Friday, February 22, 2019

Against the Tide

Friday, February 22, 2019
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father, but are from this world.  And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.    1 John 2:15-17(NLT)
It’s amazing how often things just seem to fall in place.  The first thing I do in the morning (after letting the dogs out to prevent a tragedy) is post the day’s devotion, on social media.  I had already begun considering what to write about on this text, and the first item in my Facebook news feed was an article posted by my next-door neighbor, Matt, who is a police sergeant, as well as worship music leader at his church.  The article quoted today’s verses and ended this way:
We must not dilute our message, ignore Bible principles, employ worship music that is dissonant, harsh, sensual and suggestive, or seek to make the church appealing to the appetites of ungodly people, even to reach them. The true gospel will never be attractive to the unsaved in general, nor will it ever make them feel comfortable. Paul declared, “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness….” (1 Corinthians 1:18)[ii]
This is so appropriate for how today’s church attempts to hold the Gospel in worldly hands.  It reminds me of gift-wrapping a Jared’s ring in a garbage bag; the Gospel is too precious to be treated that lightly.  And yet, too many pastors and church leadership buy-into the trap of trying to present the Gospel in inoffensive, bland ways, when Scripture clearly states just the opposite.
The Gospel represents following Christ as swimming against the tide, not cruising down the river the way it wants to take you.  Discipleship is not about ease and getting what you want (as you’re liable to hear when you tune into the Texas smile hour on Sunday mornings).
Have you ever heard this phrase coming out of a parent’s mouth:  I want my kids to have it better than I did?  You may have said that yourself; I did!  But that’s because difficulty is just that…difficult, hard, adversity, struggle.  Any parent in his right mind knows it’s hard to watch your kid suffer.  But, if history is a teacher in any way, we must pay attention to the reality that the struggles of life are the best teachers.  That’s because in adversity we are strengthened.  Cut down a tree
[iii] and look closely at the rings; each one represents a year of growth.  They’re not all the same because the weather conditions, sun, rain, storms, soil, and diseases are so variable.  The hardest woods, used for the best construction and fine furniture, have faced more difficult circumstances than those growing under the best conditions.  Pain in a human life, as C.S. Lewis put it, is God’s megaphone, speaking in the loudest way, the most vitally-important life-changing words to our hearts.  Storms aren’t easy or welcome, but (again with C.S. Lewis), my God how we learn!
John, the beloved disciple, Apostle, and perhaps the closest to Jesus during His earthly ministry, said to be careful about the things that appeal to physical pleasure and pride in possessions or accomplishments; these things are not gifts from the Father in heaven…they’re temptations from the ruler of Hell.
For You Today
It’s hard to do that…push away from the physically-appealing, especially when every corner of this world’s system punches all the right buttons to make the good life of affluence, ease, and coolness seem like the brass ring to be grabbed! 
But this begs the question:  Whom you want to please?  Pleasing self with physical pleasure, possessions, and accomplishments will seem just great…for a while; but the end picture isn’t pretty.  Pleasing God by serving Christ in a surrender of self is what leads to eternity of joy, peace, and fulfillment.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com
[iii] Tree image via Pixabay.com

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