When Does Life Begin?

Rick Warren recently interviewed both John McCain and Barak Obama.  Both men seemed well prepared and articulate.  In the interview Rick asked both a question about abortion.  When does a person warrant human rights?  John McCain’s answer of “from conception” was firm and decisive.  Barak Obama took a more philosophical approach and claimed a higher authority, a “higher pay grade”, was better qualified to make such a determination.  I will let you decide which candidate gave a better answer.  I have my opinion but want to turn your thoughts in a different direction.

When does a person warrant human rights?  If I might slant the question in a different direction, let me ask when life begins.   Let me turn your thoughts to John 17:3 and suggest true life for humanity begins the moment we come to know God through His Son Jesus Christ.  We might call that moment conversion.  Prior to that moment I am said to be lost in my sin, condemned to death and eternal separation from God.  That is certainly not life as I want to define it, know it, or desire it. 

Jesus saw and understood life to be more than biological existence.  He came to bring us life in all its fullness (John 10:10).  He talked about the joy of salvation, not merely the reality of existence.  He brought hope and light into a world of despair and darkness.  He not only raised the physically dead such as Lazarus, but made “new creatures” (2 Cor. 5:17) out of a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4) and a thief on the cross (Luke 23:43).  He gave them life beyond biology, beyond human understanding, but not beyond human faith and hope.

When does life begin?  At conception?  At birth?  I will stake my claim that life begins when I am born (John 3) again into the Kingdom of God, a child of God.  Anything else, anything outside this is not life as God understands it or as I desire it.

A Slave’s Spirit

I recently returned from a Caribbean cruise.  While on a shore excursion in Ocho Rios, Jamaica I floated down the Martha Rae river.  The raft was made of bamboo and our guide was named James.  James is descended from Africans who were enslaved and transported to Jamaica in order to harvest sugar cane.  He shared the story of his family with my wife and myself while we floated through the paradise that is Jamaica.

As a great guide, James left wonderful moments of silence for Lyn and I to enjoy the beauty around us.  While not engaging us in conversation, I noticed he very quietly sang.  The songs he sang were Christian hymns composed by his ancestors during their days in slavery.  I was amazed to discover these hymns were not filled with despair, doubts, questions, or anxiety.  Rather they were filled with praise and hope. 

Enslaved and transported thousands of miles away from home and family, these new converts to Christianity sang their praises to their Savior.  Jesus Christ was with them in the sugar fields.  He was with them in oppression and violence.  He was with them in the horror that was slavery.  More importantly, they praised Him for the hope of a better life with Him to come. 

It forced me to question what hymns I might have written under similar circumstances.  It forced me to think of my reaction to difficult or painful times.  Was it praise that passed my lips or was it complaint?  Was I looking upward and forward and downward?  How could people living such lives be filled with such hope?  Certainly God was within them.  Certainly God was strengthening and sustaining them.  Was He not with me?  Does He not strengthen and sustain me?

I learned (or perhaps, better, remembered) something that day on the Martha Rae River.  Hope is not affected by the circumstances of life.  It is, rather, grounded in the unchangeable grace of Jesus Christ.  I hope to sing a better song as I journey down the river of life.  Anybody want to join my choir?

Poverty With A View

A great friend of mine, Kent Maxson, is a song writer.  His gift has been recognized within his professional circles, as well as the common man’s heart.  His words touch our souls in ways that only music can.  He spoke a phrase in one of our many conversations that has stuck with me ever since.  That phrase was “poverty with a view.”

I wonder if that phrase, “poverty with a view”, isn’t an illustration of the Christian life here on earth.  Compared to what God offers us in the life after our physical death, this current existence is poverty….with a faith-filled view of a wonderful future.

Those in heaven are said to be “before the throne of God, serving Him night and day.  They will never again experience hunger, thirst, the beating sun, or scorching heat.  They have Jesus as their shepherd, who leads them to springs of living water.  God wipes away every tear from their eyes.”  (Rev. 7)  What a powerful and beautiful description of what awaits those who trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.  This life pales in comparison. 

