duality is presented to us in the Bible is far simpler.

The fact is the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are the same individual, no matter how hard it is to reconcile. What that means for those of us who live here and now is two things.

The first is that God is overwhelmingly holy (sacred and set apart) and perfectly just. And this shouldn’t so much as strike us with manifest awe (though it does when you think on it) as fill us with fear and trembling. A God so holy and righteous that even the slightest sin can’t abide in his presence. The smallest transgression or evil is a terrible and loathsome offense to him and cannot co-exist with him in the least. It can only be met with swift, terrible, severe, and eternal judgment. In the case of our own sins, that takes the form of eternal separation from God and everlasting condemnation to Hell. The examples of the Law in the Old Testament and God’s severe punishment of those who transgressed it, brutal and intense, to say nothing of the warnings of punishments for transgressing it (Deuteronomy 28:15-68), serve as a warning to all about God’s inescapable and mighty wrath for those who violate his holiness. It is meant to impress upon us the total impossibility of trying to please God by our own efforts and to make ourselves holy in his sight and escape his terrible judgment, as well as the severe sentence that all will be under for even the smallest violation of it.

“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.'” (Romans 3:10-18)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)

When God promises vengeance, it means total vengeance toward all who sin…which is every last one of us. In that case, vengeance is indeed fearsome and perfect justice becomes horrifying.

The second, however, is that God fully recognizes how impossible it is for anyone to escape this eternal wrath or to become holy through their own merit, and that if he was to count the sins of mankind and administer true justice there would be none who would withstand it. He also manifested his love and mercy for us by not creating us to merely one day endure this fate, to be all but eternally condemned from the moment of being brought to life due to the demands of justice and holiness, but gave everyone not only a way out but a way to become sons of daughters of God. And, therefore, there is the New Testament and the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In His death over 2,000 years ago He fully took upon Himself the sins of all mankind and then endured the total, absolute wrath of God as perfect justice demanded inflicted on His body. In doing so, He fulfilled the towering demands of God’s justice and made a completely clean record for everyone who sinned.

“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-26)

Now God makes his mercy manifest to everyone who accepts that sacrifice made on their behalf. They now have a fully clean record and no longer need to fear God’s vengeance. Just as God in the Old Testament made manifest his power and justice, he manifests his mercy and love in the New Testament. No need for a futile attempt to “be good” or practice self-sacrifice or mortification in punishment or atonement for one’s sins, but in just accepting the precious and perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ in their place, one is now clean enough to be a child of God in his eyes.

“Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)

“So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:7)

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.'” (Romans 8:15)

The Bible says that humans are made in God’s image, and perhaps no way is that made more perfectly clear than in our ideas of justice and vengeance. Part of us wants to enact justice in exchange for the evils that other people do, but part of us also shies away from the idea of vengeance–wanting to show compassion and mercy on many of the same people. God must be both perfectly just and perfectly merciful to be God, and he achieved that through the miracle and sacrifice of Jesus.

If you would like to accept this free gift and sacrifice yourself, free to all whenever they want it, you can do so by first praying the following prayer and then learning more from your local Church:

“Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me. I invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life to you. Please give me the desire to be what you want me to be and to do what you want me to do. Thank you for dying for my sins, for your free pardon, for your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #124: “Tunnel Vision”

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Applewood Derby, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, deception, devotional, discernment, false leadership, God, inspirational, Jesus, leadership, manipulation, monopolization, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, self-interest

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Cart Before the Ponies”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders don’t have a very good day in this episode. When it’s time for the annual Applewood Derby in Ponyville, each of them has their own idea for how to design their carts and what awards to go for. Yet when they recruit their “big sisters” to help them with their respective projects, they find out that the older ponies already have their own pre-conceived ideas for them and, in spite of their best efforts, ignore any attempts to get them to build the carts the way the CMCs want them. In the end, the big sisters they looked to for inspiration monopolized the entire thing and made it all about them racing and what they wanted, and, as a result, not only took over the event from the girls but ruined it for everyone else.

Anyone who’s looked into Christianity, whether they be Christians themselves or not, knows that it comes in a lot of “flavors”. There are, of course, the major denominations with their own belief systems, but I find that what differs even more than that is the amount of different ways Christianity is expressed.

I myself grew up Roman Catholic with occasionally attending Lutheran mass, whereas later in college I joined up with a nondenominational Christian group called Chi Alpha Campus Ministries…so I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve seen a lot of different Church events, outreaches, methods of worship (including song, chant, prayer, and even dance), and a lot of different ways of preaching. I’ve been in places that are pretty much just a gathering of people around a couple guys with instruments, in places where everyone dresses up nice and rises and sits in unison to the tunes of pipe organs, and in places where everyone just surrounds a preacher in a speaker’s circle shouting out about how we’re all sinners going to Hell. While I definitely have ones I prefer to others, I won’t be so bold as to say one is “better” than the other. What ultimately measures the value of preaching and ministry, to me, is how effective it ends up being. (And even if I criticize, I’ll say that with few exceptions the worst preaching I’ve seen beats the best “non-preaching” I regularly practice… )

What gets me is when Churches start to act like the big sisters (Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity) in this episode: when they become so fixed on seeing their own way and methods as perfect that they completely ignore not only other opinions but who they’re doing this for to begin with.

