When I was at the Naval Academy and someone broke a regulation, through either neglect or poor performance, that person was given demerits. And with too many demerits came extra duty or restriction. It's what you'd expect from a service academy.
My son is at a small Christian college, and like every college, it has rules for students' behavior. Before his freshman year, I noted that students who missed a mandatory floor meeting (in the dorm) would be fined; I think it was $25. I sort of chuckled, but...
I've since learned the college has other standards that, when broken, also carry a fine. Hmm.
Is this how a Christian college should teach or enforce desired behavior?
You see, a lot of people think that the main part of being a Christian is following the rules, doing what's right, being a good person.
And they got it wrong.
Yes, Christians are taught and commanded to obey, to follow the law. But the law isn't what saves; it can't save.
It's through the law that we're convicted, that we know our own sin.
Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. Romans 7:7b
God's law, His Word, it condemns; it shows us our sin. It ultimately tells us that we can't keep His law, that we can't save ourselves.
...yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ...because by works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16
It's when God's law tells us we're guilty, that the door is then opened for us to know the complete forgiveness of sins. In Jesus, all fines have been paid. But if we don't know we're sinners, through and through, then
we don't know or comprehend that forgiveness.
I know that the college just wants to maintain order and wants the students to follow the rules. But I have to ask, "Are they just making Pharisees, Christians who look down on others who
aren't as good as they are?"
I think the college is missing an opportunity to share and reinforce the heart of Christianity in two ways. They should be:
1. Teaching God's love and forgiveness of sins based, not on works, but on the death and resurrection of Jesus.
2. Teaching the importance and joy of loving and forgiving other people.
And having a system of fines - well, it just emphasizes and supports the idea of salvation by a person's own works.
I don't know the answer to this, but I think it starts with hearing and reading God's Word. Our true good works will always flow and follow from our own forgiveness, from the gospel.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing
with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive...Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians
3:12-13, 16-17
I've gone gray, and I don't mean hair color.
I heard a discussion about time management and cell phones, and how we have a tendency to waste time on our many devices. One suggestion was twofold: 1) Turn off all phone notifications except for phone calls and texts; 2) Go gray, removing color from your screen.
Last week, I had my son switch my phone to the black/white mode. The idea is that all the colors on my phone and other devices entice and stimulate me to spend more time on them, often wasting my time. And, as an added bonus, gray screens supposedly save battery power.
The result - I noticed the screen wasn't in color, but it wasn't a problem. So I decided to switch both my iPad and computer screens to gray.
I mostly use my iPad to read books, and gray is a little strange because my books (the book cover icons) appear as black and white, and not in color.
But, since I do a lot of writing and work on the computer, my computer screen is a different issue. My desk top, a picture of my sons, is now black and white. And I've had to adjust my navigation habits; I've started thinking in "black and white."
Also words that often appear as blue to signify a link to another site, well, they're not blue anymore.
And I have to switch off the gray screen when I'm editing pictures, to check the picture colors.
But overall, I'd say this isn't a big deal, and time will tell if I now waste less time on the computer.
Curiously, in my house, when the lighting is dim, I now sometimes have the impression that my rooms are in black and white, that the color is "turned off" in the house.
Also, in general, I'm more mindful that the world around me is in color.
This experience in going gray has given me a picture of how my perception isn't correct. I'm realizing that, I'm physically
seeing things differently, sometimes wrongly.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12
In this world, with all of our accomplishments and knowledge, we think we know so much; we think we "see" it all.
But we don't see things fully. Our sin blinds us to reality. It's like we're looking at a colored world, but seeing it in black and white.
In thinking about the world "in gray" I've realized that how I perceive my self, how I perceive others, how I think about situations, etc - well, that perception isn't colored correctly either. It's a mixture of some right and some wrong.
God's wisdom, knowledge, and thinking, it's just different, more abundant, and flawless. Mine is not.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
I'm waiting for that Day to come...
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
Amen, come Lord Jesus.
So what's the deal with our government leaders? And with news reporters and commentators? It seems like their main job is now to "fight with the other side."
Just what are they doing and what are they accomplishing anyway? Don't they have any "real" work to do?
I think of all the time, energy, and money that's being put into this "fighting." Suppose all those resources are spent on solving some problem or issue that the country, the world, needs help with. Progress would be made if these "fighting" resources were directed elsewhere.
Instead, we get this arguing and digging up of dirt. I'm reminded of the verse:
But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:1
That's exactly what's going on.
Again I ask, "Don't they have any real work to do?"
