1 out of 100 Americans...

When you hear the phrase, "1 out of 100 Americans," what do you expect to hear next? Well I heard a report today that used that figure and it didn't have anything to do with toothpaste, owning pets, getting on the Internet, or anything like that. The report I heard was, "1 out of 100 Americans are now in prison." I don't know where the figure came from--it was on a Sports Talk Radio Station, of all things--but let's assume for the sake of discussion that they reported it accurately. What does that say about our nation? The USA was known as a "Christian Nation" (whatever that means) at one time. We have prided ourselves on the principles of "truth, justice, and the American way." How could we have reached a point where 1% of our nation's population is behind bars?

I have a feeling it has a lot to do with our mindset toward autority. For many years now, children have been taught in many public school systems that they are the ultimate judge of their own morality. The concept of an absolute standard of right and wrong has been discarded from many people's thinking. What else can this kind of thinking lead to, but for millions of people to live their lives in disregard of the system of authority that is in place in this nation. In ancient Israel, there was a similar problem. "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). It is for this reason that many have called the period in Israel's history, which is chronicled in the book of Judges, "The Dark Ages of Israel." Over and over those people repeated a cycle of rebellion, oppression, and deliverance.

God has warned us about such thinking. Whenever human beings cast off that standard of authority that governs us all, they set themselves up for destruction. Divine wisdom declares: "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Human beings are incapable of establishing a moral system for themselves. Jeremiah said, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).

It is a shame if it's true that 1 out of 100 Americans are now in prison. Let's face it, it is a shame that even 1 person is in prison. But until people realize the need to acknowledge that there is a standard of authority to govern us all, and that God is the One who has that authority, the problem will never be solved. Increasing prison populations is only one symptom of the real problem. People's attitudes and actions in daily life and interaction with their fellow man reveal that the problem is much larger. We need to turn people back to the divine standard of God's authority.

No More Crunch Berries

I love Crunch Berries Cereal. I know, 43-year old men are supposed to eat things like All Bran or Shredded Wheat; but what can I say? Crunch Berries have been my favorite since I was a kid. So this morning I went to the pantry, saw the familiar yellow box, and pulled it off the shelf to fix a bowl of that sweet, crunchy goodness for breakfast. But when I opened the box and looked in the bag, all I found was about 7 pieces of cereal and a handful of crumbs. I have an idea one of my boys has some explaining to do. Anyway, that empty cereal box made me think about a couple of things.

First, the box promised something it was unable to deliver. When I saw the box on the shelf, I believed there was cereal inside; but there was no cereal. How often does Satan do this to us? He shows us things that offer what we greatly desire; but when we take his offer we find that there was nothing but an empty box. He offered Eve the ability to be like God (Genesis 3:4-5); but taking Satan's offer did not make her like God. Instead it drove her from the presence of God. I wonder what Judas expected to get from his deal to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver? When he took the offer, he didn't get what he bargained for. He regretted what he had done, tried to give the money back, and then committed suicide (Matthew 27:3-5).

God offers to bless us when we live for Him. If we seek Him first, He will supply all we need (Matthew 6:33). In Christ, He will bless us with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). God's offers are reliable. Trust in the Lord and follow His Word and you won't come away empty handed.

Second, that box of cereal had supplied what I wanted for a time; it just ran out. Here again we see a parallel to what Satan does to us. Sin is pleasurable; but that pleasure from sin is limited. "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin" (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV). Sin's pleasures are fleeting and temporary. They will end at some point.

The blessings of following God have no end. Paul said that God has "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). The blessings He gives us in Christ are from "the heavenly places." I like to think of that as God's heavenly storehouse. Our eternal God has an infinite storehouse of blessings to shower upon the faithful. We will never find a time when we go to God for blessings and find that He has run out. Not only is the supply unlimited, but the blessings themselves last beyond this life. Paul pointed out the eternal nature of our blessings in Christ:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

So put your trust in the Lord and follow His Word. His blessings will never disappoint you and they will never run out. Oh, and when the cereal box is empty, throw it away; don't put it back in the pantry!

A Good Person? Really??

I had only seen a few minutes of the show before, and since Fox hyped it so much, I decided to watch "Moment of Truth" last night. This game show challenges its contestants to tell the truth about potentially embarrassing personal questions. As I understand it, before the game section of the show goes on air, they hook up the contestant to a polygraph machine and ask them a lot of questions, then record the results. On the air, the host then asks the contestant a series of 21 increasingly difficult questions that were selected from that group. On stage with the contestant they have friends and family members. To win the big money ($500,000), the contestant must answer all of the questions truthfully, as determined by the prior polygraph test. At any point in the game, the contestant may opt out and keep the money they have won up to that point; but if they ever give a "false" answer, they go home with nothing.

