Wednesday, May 11,
2022
Trending
is an amazing phenomenon. Something happens
in today’s world and the bandwagon gets overloaded in a hurry. The trending of people getting ready to stone
someone is as old as the fourth
chapter of Genesis, when
Cain picked up a big rock to teach his brother, Abel a lesson. That didn’t end well, and it still doesn’t.
Not
all stoning, however, is done with a rock.
What’s been trending since I was barely into my teens is the stoning of
God’s church, and faith in the church’s Founder, Jesus. Now, there are many “reasons” (and some would
say “excuses”) for this falling away from Christian
orthodoxy, which places faith firmly in Holy Scripture, bedrock of which is the
Gospel. But the primary cause for this increase
in faith-downward-trending isn’t
any different than when people picked up the stones that day in Jerusalem’s Temple
to silence the upstart son of a carpenter.
When something is said that rocks the comfort boat, the occupants are
going to toss it overboard.
As a
reply, Jesus challenged their willingness to send him packing from the church
(also not a new occurrence…preachers are very familiar with the exit trending
of both members, under their own power of choice, and the preachers themselves
by committee vote). But the bottom line
of Jesus’ challenge is common sense. If what
he DID matched what He SAID, and what the Scripture RECORDED as God’s Word and way, why the disbelief? You’ve heard it before: If it looks like a
duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…. This passage has a world arriving at the conclusion
that, evidence aside, we’d rather have the comfort level of making our independent
choices, than the uncertainty of following a God of infinite power, Who disturbs
our comfortable nest.
For You Today
It may be easier (for many people) to follow Jesus in theory, rather than to stand with Jesus once the flinging of the rocks commences. Then, it’s a whole lot easier to just go with
what’s trending. But there’s coming a
trend to end all trends…that moment when you face the one who faced the crowds
with rocks in their hands that day in Jerusalem. He’s going to say one of two things in that
moment:
1.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant
2.
Depart from me, I never knew you.
The right choice,
or the wrong rock is in your hand!
[1] Title image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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