And if an issue is so important to someone or to a group, then that person or group should do something, like sacrifice personally, to make an impact. When I see people advocating action for climate control, I think, "Will that person give up their comfortable lifestyle to help the environment? Then why don't they do it now? Lead the way in a positive manner, make a sacrifice."
But all I see is biting, devouring, and consuming one another.
Sadly, the same type of bickering often happens among Christians, and even right inside the church.
Guilty.
The world is a mess and has been.
And in the midst of this mess, Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, came to live among us, to live among us and to set things right.
He healed people; He fed people; He forgave sins. He also wept and suffered. He became that ultimate, perfect sacrifice that died for the sins of the world.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
Instead of biting and devouring, we are commanded to love one another.
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:10–11
This is a big commandment and a hard saying. I look at the world and think, "What do I do? What will make an impact?"
I personally can't "take on" all the problems of the world and give attention to all the "causes" that need solving. And I don't want to get caught up in all this arguing.
But I can impact my family, my neighborhood, people in my sphere of influence. My efforts and my resources can go into loving and serving those people.
And I can pray for our government leaders and all leaders to lead fairly, wisely, to get stuff done, to not "bite and devour one another."
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 10:12
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:6-7
On Saturday mornings, I pray and confess through the Ten Commandments.
The first three commandments are always easy - I'm guilty. I fall short of loving and trusting the Lord. I fall short in praying and meditating on God's Word.
But then I get to the next three commandments:
- Respect and obey those people in charge.
- Don't murder and don't hate.
- Don't commit adultery, meaning love my spouse.
These commandments deal with sins against other people, and my confession often sounds like this:
Help me to honor and obey my leaders and to pray for them, in spite of their lack of integrity.
Forgive me for being angry at this person who is clearly acting in a self-serving manner.
Forgive me for not loving my husband as I should, and help me to overlook his sins.
Notice what I did?
I justified myself by blaming other people, other sinners, for my failure to obey God's commandments, my failure to love and forgive my neighbor.
And I mostly do this without even realizing it.
But the Lord never lets me get away with this type of behavior, this type of confession, because next comes the Seventh and Eighth Commandments.
"You shall not steal" and "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
In other words:
- Don't be lazy; don't waste time or resources.
- Don't talk about people who are annoying.
Guilty and guilty.
With those two commandments I know I'm in the same boat with those who rule over me, with people who get under my skin, and even with my family members.
We're all sinners in need of forgiveness.
In confessing my sin, my guilt, my self-centered ways, I also experience the comfort and the value of the cross. And it's then that I'm blessed with a small ability to love and forgive others as I've been forgiven.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10–11
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
I have a relatively new neighbor. After moving in, he put a flag pole in his front yard flying both an American flag and a blue Trump banner. He later added a flag pole at the side of his house.
But his boldest move has been to etch "MAGA!" on the sidewalk.
In this country, we have people who worship the President. Likewise, we have people who want to impeach him.
At the bottom of it all, everyone recognizes that something is wrong with the world. And we want the world fixed, or at least better.
And because of the predicament that the world is in, people are asking, but mostly arguing about two questions. First, who's to blame for the mess we're in? Second, who's going to fix it and how?
And people disagree about the answers to both questions.
But the truth is, "We live in a broken world," and it's almost always been that way.
I was talking about this with another neighbor, a young father and republican who voted for Trump, but admits that he just doesn't like the President.
We agreed on this, "All men are sinful."
Some men keep their sins secret, and outwardly appear to have honor and integrity; and some, like the President, have no shame and just say what's on their minds.
So, back to the two questions:
1. Who's to blame for the mess we're in?
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death
through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 5:12
We're all guilty, and we're all to blame. We all deserve death because of sin. It's not any one person's leadership or any one political party's laws or positions. It's all of us.
2. Who's going to do the fixing and how?
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18–19
Jesus is the one who's done the fixing, who paid the price for me, for all the guilty, through His death and resurrection. He's the one who's making all things new.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. Isaiah 65:17
And my response is to love people and to share this truth with them.
My friend, the young father, he looks at the world's mess and he just wants a safe world for his girls. He loves them, as a father loves his children, similar to how the Father loves us.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16–17
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
Amen, come Lord Jesus.
In the Marvel movies, Tony Stark, the bad boy turned Iron Man, is always working, serving, doing whatever he can to save the world. He just won't rest.
Pepper Potts even says, "Tony, trying to get
you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life."
Tony's relentlessness reminds me of the Christian's
walk. The work never seems to end. There's always something to do
or somebody to serve.
