Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Sometimes I think that if Christians would spend just fifty percent of the time that we spend extolling the virtues of our church, our denomination, even the version of the Bible that we use, on extolling the merits of the Lord, we wouldn't have to worry about filling our churches or bringing people to salvation. The people would come in droves. Even Gandhi once said, 'I might become a Christian if I ever met one.' Each one of us must fight in very subtle ways the temptation to take what God has given us freely and turning it into our own possession. Mine. Mine. Mine. I did it. I made it. I must. I will.
Why do you think that Jesus included the story of the wealthy farmer in his parables? I'll build bigger barns, I'll..." Jesus says, Oh, no you won't. This night your soul will be required of you. Before we talk about "my testimony", "my witness", "my goals", "my desire", "my anything", we need to consider the consequences. Is that what happened to Lot's wife? Did she turn her back once more to look at "her" city? From Adam and Eve, to Moses and the Egyptian, to David, to the Pharisees, we see the results of what happens whenever we take matters into our own hands.
Thou shalt not steal.
We take what is not ours in such subtle ways. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we operate out of an assumption of scarcity, rather than plenty. God told them that they could have everything in the garden, it was all theirs, except for that which was His and His alone. Everything they could ever want or need was provided. But they wanted what was not theirs. As if they were afraid that God would not provide for them, they had to have the knowledge so that they could take care of themselves in case God forgot about them. Do we as Christians do this today?
Take for example the Christian sales person who works hard to obtain the best territory because it pays the best commission. There may be another person in the company with a larger family, with the need for a larger income. But that doesn't matter. All that is important is that we go for the most, that we take care of ourselves. Surely, if we don't, no one else (does this imply God) will.
As another example, consider the Christian who has spent months witnessing to another person at work to no avail. One day a new person comes to work. They never say anything about being a Christian, but the non-Christian asks them if they know of a good church. They attend the new employee's church and after becoming aware of what was missing in their lives, commit themselves to the Lord. The first Christian, instead of rejoicing that another has found the salvation that God provided through his son Jesus, becomes angry at the interloper for taking his "soul", the one he was going lead to salvation.
It's all so temporal, fleeting. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. The only thing man can claim is mortality, the very thing he wishes to disown. Jesus said "He that loveth his life shall lose it." The apostle Paul said "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth within me." Can this possibly mean that we are to own nothing, not even our own good efforts?
1 comment:
You are a fine writer. I hope you will continue.
I was in your city once to lead an area Presbyterian pastors homiletic workshop--in February. Yes, it was cold, but a warm conference.
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