I have a feeling most Christians are acquainted with one (or more) Churches that are spiritually dead. If this was a problem back in the times of the New Testament when there were those still alive who could remember Jesus walking in the flesh, how much more 2,000 years later? You know the kind: Churches that never challenge anyone, never outreach to anyone, never seem to grow, and just seem to say and do the same pat things day in and day out. People may go in and get temporarily enthused or even a brief sense of spiritual empowerment, but it never leads to anything lasting in the community, whether that community be of the Church itself or the greater community around it. They basically do the same things all the time and, to coin a modern proverb, as they keep doing what they’ve always done, they keep getting what they’ve always gotten and stayed where they’ve always been.

I experienced this early on in the same place most Christians I have discovered experienced it first: the Roman Catholic Church. Services are always highly ordered, highly controlled, highly regimented, and so predictable that I’ve been in some masses where the congregation mechanically began to say: “And also with you” when one of the readings read: “The Lord be with you”.

I’ve read arguments in favor of these practices and, to be fair, they have some weight. The idea is that experiences with God are not meant to be ordinary but “holy” in the sense of the root of the word: “set apart”. There is a reverence to certain actions and a way to do things that is not just random or each person doing whatever they feel is best. That you only do these things to begin with because it’s a special time and place. It’s treating the very experience of being with God as something deserving special significance, and therefore they don’t like to endorse any kind of uncontrolled behavior or expression. It’s drawing attention to the Word, because of the belief that the Word itself is living and sacred and is an experience with God.

This is well and good and it would be fine…if it actually had that desired effect. The fact of the matter, however, is that most Roman Catholics I know personally find these services to be repetitive, humdrum, and boring. Far from appreciating the sacredness of the situation, because it’s the “same sacredness” every single week in the exact same way it takes something that should be holy and special and makes it as routine as brushing one’s teeth. The Bible does indeed place special emphasis on the Holy Eucharist, and yet by treating it the exact same way week in and week out the congregation is encouraged to think less and less about how special it is and more like it’s the same empty gesture as saying “peace be with you” during the communal handshake. But this is unlikely to change, because everything in the Roman Catholic Church is handed down from the hierarchy of the Vatican, and that, in turn, while it had made major concessions in the past fifty years (at least masses are no longer in Latin…) wants to stay with tradition.

That’s probably the most extreme example, but the fact is it can happen anywhere and in any Church. Everyone likes to do certain things over others. Everyone is more comfortable trying one thing over trying something else. That’s just human nature and the “comfort zone” that we all possess. Where it becomes a problem is when someone in power decides to use this position to influence others and, as a result, one person’s comfort zone becomes an entire Church’s detriment. In the case of Church leadership, it’s when the congregation either alienates themselves and/or discourages other people from coming in and joining; whether it be in the form of not responding to the needs of the community, engaging in ministries that are continuously ineffective, or even endorsing beliefs that are more about giving the leadership and Church recognition and power rather than the Kingdom of God or are even non-Biblical (Again, Roman Catholicism is a big sinner there). In effect, they are sabotaging the very Mission of the Church to begin with.

Naturally, in the Bible, when one thinks of leaders who preferred to cling to their own way rather than what mattered to God, one looks at the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Yet a good portion of the New Testament is also devoted to being on guard against those who masquerade as Christian leaders. The Apostle Paul reserved strong condemnation for those who went about frustrating Christian principles about the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12-34), boasting that they had better “credentials” than him based on his own way of preaching (2 Corinthians 11: 1-15), and especially those who tried to impose the Mosaic Law on new Christians [“As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5:12)]. Whereas Paul seemed to feel sorrow or pity for his persecutors of the Jewish background [“For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,” (Romans 9:3)], he had nothing but contempt and condemnation for those who tried to warp the Gospel to suit their own tastes. Even the last book in the Bible, Revelation, starts off with a strong warning about Churches being on guard for false leaders (Revelation 2:8-29).

All of this serves as a warning to us. While I do trust in the Word of God in regards to “submitting to authority” and that some people are gifted to be in authority over others, we also are to be on guard for trees that bear “bad fruit” and against false and ineffective leadership. To me, the best Churches are ones that see the situation they are in and respond to it as best and appropriate as they can, and look for opportunities to be more effective. Ones that simply seek to serve the status quo, and usually their own status quo, while refusing to listen to anything that may make them better or pay attention to the times are ultimately serving their own glory…and the Bible makes it clear the end of all mortal things that serve their own glory. Let that be a cautionary message that we need to seek a different Church.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the Church, for which you sent your Son, Lord Jesus Christ, as ransom, and thank you also for your Word, which is the cornerstone of our faith. Grant that I may always challenge myself to grow in Christ, and that as I do I pay attention to your Word, learn from it, and see if what is in my life…including my choice in Church and who I choose to listen to as my religious leader…is in accord with it. Help me to know you better so I can discern your will better, and thereby be on guard on all attempts to get me to obey a different will while submitting to ones that reflect yours. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”