While I was in the Marine Corps, a fellow lieutenant had a sign that read:
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
I didn't think much about it at the time, but these days...well...I often think, "If not me, then who?" Like Tony Stark, I see a lot of work, and it seems like I should be doing it. It'd be nice to stop and rest.
But there's a lot wrong with my attitude.
Ugly pride rears its head. The exhaustion of work, the discouragement - pride is mixed in with that feeling. Yes, I'm commanded to love and serve people, but it's the Lord working through me, with His strength and His gifts. It's not my talents or efforts that matter, but I often act and feel like it's on me.
This idea of balancing work and rest reminds me of prayer.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
So, how does a Christian face and deal with life's issues and problems, pray about them, but not worry? Likewise, how does a Christian see all the work that needs to be done, join in doing it, but not feel overwhelmed, anxious, or prideful about the work?
People often say, "Give it to the Lord." But I ask, "How do you do that?"
How do I give my work, my problems, to the Lord, but also still continue the work and still live alongside the problems? Is there some mysticism involved here?
I tend to focus on the problems, on getting the work done, and praying for help, for things to be better. Good to do.
But, that doesn't alleviate the personal discouragement and hurts that happen in the midst of life. Praying about the problems just doesn't help me deal with my despair or exhaustion.
And the answer is always the same. Sin and grace.
Whatever the situation is, when I pray for help, but also confess my own sin, ask for forgiveness, and give thanks for Jesus's death and resurrection, in that prayer I find peace, comfort, strength, and rest.
It's always about the cross; it's always about Jesus's resurrection.
If not you, who?
Jesus
If not now, when?
At the cross.
At the empty tomb.
He is risen indeed!
During my time in the military, 1980 to 1989, women weren't allowed to serve in combat. They couldn't be assigned to combatant ships, and they couldn't fly a plane that was designed to engage in conflict. On the ground, women didn't participate in offensive infantry battles or even train for them.
Looking back at my time in the Marine Corps, I recall a couple of situations that provide some insights.
While attending TBS, a six-month officer training course, I participated in both offensive and defensive infantry instruction. And on every occasion that we had offensive field training, one other woman and I would always be assigned to join a large group of male lieutenants, along with a crusty old Marine as our instructor. Despite policy, he'd make us train right alongside the men.
And I hated it. It was hard and tiring, the gear was heavy, and I'm not that strong. I remember one particularly difficult exercise, mechanized assaults. I was struggling, and one of my fellow Marines asked if I was okay. And although everyone was hurting, he asked and was concerned about me because I was a woman.
At my last duty station, Parris Island, South Carolina, I was a series commander and a company commander at Fourth Recruit Training Battalion, which is the only unit in the Marine Corps that specifically trains women recruits. Overall, the women recruits I saw were capable and performed well, but I couldn't see them in combat. I'm being honest here - women just aren't as physically strong as men, and I saw that.
Fast forward to today. The restrictions on women's military service are gone. Women fly all types of aircraft and serve on combatant ships and on submarines. Some women have even completed infantry training right alongside the men. And everyone seems to be applauding this breakthrough. I don't want to take away from these accomplishments.
Maybe things have changed; maybe women are stronger. I know there's always a few women who are as capable as or more capable than many men. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if the majority of women are that capable.
But as I think about this "women in combat" thing, my question is, "Even if women are as capable and as strong as men, should they fight in combat? Is this good for us, for our society?"
As a Christian, I look to God's Word. I look to my God as our creator; He created us with order and a plan. He created us in His image - male and female. And God commanded:
Be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 1:28b
It's very clear that women's bodies are beautifully equipped to bear and nurture children, to give life. As a woman, as a mother, and looking at this situation over time, I see that God has a good plan and order for creation. For women, His plan includes giving them the ability to bear life.
God also created them male and female, with marriage in mind and the female as a "helper fit for him." Genesis 2:20b
And that marriage between a husband and wife is a reflection of the relationship between Jesus and His church, His bride. As Paul writes:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31–32
This is the drama of creation and of God's story. And we're a part of it, and a living picture of salvation.
Jesus, the promised savior, lived among man, was born a man, specifically born of a woman.
Jesus, our bridegroom, fights the battle for us; He dies for us; and in dying and rising again, He defeats sin, death, and Satan.
And in this picture of salvation, we see and experience the love of God. And we see this in our marriages, with a husband and a wife, with children - in living as He created us to live. Yes, it's a mystery, and in this mystery, we testify to the world of salvation through Jesus.
I don't have a satisfying answer to "women in combat." It's a complicated issue.
But I do have the answer to, "Who's my God? Who's my Savior? What's this life all about?" Jesus.
...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
