With this post, I want to go back to basics……..way back.

I have said many times that Christianity is a simple religion. There are basically two rules, two ideas……..two jobs for a Christian.

Love God.

Love your fellow man.

So……….How do I love God?

How do I love my fellow man?

Globally, where does this put me……..as a Christian?

It puts me at the interface between the spiritual world and the temporal world. I am required to look in two directions. I am required to act in two directions. In a way I am required to operate…….to mediate between these two realms. If I do my job well, I draw these two very different worlds closer.

So…… what about these two very different worlds? Right now I am reading Revelation. Needless to say…….this is a tough read. But, Revelation gives us a glimpse at the interface between the spiritual world and the temporal world. A temporal man, John, visits the spiritual world. Revelation is a deeply symbolic book. I will not even try to explain or interpret the things described in it. What I will do is try to extract the main themes. And here they are:

Our temporal world is just that…… temporary. It had a beginning and it will have an end…….both our individual lives and our global corporate world will end. The details are hard to sort out. But we can count on one thing…….the end is going to be ugly.

Our lives in the temporal world are temporary. Our lives will end……..we will die. Our personal temporal world will end……one way or the other.

The spiritual world is permanent. It had no beginning. It will have no end. It is another dimension and we simply cannot clearly see it from where we stand. That does not mean that it is not real.

When we die, our existence in the temporal world will end. At that point we will become permanently and completely a part of the spiritual world……..a world that we cannot clearly see from here.

As human beings, like it or not, we have one foot in each of these worlds. We cannot avoid our relationship, our participation, in either of these worlds. We can ignore the spiritual world……and many of us do. But, that changes nothing. It is still there and we will one day be a part of it……..for better or worse.

We will one day exist in and deal with the spiritual world.

So, as a Christian, how do I operate……at the interface between these two worlds?

This takes me back to the two basic rules. The key to life…….in both of these worlds……… is love.

Love is outward looking. It is an act of giving…… to others. So, we, as Christians, are asked to give to God and to give to our fellow man. But, what can we give to God? I can only think of one thing…….and it happens to be the one thing that God wants the most…….. relationship. What can we give to our fellow man? There are many things both great and small. Of those, considering the eternal consequences, the greatest would probably be God…….a relationship with God.

So, it seems to me, that our calling, as Christians, is to draw our fellow man into relationship with God.

Evangelism is the highest expression of our love……. for both God and our fellow man. If done well, it can draw our temporal and our spiritual worlds closer.

In a word, we were put here……at the interface between God and our fellow man ………. to love.

We were put here to love.

And the greatest act of love is to help others find their way into relationship with God.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John, NIV

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ‘The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus, NIV

 “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Jesus, NIV

I know a girl. She is constantly comparing what she gets to what others get. This comes out as sibling rivalry on steroids. Her most common line is: “it’s not fair!” Oddy, she never seems to use this line when she gets something extra.

She’s a bit misguided……..but the thing that she is crying out for……is justice……and don’t we all want justice? Justice, love, relationship………these are universal. They are “written on our hearts”. I would say that they were put there by our creator.

And so we cry out for Justice. But, the Justice that we seek typically involves either getting something good for ourselves……..or punishing the other guy. In a truly just world, we would receive blessings………..but we would also be punished for our misdeeds. I don’t believe that I have ever heard a prayer that includes this line.

“Father, please give me justice……….punish me for the wrongs that I have done today.”

The fact is that when we cry out for justice, we really don’t want justice at all. What we want is vengeance on the other guy………and a “get out of jail free” card for ourselves.

I once heard a pastor say “Never pray for justice”. And I think he must have been right. Rather than justice, we should be praying for mercy. Justice and mercy are key attributes of God’s character. I think that God is more “tuned in” to mercy than to justice……..at least I hope so. But why?

The movie “The Shack” deals with this. In a pivotal scene, an angel shows a man his son and his daughter. Each child has done something wrong………as have we all. The angel then says to the father something to the effect of……. Today you are God………you get to decide…….send one of them to hell. In a word………administer justice……..to your child whom you love deeply with a parental love……..with a love very much like the love God feels for you. If you are a parent, you know that this brand of love is entirely different from “ordinary” love. The father struggles and finally replies that he can’t send his child to hell…….. he’d rather go himself. God is like that. He loves us so much that he is willing to take our punishment on himself.

As deep as our parental love for our children is…….it is a faint shadow of God’s love for us.

I believe that this movie is the best explanation of the interface between Justice and Mercy that I have ever seen. Watch it.

