I guess God has presented a theme for me as I begin the New Year. I have several devotionals that I read (almost) daily. One has me reading the opening of St. Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. This is a powerful indictment of society overruling the precepts of God for their own enjoyment and amusement. There is a lengthy list of things that God considers “sin” and yet people keep on participating in them. When I put that alongside a pull quote from another devotional I can see dimly. Patrick Morley wrote: "The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. Many believe we can add Christ to our lives but not subtract sin. We change our belief without changing our character. A changed life is one that added Christ and has subtracted sin - that attracts a world weary of empty words. Jesus is the answer. Our obedience is the proof."
This makes me wonder and it is so convicting as well. It got
my little pea brain to ruminate. What subtractions have I made to accommodate
the presence of Jesus Christ in my life? How much have I compromised the
commands and promises of the gospel message to make room for my “beloved” sins?
There are some – probably too many – that I have rationalized that, if God is
the loving God he claims to be, he would allow me to have, to participate in,
because they make me happy. But are they good for me? In this life, they may
actually be neutral: they neither harm not benefit me. Yet, if they are
contrary to the decrees of God, there is no way on God’s green earth they could
benefit me!
On television lately, they have been airing many
advertisements about the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The children on those
ads tug at my heart strings and cause me to at least pray for them and thank
God that I have been blessed with healthy children. Many of them did not do
anything to cause these horrid diseases they are suffering from. They haven’t
lived long enough to cause sustained damage to their own bodies. They are way
too young to ignore the Surgeon General’s warning on the side of certain
products. In these times of mental calisthenics, I wonder how I would handle
some kind of devastating news about my health. How would I react to my doctor
admonishing me to stop doing some habit or I will die. Or, suppose he told me that,
if I wanted to live, I would have to eat liver three nights a week. Now, it may
seem I’m making light of a serious situation but I’m not. I really hate liver,
even to the point of gagging the last time I tried it. This is how much I
dislike – because my grandmother always told me don’t hate anything – liver!
Yet, I think I would acquire a taste for this life giving meal if it was my
only choice. Or, suppose the doctor told me that my eyesight was failing and I
would have to stop reading books altogether? I can’t tell you how quick I would
pull out the old cassette player and my New Testament tapes and wear them out
until the new cd’s arrived. What I am saying is that life threatening issues
will have to be dealt with. Yet too many people ignore the Surgeon General’s
warnings and God’s too.
Now, take this calamity to the Church. As Morley so
correctly mentions, we may be good at addition but we are not so good at
subtraction. God wants both. While I don’t want to mention the peril
unbelievers may suffer for their ignorance, I am acutely aware of the risk many
in the church are subject to. We do not take seriously God’s admonitions
against, well everything. Our feel good mentality will not allow us to speak
about people’s transgression. How many people hear the word “sin” mentioned in
church on an average Sunday? I dare say that Joel Osteen doesn’t even know how
to say the word. If we don’t talk about it, if we ignore it, it must not exist,
right?
Why do we allow this to happen? Here is where the second
pull quote becomes relevant. It is from CS Lewis. “We are like ignorant
children who go on making mud pies in a slum because we can’t imagine God’s
offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. We settle for so
little.” Some deny that God’s ways are best for us. Others choose to ignore
what God says. Either way, we do so at our peril. And the church is complicit
in this situation. We focus on addition. The question is always, “Have you
found Christ?” We never ask, “Have you repented of those willful things in your
life God speaks against?” We have tried to have one without the other and then
cannot understand why the church is ineffective and docile. This is becoming
harder as the church itself allows its leaders to do and say all kinds of
ridiculous things. Here is a very brief sample. The so-called bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC said: “if someone were to discover a tomb
with Jesus remains in it the entire enterprise would not come crashing down.”
(Marianne Budde) Or this jewel from the former archbishop of South Africa Desmond
Tutu: “If God disagrees with me about the sinfulness of homosexual behavior,
I’m prepared to spend eternity without Him, because Satan would be the
preferable alternative.” As I recollect God has not given us ten suggestions. I
have not read in God’s Word God saying, “I think maybe” or, “if you want to.” If
he did he would not be God.
It is at this point that I find GK Chesterton’s comments so
insightful: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it
has been found difficult and left untried." I think I have heard the Great
Physician lately calling to me, “STOP! THAT WILL KILL YOU!” I feel him nudging
me and encouraging me to follow the warning labels all around. I was never good
at math. I never cared what “X” equaled. But this is simple math. And I love
simple: KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid! I have the addition. Praise God for that.
I need the subtraction. I need to take away the stuff in my life that hinders
my relationship with God. I need to get out of the slums and get to the
seashore. Only God can do that through simple math and our reading and
following the warning labels. Make 2014 the year of simple math. God will show
you how.
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