So last night's episode was touted as the one that wasn't supposed to air. The show's host appeared on stage alone to give a disclaimer about the episode before they aired it. If he had his way, they would not have shown the episode, he told us. The contestant was a woman who had been married for a couple of years. Her husband, parents, and brother and sister were on the stage with her.

In the course of the game, she answered truthfully that she had been fired from a previous job for stealing money. This was something she claimed to have dealt with and when asked whether she would steal again, if she knew she would not get caught, the polygraph said she answered truthfully that she would not. At another point she admitted that she had removed her wedding ring in order to appear unmarried when she was out with her friends.

Then came the questions about her relationship with her husband. I don't recall the order of these questions, but one question was whether she thought she might have been in love with another man on her wedding day. To her husband's surprise, she answered, "yes." The question they hyped so much on the commercials came from a surprise guest: her ex-boyfriend. He asked her, "If I wanted to get back together with you, would you leave your husband?" The woman looked terrified. The host looked to her husband and asked whether he wanted to use the one opportunity the family is given to avoid the current question. When he said he did not, the sister pushed the button to move things on to the next question. The sister said nobody needed to hear that answer. As the contestant made her way toward more and more prize money, the question came out, "Since you have been married, have you had sexual realtions with someone other than your husband." She admitted that she had and her husband looked devastated.

At several points in the show, the host nearly pleaded with the woman to stop and take the money. But she kept saying she wanted to continue and get the truth out. When he asked the husband, he said that she couldn't tell him anything worse at this point, so she might as well keep going. If I remember correctly, the question she had to answer to move up to $200,000 in prize money was, "Do you think you are a good person?" She said, "Yes." Her reasoning for her answer was that she had made a lot of changes for the better and she thought she was a good person. Really? You've admitted that you were in love with another man when you married your husband. You've admitted that you have pretended not to be married while out with your friends. You've admitted that you've been unfaithful to your husband. And at least your sister was afraid to hear your answer about whether you'd leave your husband to get back together with your ex-boyfriend. And you think you are a good person?

I find it interesting that the Bible does not very often call anyone a good person. It says that Joseph of Arimathea was a good man (Luke 23:50), and it says the same thing about Barnabas (Acts 11:22-24). But other than that, when it comes to saying specifically, "'so and so' is a good person," you don't really find it. But in our world today, it's easy to call someone a good person, regardless of what kind of life they live. Goodness must be judged according to the absolute standard of goodness: God. When the rich young ruler called Jesus, "Good teacher," Jesus said, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God" (Matthew 19:17). How can anyone who lives contrary to God's standard of goodness be considered a good person?

We can be good people. We ought to strive to be good people. In fact, one of the qualities Paul used to define the "fruit of the Spirit" is "goodness" (Galatians 5:22). But we don't set the standard for our goodness. We can't compare ourselves with others around us and say, "Since I'm better than those people I must be a good person." We can't say, "Since this group of people like me and support me I must be a good person." Goodness begins in the heart and is demonstrated in actions. Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things" (Matthew 12:35). When we learn to love the truth of God's Word, allow it to define the condition of our hearts, and live sincerely according to what it says, then we are good people.

So what happened with the woman on TV? She stood to win $200,000 for saying she thought she was a good person. Apparently, she couldn't even fool herself. The polygraph said her answer was "false." It seems that no matter how much she wanted to believe she was a good person, deep down inside she knew the truth.

Toothaches and Used Cars

Saturday night my wife came down with a terrible toothache. She's had lots of problems with her teeth, but this one is one of the worst she's had. She couldn't go to church Sunday morning and then she wished she hadn't gone Sunday night. She didn't get much sleep last night because she couldn't get any relief from the pain. She goes to the dentist at 2:00 this afternoon.

Last night my second son, Justin, called, asking if I could come and jumpstart his car. Well, it wasn't his battery. I guess it's either his starter or the solenoid. For all I know about cars, it could be anything.

"When it rains, it pours," isn't that what they say?