And there it is……… God’s delimma. God is the ultimate parent. He loves us deeply. Justice requires that he punish us for our sin. His parental love for us says let it go. It’s very hard to have both justice and mercy. He solves this by sending us Jesus. Just like the central character in “The Shack”, God would rather take the punishment himself than send us to hell. This is a truly amazing act of parenting. We need to take it seriously.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Peter, NIV

So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Paul, NIV

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

The two central commands of Christianity. These are what it all boils down to. So far so good. And yet, when push comes to shove, what is love?

We know that love is good. We want to be loved. We know love when we encounter it. We experience joy when we give it to others and when it is given to us.. We want it in our lives and we pursue it.

But…….can we define it…….. accurately describe it? Because if we go on out into the marketplace looking for it, we are going to have a hard time……….if we don’t have a good, solid, accurate vision of what it is.

The truth is that most of us carry around a warm, fuzzy, soft focus notion of love. We stumble into it from time to time. But, we struggle when we try to make it happen. We struggle when we try to build it. Imagine a general contractor who tries to build a house………without a clear vision of what a home is……..what it is constructed with………what its function is.

So………. what is love?

Love is a relationship……. between two or more.

Love is selfless………its focus is outward……on the other guy.

Love is honest, transparent. It tells the truth……it hides nothing.

Love is founded on free will.

Love generates joy…….but not in the normal way. Most of our transactions involve a “quid pro quo”. I give you this…..and you give me something back. Love is different…….it gives with no predetermined repayment. We send it out with no expectation of a “return on our investment”. The best of us radiate love……without any preconditions. Then a miracle happens. The love returns to us……bigger and better than what we sent out……. freely sent to us by another………. someone who is operating on the same set of rules that we use.

This is the relationship that we all want. We see it from time to time in others. I would go so far as to say that this type of love……….is the most desirable thing in the universe.

Love…..freely given……and freely returned……is the most desirable thing in the universe.

And yet…….many of us struggle through our lives without it.

So……..how do we make love happen? How do we create love?

Here’s the good news……..the simple truth is……….that we can make love happen. We solve the “love problem” the same way we solve any other problem. We focus on the part of the problem that we can control. We perform an act of love……we walk up to a wall and toss a handful of love over it…….then we walk away. That’s all. Then we come back later……..and do it again…….and again. Until, one day, the miracle happens, a fistful of love comes back over the wall.

Love is not a “zero sum game”. When we give it away, we don’t have less. The people with the most love in their lives…… paradoxically……..are the people who give the most love away.

Love is written on our hearts.
It was put there by the guy who created us.
He wants us to love because he loves us.
That is the very heart of our relationship with God.

Love……freely given……..and freely returned.

“And, in the end, the love you take…….is equal to the love….. you make”

John Lennon

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

Paul, NIV

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

You are my friends”

Jesus, NIV

Facebook is a mess.

It is full of politically motivated rants.

It is loaded with hate.

It is loaded with lies.

I was about to the point of abandoning it………until I saw a recent post by a woman whom I am proud to say I know.

Here is a synopsis of her post.

Times are hard….they will probably get worse. If you are unemployed and struggling to care for your family, send me a private message with your address. I will drop off a bag of groceries. I won’t knock, I won’t call, I won’t bother you. No one will know and I will pretend that it didn’t happen.

This has to be the best example of working Christianity that I have seen in years.

Christianity is a very simple religion. You can basically cook it down to two commands:

Love God

Love your neighbor

If you are a Christian, these two commands should be at the very top of your “To Do list”……..every day.

I’ll go one step further……..it should be obvious to the people around you that those two commands guide your life.

As a nation, I think I can say that we haven’t been doing a very good job of obeying these two commands lately.

As a nation, we haven’t been very Good Christians

I would encourage you to consider my friend’s post. I would encourage you to do something similar.

In this current pandemic, I can think of no better way to serve God…….I can think of no better way to be his feet on the ground.

“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Luke, NIV

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Paul, NIV

 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Jesus, NIV

Things have been a little quiet since Covid hit. Cindy and I have been watching more TV than is typical. We typically watch news and games shows just before dinner then Op-Ed shows and finally dramas for a few hours.

Last night, the Op-Ed show amounted to an angry talking head who was trying to get me mad at some other angry talking head on “the enemy network”. This was followed by another angry talking head trying to get me mad at politicians in the “enemy party”.

We finally abandoned that network and tuned in a Netflix series that we have been following. Some of them, like “Anne, with an E” have been excellent. The show last night spent its time showing a politician as he struggled over abandoning his principles for political expediency………he does. This was interspersed with multiple gratuitous sexual encounters of every imaginable type…….none of which involved a husband and wife and none of which had anything to do with the plot line of the show.