They live in God’s loving and protective presence.  We live surrounded by dangerous and evil people who threaten our loved ones through crime, war, and terror. 

They have all their physical needs met fulfilled.  They are satisfied.  We live amidst hunger, homelessness, disease, and craving. 

They are led to living water that quenches thirst for all time, that springs up to eternal life.  (John 4)  We live under the constant reality and threat of death.

They have every tear shed from grief, loss, pain, disappointment, shame, fear, anger, or despair wiped away.  Such emotional realities will not exist.  They are gone forever.  We….well perhaps enough said.

This current life seems so impoverished compared to what awaits me.  Paul expresses these same thoughts in Philippians 1:20-26.  Here and now we live by faith.  Faith that this current poverty will be replaced by riches beyond imagination.  So we walk through this poverty, believing and trusting in the promise of what we view only through faith.

If the poverty overwhelms you at times.  Look up.  Capture a view of what He promises.  Your pace will pick up.  Your heart will be lifted up.  You will find strength for the journey.

Crock pot God in a Microwave World

I was listening to a David Ramsey video on financial planning.  He talked about how his program would never satisfy those who want a microwavable answer to a crockpot problem.  We want speed.  We lack patience.  Now is acceptable.  Later is not.

My personal experience with God leads me to view Him as a crockpot God in a microwave world.  Day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year He works in my life to fashion me more and more like His Son Jesus Christ.  Few things seem to come easily or quickly to me.  Perhaps I am dull and slow.  Perhaps I am unique in this.  Perhaps I am not.  You judge for yourself. 

God waited 120 years after announcing the flood to Noah before sending rain.  Moses tended sheep in the wilderness for 40 years while God prepared him to be the Great Deliverer.  Israel wondered 40 years in the wilderness while God raised a new generation faithful enough to enter the Promised Land.  Jesus has now waited almost 2000 years to return in order that the Gospel might be preached to more and more people.  The Kingdom of God might be refined by fire but it seems more like a crock pot than a microwave…slow cooking takes that which is tough and difficult and makes it tender and tasty.

Fast, quick, and now may fill my mind, my heart, and my prayers.  Slow, steady, and lasting seem to fit God.  God give me patience.  God give me perspective for I live in a microwave world….and yet I seek to love, serve, and trust in a crock pot God.

Epidemic of Kindness

Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book, The Tipping Point, “epidemics are a function of the people who transmit infectious agents, the infectious agent itself, and the environment in which the infectious agent is operating.  And when an epidemic tips, when it is jolted out of equilibrium, it tips because something has happened, some change has occurred in one (or two or three) of those areas.”  (p.19)

Kindness may not seem like an appropriate topic to discuss in connection with the term “epidemic”.  Epidemics are usually associated with contagious diseases.  Let me suggest we view kindness as something contagious.  Whenever you are the recipient of an act of kindness you are automatically inclined to duplicate it.  Kindness seems to breed kindness.  It is contagious.

So how do we create a kindness epidemic?  Gladwell’s suggests the three key ingredients to an epidemic are the contagion – in this case kindness; the people who transmit it – in this case you and me; and the environment in which it exists – in this case your world and mine.  My simple mind tells me I can definitely play a part in the “transmission” element.  But can one person stimulate an epidemic?  If something changes in me Gladwell suggests that it is possible.  It would be much easier,however, if you joined me.

Gladwell’s book is filled with illustrations of how a very few people created an epidemic of one sort or another.  Little things, few people, can make all the difference he believes.  Do we believe the same?

What a different world this would be if an epidemic of kindness broke out.  I have twice challenged my congregation to consider MADness.  Making A Difference in the life of someone.  Maybe we cannot be everything to everyone.  Today we could be something to someone.

I will do my part.  Care to join me?