At times like this, when life's troubles seem to be ganging up on us I try to think about the fact that this world is only temporary. Paul made a marvelous statement about these things:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

If we keep our focus on things tied to this world we will miss out on the things of the life to come. What a great loss! This world is full of trouble. Physical life is burdened with sickness, injury, and all other kinds of problems. But the Lord has promised us that there is more to our existence than what takes place between the time we're born and the time we die. When this life is over we can look forward to an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away (1 Peter 1:3). The Lord has promised that death, pain, and sorrow will be removed in that home that waits for us in heaven (Revelation 21:4).

The more problems life throws our way, the more it makes us long to go home to heaven.

Living Water

The Accenture Match Play Championship is being played on a golf course outside of Tucson, Arizona. Like all the golf courses on the PGA Tour, it boasts luxurious green grass. But wait a minute, this is the middle of the desert! Overhead camera shots from the blimp show that when you step off the greens and fairways you're in rocky, sandy, desolate territory that should never be able to support the growth of thick, green grass. How do they do it? Irrigation, of course. Every day, sprinkler systems provide life-giving water to the golf couse. Without it, the grass would quickly wither and die.

That started me thinking. Christians are a lot like that golf course. We live in a world that cannot support spiritual life. Yet here we are: thriving and growing and enjoying the rich spiritual blessings from God's heavenly storehouse. How can that be? Only through the provision of Jesus can we ever hope to have real life in this world. John said of Jesus, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). When Jesus visited the Samaritan woman by Jacob's well, He said, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10). Paul said that the Rock in the wilderness that supplied water for the Israelites was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).

We need to understand how important it is to stay in touch with our Lord. If Jesus is the one who provides living water, then if we disconnect from Him we disconnect from the water of life. It would not take long for us to become like that desert: spiritually dry and desolate. Sow how do we get and keep this supply of living water?

First, we have to get access to the water, to begin with. Baptism puts us into Christ (Romans 6:3-4)--that's when our relationship with Him begins. Then we have to maintain an ongoing relationship with Him. We have to keep on feeding on His Word (1 Peter 2:2). We have to continue in prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We have to stay in touch with His people (Romans 12:4-5). We have to stay faithful to His cause (Revelation 2:10).

If we put Jesus first and live for Him in all things we will enjoy the blessings of that living water. In a dead and desolate world we will thrive and flourish as we enjoy the spiritual blessings only Jesus can offer.

How Do I Love Thee?

Here's something I came across today. Isn't it interesting how you can read a passage a thousand times and then still notice something you've never noticed before? John wrote: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2). We know that children of God are supposed to love one another. Jesus said this would identify us as His disciples (John 13:34-35). But look at what John said. How do we know that we love the children of God? It is by loving God and keeping His commandments. So if I don't keep the commandments of God, I don't love the children of God? That's what John said.

Why is that? God's commandments are for our good; that's why John said they are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). But no one lives an isolated life as a Christian: "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself" (Romans 14:7). What I do affects you. If I live in disregard of the laws and commands of God that will have some kind of effect on you. It may influence you to disobey God, too. It may cause you to become skeptical or cynical toward other Christians. It may cause you to suffer grief and sorrow over my spiritual state. Remember, Paul said a little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6). My disobedience potentially can have devastating effects on you. Is that love? I don't think so.

In the same way, my obedience to God's commands will have a positive effect on others. Isn't it easier to do what's right when others are trying to do right, too? Besides, how many of God's commands directly relate to the well-being of others? Following His will means I will try to restore one who strays away. It means I will seek to build up and encourage. It means I will sacrifice for the good of my brothers and sisters. I really cannot love you without obeying God!

In an age where people want to move away from the strict adherence to God's laws in favor of a more "loving" approach to things, we need to understand what it really means to love. You cannot separate love and obedience to God's laws.

Caution: New Blog Under Construction

What is a blog anyway? Is it just a forum to express yourself? If so, I don't guess my thoughts and opinions are anything all that special and worthy of attention. So I don't plan to make this blog all about me and my thoughts and opinions. I guess there will be times when I'll have the occasional personal offerings, but I want to make this more worthwhile and helpful than that.

The world today is sorely lacking a respect for truth. I want to do what I can to direct people's hearts and minds to the truth. Society does not determine what the truth is. Jesus said the Word of God is truth (John 17:17). Now the common idea today is that everyone is entitled to his own opinion of truth. Yes, everyone is entitled to believe what he wants to believe, but believing what you want to believe does not mean that what you believe is true.

So I'll use this blog to discuss the eternal truth found in the Word of God. Hopefully what I decide to write will be beneficial and relevant. I hope you enjoy reading it from time to time.