And this is what TV has become. Ozzie and Harriett are long gone. Today the theme menu is limited to: political manipulation, murder, sex, and “flexible, tolerant, morals” which is to say……no morals at all.

Is it any wonder that our society is decaying? I know…….. you’ve heard all of this before. So have I.

What do do?

We are consumers. The TV pays its way by selling ads. We watch the ads and buy the products. The networks…….every last one of them……..give us either what we want or what they want us to want. And don’t kid yourself, they are extremely skilled at making us want what they want us to want. But, in the final analysis, we are responsible. We are directly responsible for the media that we consume. But, we are indirectly responsible for the rest of it……. the manipulation, sex, murder, gratuitous violence………all of it. If we will watch trash, they will broadcast trash.

So……….what if we stop?

What if we pull the plug on the TV……the internet too. What if, instead, we pull out a good book, sit down with our family and read. Two things happen. The first is immediate and highly effective. We eliminate a source of intellectual poison from our lives. By poison, I mean something that you consume that harms you. The second is much slower and requires a lot of consumers pulling the plug. Ultimately, the networks and the advertisers that support them will change…….maybe just a little bit.

I’m not naive enough to believe that millions of Americans will drag their TV and their laptop out to the curb. But, begining today, I hope that you will join me in asking a simple question when you tune in a show or visit a web site.

“Is this product that I am about to consume……. poison?”

My wife and I own a small farm in Kentucky. I go out there to hunt and fish…….and to just get away. This week I went deer hunting. I was surprised to see about a dozen black buggies within a mile of our farm. An Amish community has been buying up farms and has moved into the neighborhood.

I used to think of the Amish as a quaint anachronism. But, now I’m beginning to understand. The Amish are not totally against technology. But, they are against being connected to the grid, the network. They choose to isolate themselves from the social currents that drive our society……..some would say the social currents that degrade our society. They refuse to consume the poison.

I used to think that they were wrong and modern society was right. After last night………I’m not so sure.

So, I am going to spend a be lot more time with a book and a lot less time with a video screen.

And, I think I’ll make an effort to get to know my new Amish neighbors.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Paul, NIV

After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

James, NIV

My background is science. One of the threads that runs through all of science is the search for truth……..the search for what is, as opposed to what we want. At what I hope is the close of a particularly acrimonious political season, the search for truth really appeals to me. The great truths of science wind up being called laws. They are so central to our world that you know many of them……. even if your background is not in a scientific field. You know the basics of the law of gravity. A dropped slice of pizza always lands gooey side down. The law of inertia is a bit less obvious. An object at rest will stay at rest unless energy is applied and an object in motion will not change its motion unless energy is applied.

So far so good.

Entropy is a bit tougher still. At its core, entropy is the law regulating disorder. The second law of thermodynamics basically says that a system will become less organized, more random, unless energy is applied. Anybody who has raised children has seen the practical application of this law……..in their bedrooms.

In practical terms, the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, the law of disorder, says that you can make hamburger out of a cow………but, it is very hard to make a cow out of hamburger.

As we watch the world around us, we can see the natural growth of entropy, disorder. We apply energy to the system we live in constantly in order to keep entropy, disorder, at bay. The largest and most obvious arena in the fight against entropy is the environment. And we have made a lot of progress. The air is far cleaner today than it was when I was young. We expend a lot of money, energy, to make it so. If we stopped putting energy, in the form of effort, resources, thought, and money into the environment, air quality, water quality, and many other facets of the environment would deteriorate, probably rapidly.

Here is my point. Look back over your life…..at the world we live in. In spite of the energy we apply to the system we live in, during our lifetimes, disorder is growing: climate change, plastic in the ocean, contamination of our water supply, extinctions, and many more.

So far so good.

But, now, consider the secular humanist, scientific, creation story.

A giant explosion, a cloud of subatomic particples, the particles assemble themselves into atoms, the atoms assemble themselves into molecules, the molecules assemble themselves into cells, the cells become alive, they reproduce, they evolve into every living thing on earth, including Angelina Jolie. All of this occurrs in a closed system without the application of outside energy. All of this occurrs without the intervention of an outside intelligence.

All of this organization……..all of this decrease of entropy……. occurs in blatant violation of the second law of thermodynamics.