A Culture of Fear

I recently attended a conference where the speaker identified our current culture as a “Culture of Fear”.  He maintained fear is an act of worship.  We give power and/or authority to that which we fear.  People are searching for security.  They want to feel safe and be safe.  Without that sense of security they empower what they fear.  Terrorist hold sway over our way of life.  The economy creates a gnawing sense of anxiety.  Nature is beyond our control and cruel.  People cannot be depended upon as reliable.  What are we to do? 

Terrorism is effective only if we fear.  In a year of political campaigning we will hear much about terrorism and its threat.  How can we be safe?  Where can we be safe?  Proposed answers to these questions will motivate voters.

Gasoline prices continue to rise and so do the other staples of life.  Our politicians will tell us who to blame for this.  They will propose ideas on how to reverse this.  They will tap into our fears of economic instability.  They will promise us answers.  We will believe almost anything they tell us if it will calm our fears…even temporarily.

The forces of nature have recently demonstrated their power over human life in Myanmar and China.  We fear what we cannot control.  Nature is clearly beyond our control.  What will happen next? Where will it happen?  Who can keep us safe?

Divorce, domestic violence, abuse, indifference to suffering, isolation, and selfishness are growing realities in our culture.  These and other painful realities remind us that our relationships are far more fragile than we would like to admit.  Those who are so essential to our safety and happiness may turn and hurt us, leave us, or grow distant and detached.  How can we prevent this?  How can we ensure stability?  Our fear merely accelerates our relational failure as we mistakenly feel the need to use people to fill our needs while we can, rather than love them and seek their fulfillment.

Fear motivates or paralyzes us.  We worship what we fear or that which we believe can conquer what we fear.  Throughout the Scripture God calls us to action…not paralysis.  He empowers us by committing to go with us.  We are not alone.  Therefore, we are not powerless.  God’s power is greater than anything we fear and God’s love motivates Him to use that power on our behalf.  Do we believe that?

If we believe God to be with us, if we believe He has the power to defend and deliver us, then why are a culture of fear?  Why aren’t we a culture of faith?

End of an Era?

A wise oil minister from Saudi Arabia once advised a gathering of OPEC ministers to learn the lessons of history.  He commented that the Stone Age did not come to an end for lack of stone.  Instead man discovered the ability to manufacture and manipulate metal.  The Iron Age did not come to end for lack of iron ore.  Instead Man discovered how to manufacture steel.  He cautioned the Oil Age will not come to an end for lack of oil.  Instead rising prices will force global economies to search for alternative fuels and resources.  Today’s fuel price crisis appears to make this observation quite prophetic.

Many have referred to the current era as the Christian Era.  Christianity has been a major force in shaping human history in this era.  Will this influence, this era, come to an end due to a lack of Christians?  Will this influence, this era, come to an end because humanity finds a better answer, a greater influence, a more satisfying philosophy?  I understand from Scripture that there will not be a “lack of Christians” prior to Christ’s return.  The Christian Era will not end due to a lack of Christians.  Will humanity find a “better answer”?  I do not believe a better answer can be found.  So I profoundly answer: NO!

Will the Christian Era end?  Possibly, yes it might.  Why?  I believe our influence is waning because we are assimilating into the world’s culture.  While we have historically been “in” the world, we are called by Christ (John 17) not to be “of” the world.  Instead we are to be sanctified (set apart, made different or unique from the world) by the Word of God.  Our effort to influence or save a world has led us to become too worldly.  If what we offer the world through Christ appears to be so similar to what they know and experience already, why change?  Why listen?  Why be influenced?  If our message seems to create so little “difference” in our lives from theirs, why bother?

What is necessary is for the Church to repent of its worldliness and return to the Word for  sanctification.  I am not arguing for a return to the practices or forms of an earlier time in the Church.  I am arguing for spiritual maturity and holiness (the root of the Hebrew word is to be separate or unique).  We can impact the culture, reach the culture, and influence the culture without joining the culture’s values or being seduced to its sinfulness.  Christians need to become Biblical again.  If the truth sets men free from bondage, we must remember Jesus words, “Thy Word is Truth”.  John 17:17.

