This week I saw a news article that I am glad I didn’t miss.  I don’t watch the news on a regular basis because it usually isn’t edifying, but thankfully, I read a news article that was very much edifying.  It was about Charleston, SC and how they reacted to a horrendous attack on their community.  Their way of fighting back against violence was beautiful.

Many acts of violence have happened over the years.  I don’t know if it is on the rise or if it is because of all the media coverage. I am not a statistician, so I can’t mathematically and scientifically figure out if we have become more violent or not, but the fact remains that we do live in a violent and evil world.

As we assess the panorama of the Church of God groups, The Church of God International (CGI) is often tagged with the label “liberal” while others are known as "conservative." In a recent conversation with a fellow minister, this topic came up and we discussed both the misfortune and misuse of these labels.

While it is not right to label each other in this way, given that it does happen, it is important for us to understand why it does, what these terms really mean and how a proper understanding of them is reflected in the application of one of the cornerstones of our Vision, that of being “The Safest Place.” 

Most of us have been victims of it, and most of us have probably caused it, a stink with our tongues in the form of gossip. It is so commonplace that we probably do not even realize we are gossiping sometimes. We just think, “I’m just telling someone what happened.”

The question is, are we more prone to tell others about negative “happenings” or positive ones? Here is the hard truth, if we aren’t willing to say exactly what we are whispering in front of the person that we are “discussing,” then it is most likely gossip.

It’s dangerous to Christianity when people want to add things to the instructions that we’ve already been given in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. One example is where people want to add holidays to Christianity that aren’t found in the Bible when God has already given us His days to celebrate. Another example is where some religious leaders want to create a hybrid religion where they combine the teachings of Jesus with the teachings of first-century Judaism. And when they do this, they’re creating a hybrid religion.

Have you ever had a day like this: you wake up feeling great, energetic, ready to conquer the world, but an hour after getting up, your kids start arguing, something breaks, you find a bill you forgot to pay, and the next thing you know you realize you’re running late? Then, all of a sudden, that wonderful mood you were in switches like a light bulb from light to dark, from good mood to bad mood? 

I loved to daydream about my future when I was younger. When you are young everything is possible, so my dreams were endless. Unfortunately, though, as I have aged and “reality” happened, I have lost the ability to dream big. Now, I’m not about to preach some “get rich” doctrine. No, big dreams don’t necessarily mean wealth because what makes people content doesn’t always revolve around money. Being content with much and being content with little is a huge dream of mine. I admire Paul that he was able to live a life of contentment (Phil 4:12). Who wouldn’t want that?

What if this happens, what will I do?  Does your mind ever play out possible future scenarios?  Usually, at least for me, when I let my mind wonder about the future, it isn’t positive hypothetical scenarios.  It is usually scary scenarios of “what if” this happens or that happens, how will “I,” get through it.  

Have you ever heard the saying, well, “things are going great, I just wonder when the other shoe is going to drop”?  Why are we like this?  Why do most of us look around waiting for the “other shoe to drop” instead of enjoying today?  Why are we caught up worrying about the future?  Aren’t we supposed to walk in faith?  

Jesus frequently gave it between the eyes to the religious leaders of his day.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He called them blind guides and whitened sepulchers.   Twice he entered the temple, turned over the tables of the official temple moneychangers and drove them out.

One could easily get the impression that Jesus was an angry man, and indeed at times he was.  But I am going to invite a different take on Jesus and these passages from the gospels.  Read them not from the viewpoint of his anger but from the perspective of his love.

“I’ll pay that person back the next time I get a chance.” Have you ever heard someone say something close to that phrase? Have you ever said it? Revenge for a wrong done to you at the time may seem sweet, but don’t be fooled; it is very bitter going down.

It is hard not to desire retaliation when someone has wronged you. It is hard to “let it go” and move on or “forgive and forget.” Even if the clichés are sometimes annoying, it is better for you, in the long run, to not react and lower yourself to the level of the one that hurt you.

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you are just plain grumpy? Well, if you haven’t, I applaud you. I can’t stand it when I’m in what my kids call, “the mood,” and I call “frumpy” (feeling grumpy). I just want to start over on those days or go back to bed because it seems that I can’t get anything right.

Well, the truth is, I need some medicine to help me. Not the kind you get a prescription for, but what the Bible calls good medicine, “a cheerful heart” (Prov 17:22). Even if I have to look hard for something to smile about, I need to do it. I need to show my children that my being in the “frumpy mood” doesn’t mean I have to stay there. It is possible to snap myself out of it, if I am willing. I need to give them an example of not letting your mood ruin your day.

When I was a child, I only thought that idols were statues that people bowed down to and worshipped. So, it was easy to say that I was not committing idolatry. As I have gotten older, I realize it is not always obvious when we are committing idolatry. I know I have said it before, but coveting is idolatry (Col 3:5). Therefore, when we look at that nice new car our neighbor just bought, and we wish we could get one too, well, we just coveted; therefore we broke two laws. Isn’t it awesome that we have a Savior who is very forgiving and patient!

The point is that there are invisible idols. These idols aren’t statues, pictures, symbols, etc., that people can see. They are things in our lives that we end up meditating on daily, worrying about, getting anxious over, striving after above anything else, and most importantly, putting above God the Father and Jesus our Messiah.

You know that favorite cliché when traveling, “Are we there yet?” Well, what about in our lives—are we there yet? Are we happy and content yet with our lives? Or are we still waiting, withholding enjoying life, until we arrive at some destination in our lives? You know, like when someone says, “Well, I’ll be happy when I get a new job,” or “get a new car,” or “get a new house,” or “get married,” or “have kids,” or “retire,” or when “this or that” happens. All we are doing is putting off enjoying life until the next “this or that” happens when we are supposed to enjoy life now. If we put off enjoying life until tomorrow, we may not ever enjoy life because tomorrow never comes; we only live in today.

A post from a good friend of mine this week on Facebook really challenged and inspired me.  It was a great post.  One of those posts where you know you were supposed to read that, and grateful that it didn’t get lost in the sea of non-essential posts.   She compared God’s word as a home that we should intimately know and dwell.  She stated that over the years she had started treating His word as a vacation spot, instead of home.  This post really hit me because it made me realize I do the same thing.  I am not dwelling in His word.  We are to make sure that the “word of Christ” dwells inside us “richly, teaching and admonishing” us in “all wisdom” (Col 3:16).  

She said she couldn’t be in our church because our church is full of sinners.  Those weren’t her exact words, but it was the subtext of her complaint.  One member once stole something, she said.  Another gossips.   Another has impure thoughts.  People never listen when she tries to share her problems. 

One by one she pulled from her gunnysack examples of how we each miss the mark.  None of us could quite jump high enough to touch the line on the wall that would make us acceptable in the sight of God and man.