Returning to the present, experience tells us that today, the world is becoming more disorganized in spite of the energy we have applied to fight disorder. And yet the secular humanists, the scientists, tell us that this incredible, complex planet and everything on it came about by a string of trillions upon trillions of random, consecutive, cumulative, positively adaptive, interdependent…….. accidents. In practice, the scientists, the secular humanists, throw the second law of thermodynamics out the window. Their justification……..”there was a lot of time for all of the accidents”.

They are wrong. The second law of thermodynamics holds. You cannot use millions of years of time to reverse the second law of thermodynamics………you cannot use time alone to create order out of disorder. You can wait a lifetime, but unless somebody applies energy, and intelligence, to the system………your child’s bedroom is not going to become organized. In your heart, you know this.

To create order out of disorder in a closed system…….you must apply energy and intelligence………from the outside. You can quibble about the details……..but this is a good working definition of a “creator”.

This incredible planet is no accident.

It is the result of the application of energy, energy applied by an intelligent creator.

And he cares deeply.

For you.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John, NIV

“I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

God, NIV

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

God, NIV

Many years ago a rift developed between me and my oldest adult son. We were very different people. We didn’t agree on much of anything. There were many reasons behind it and they really don’t matter at this point. The question of blame really doesn’t matter. We weren’t talking……we rarely met. He was living in an apartment somewhere. I remember one day driving down the street of a nearby town and seeing him walking down the street………on his way to something. I can’t remember if I stopped or not.

But, I hated the distance that had developed between us. I can’t speak for him, but I suspect that it bothered him too. I began looking for some basis to begin building a relationship…….some common ground. I went down the list of my interests. I went down the list of his interests. I literally couldn’t find anything.

Then it hit me. We did have at least one thing in common. We both ate lunch. That was about it.

So, I tracked him down. This was probably before cell phones……at least before he had one. The question was simple.

“Can I buy you lunch?”

It turned out to be cheese conies at a local chili joint. We sat. We ate. We made small talk. I probably dropped him off somewhere afterwards. It wasn’t a big thing……..and yet it was. We began meeting for lunch from time to time…….and that went on for the few remaining years of his life.

I’d like to tell you that we became close……that our opinions and our interests aligned. That we became pals. That we lived happily ever after.

It didn’t turn out that way.

But we did meet for lunch. We talked. We laughed. We told stories. We repaired some of the damage.

And that, in the final analysis, has been extremely valuable.

Maybe you don’t have a relationship like this one. If so, you are blessed. Enjoy it. But if you do, consider asking the simple question.

“Can I buy you lunch?”

The other guy will probably be confused. He may be angry. He could even lash out or just hang up. But, he just might surprise you. And, if he does surprise you, you will have an opportunity to repair a relationship.

Use it wisely.

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James, NIV

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

Paul, NIV

I keep a painting of Jesus in my woodshop. It was painted by a young girl who had a vision. It is a painting of a kind and friendly guy……a guy who taught us to love each other and to avoid judging each other…….to take care of each other…….even those who harm us. This is the Jesus who loved children. This kind gentle person is the Jesus whom we all know………my friend. This is a painting of the Jesus who suffered and died to save me. It is hard for me to wrap my brain around this Jesus…….but I try.

And I am grateful.

But, there is another face of Jesus…….one that we rarely think about. This other face of Jesus is even harder to understand……so hard that we just don’t give him much thought.

What about Jesus…….. before Bethlehem…..before the manger…..before the shepherds and wise men? What about Jesus during the old testament? What about Jesus during the seven days of creation?

What about Jesus BEFORE creation?

He was there……hard at work……all along…….. sometimes as one face of the Trinity……. sometimes by himself. When we think of Jesus, we tend to see the guy on the wall of my shop…….a gentle “Casper Milquetoast” sort of guy. But, he is also the creator. He is the power that brought everything into being. He was behind creation, the flood, the enslavement of Israel, the exodus, the return to the promised land, the babylonian exile.

He is behind the modern state of Israel.

Here is my point. Jesus knew all of this. Jesus knew his power. Jesus knew it all……..past, present, and future. He knew it as a child, as a son, as an apprentice woodworker, and as an itenerant preacher.

He knew all of this as he hung on the cross.

More importantly……..he knew his power. The Jesus who created everything could have come down from the cross, destroyed everything, avenged himself, and gone on about his business…….leaving mankind, and the entire universe, in the dust….. literally.

Jesus is kind, gentle, patient, and forgiving.

But, he is also powerful.

And, ultimately, he is in charge.

Ultimately, he will have his way.

Ultimately, he will get what he wants…….but, just exactly what is that?

Jesus wants relationship…….with me……. with you.