Food Crisis

The United Nations and other global organizations are declaring a world-wide food crisis.  Food seems in short supply and prices are rising beyond the reach of nations and peoples.  How can this be?  Do we fail to grow enough food to feed today’s population?  Is it a distribution issue?  Is this the result of political manipulation or exploitation?  Is this an issue of the “haves” unwilling to share with the “have-nots”?

I do not pretend to be sufficiently informed or educated to answer all these questions.  Again, I fall back on my own personal field of “expertise” and search my Bible.  Revelation 6:5-6 speaks of economic hardship resulting in famine.  Jesus warns us that the interplay between money and food will result in grave hardship in each generation.  And yet we must ask ourselves, if Jesus warns us of such consequences, then why aren’t we prepared to prevent them?  Why don’t we focus global attention on them and combat them effectively?

The answer to these questions is painfully obvious to me.  A single word answers them both:  sin.  Sin turns our hearts towards self.  What serves me, benefits me, comforts me, or satisfies me is the one true agenda of my life.  We don’t like to admit it.  We deny it.  We claim otherwise in the religious moments and circumstances of our lives.  But our actions speak louder than our words, confessions, and denials. 

I do not believe there is a shortage of food.  There is plenty of productive ground in America laying fallow.  Price controls, politics, economics, racism, religion, etc. all complicate a desperate situation.  There is no shortage of opportunity to meet this need.  However, there is an over abundance of sin in our world.  So what can we do?

To feed a world we need to change hearts.  Only Jesus Christ can change hearts.  David cries out in Psalm 51 for God to create a new heart within him.  A Christ-like heart will not be swayed nor deterred by personal economics, prejudices, religious differences, or any other obstacle.  Faithfulness, love for God and love for neighbor, compel the believer to act.  So, the answer to a global food crisis is not the United Nations, the United States, or any other man-made organization.  It is rather an organism named the Body of Christ, called and empowered to win a world by changing one heart at a time.  It is time for the Church of Jesus Christ to get to work…feed a world…save a world.

Race and Religion

Recent events in this year’s political primary season have forced each of us to examine ourselves for blatant or latent racism in our hearts and lives.  The fact that the precipitating event centered around religion and its appropriate or inappropriate expression is interesting.

John 3:16 is perhaps the best know verse of the New Testament.  God loves the world.  He does not love merely some of the world, i.e. some of us.  He loves the world, i.e. all of us.  Luke 10’s Parable of the Good Samaritan clearly challenges the Jewish people of the First Century to examine and repent of their racist views of Samaritans.  Paul’s comments in Galatians 3:26-29 remind every believer of the universality of God’s grace and the inclusive nature of God’s Kingdom.

Clearly racism, prejudice, and bigotry have no place in the heart of a Christian.  The truth of Romans 3:22b-23 exposes that such sinfulness still remains a plague on humanity on this side of the grave.  We are indeed saved only by God’s incredible grace manifested through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But recent events also cause me to wonder if the application of forgiveness and grace to others has disappeared.   Jesus taught us to pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Matthew 6 is another clear expression of Jesus’ desire for His followers to develop a heart of grace and forgiveness similar to His own.  The comments of Rev. Wright seem to be missing this element.  I have not heard years of his sermons to be able to be able to accurately determine the scope of his ministry.  But every preacher must guard carefully each word that he preaches.  A long history of racism in America demonstrates the sinfulness of her people.  Christians must lead the way to reconciliation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Neither condemnation nor grudge bearing are the way of Christ.  Let us each pause and ask ourselves if we are promoting Christianity or demoting it in the eyes of our Lord.  Whose heart beats within our church and our individual lives?

Concerned About Congregational Health and Growth?

I have begun a new blog “sundaywiththeinsane.wordpress.com” in order to share my insights and experience with all about the spiritual illnesses that inflict the local congregation and how to reverse them.  Why not check it out?