Which brings me back to the picture of the guy on the wall of my shop……my friend……..who just happened to create the universe.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John, NIV

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John, NIV

I have a prayer list. I keep it on my cell phone. It’s a couple of pages long. I try to go through it every day………though some days I miss. This list is a bunch of requests. It is separate from my prayers of praise and thanks. It amounts to a long list of things that a long list of people need. There are people on the list who are family and friends. There are people on it who know somebody that I know. There are also people on it that I don’t even recognize……….I can’t recall how they got there. Many of these are people are friends of friends of friends.

I get up early and I pray for these people. And yet, sometimes, it gets a little mechanical. I wonder…….am I just reading a list? Sometimes it almost feels like work……..like a chore. Reading the Bible is easy. Prayers of praise are easy. Going down a long list of needs is harder.

And yet, the list is important. Before I even open my mouth, God knows every single item on my prayer list. I’m not telling him anything new…….I’m not telling him anything that he doesn’t already know. I’m not asking him for anything that he doesn’t care deeply about. I am not bringing God up to speed on conditions in his creation.

So……..what in the world am I doing?

The prayer list has two purposes.

The first is that it reminds me that I am my brother’s keeper. I am required to care for and look after my fellow man. I am required to care for those who care for me. But……..I am also required to care for those who despise me……..those who hurt me. And this is not easy. This is something that I have to be reminded of……..every day.

The second purpose is a little harder to get a fix on. If my prayer list is not uploading data to God……..then what am I communicating when I work my way through it?

I need to go back in my life to explain this. Our relationship with our parents is a reflection of our relationship with God. Often, to understand God, we can get a clue by understanding our relationship with our parents. My father died when I was in high school. My most cherished memory of my Dad was one night, standing by the washing machine in the basement. We talked……..it was nothing important…….small talk. We didn’t transmit any valuable information. What we were doing was sharing time. We were giving each other a little bit of ourselves……..bonding. And that is the second reason for the prayer list. It is a chance to spend time with your father……to share with him the things that are important to you………to bond.

I encourage you to keep a prayer list.

I encourage you to spend time sharing it with God…….every day.

If it seems a bit stale……don’t worry.

If you forget somebody……don’t sweat it.

God already knows every single item on your list.

He just wants to hear from you.

He just wants you to share a little bit of yourself with him.

It’s as close to a hug as you can get.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 

God, NIV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Paul, NIV

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.

David, NIV

At a recent Bible study, we were asked, “Why does God use broken people?” This question included a list of flawed people whom God used to accomplish his goals.

Moses, a poor speaker.
David, a murderer and adulterer.
Jacob, a liar.
Paul, one of the greatest persecutors of Christians.
Peter, who denied Christ three times.

The list goes on.

Finally I realized…….that the problem here lies in how we define “broken people”. Generally speaking, we define “broken people” as people who are more broken than we are…….people who are broken in ways that we find more offensive than the ways we are broken.

It occurred to me……..that God must use broken people to do his work……… because he has no choice. We are all broken. Intellectually, we have no problem with this idea.

But, in concrete terms…….how are we broken?

How am I broken?

I’d like to focus for a minute on our greatest individual failure…….the most glaring example of our individual brokenness. I’m challenging you to search out your own personal failure…… I’m challenging you to forget about the other guy’s brokenness and to take a good hard look at the biggest impediment standing between you and God.

This may not be much fun.

If you are a secular humanist……..an atheist…….then your greatest failure is your denial of God.

If you identify as a Christian……..but you keep your faith locked up in a box except for an hour every Sunday…….the rest of the week, you ignore God’s commands and pursue your appetites…….then your greatest failure is that you put your appetites ahead of God. This category may very well include the majority of Christians. Please don’t misunderstand me. The people in this category are Christians……..they are just broken……..just like the rest of us.

If you are a sincere, committed follower of God……of Christ, then it is very likely that your greatest failure is self righteousness. This category includes many if not most of the remaining Christians. How does this work?

We live our lives on a spectrum of “goodness”.

Satan…..really bad people……bad people……me…….good people……really good people…… God.

When we assess goodness, we almost always look at the people downhill from us on the spectrum. We focus on the flawed politician from the “other party”. We dissect his or her failures. We rarely look uphill…….at the “Mother Teresas” of the world. We do this, because this allows us to pontificate on how the “bad” people need to change. Looking uphill forces us to consider how we need to change.

And that is the lesson……..the challenge.

We need to spend our time working on our own brokenness. Because our only chance to grow as a person in general………and as a Christian in particular……..comes from whittling away at our own failures. Raging against the failures of others is great fun……but it is completely futile.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus, NIV

Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

Paul, NIV