Over the weekend there were three headlines in the news that caught my eye:
1. Tiger Woods: Sorry For Behavior
2. Texas Man, Angry With IRS, Crashes Plane Into Office
3. Lawyer: Prof Accused in Ala Slayings Doesn't Remember Shootings
It goes without saying that all three of these situations are sad and tragic. The lives of many people have been negatively impacted by the actions of these three individuals; some have died, others have had their futures changed drastically in a very short period of time.
But what strikes me most with these unfortunate occurrences is how typical they are of a prevailing theme in our society, namely, choices and actions made without thought of consequences. It seems, in my humble opinion, that our society is afflicted with a cancerous growth which has infected the attitudes and behavior of people from the highest profile politicians to sports heroes to church leaders to teachers, parents and not surprisingly even down to children themselves. This growth has choked off the lifeblood to a vital part of our human person, our conscience. Without this "small voice within", we end up witnessing (and perhaps engaging in) behavior that is self destructive and socially harmful.
We revert to all kinds of excuses and rationale, blaming upbringing, addictions, our educational system (or lack thereof), friends and enemies. Yet, in the end, our choices are our own responsibility, no one else.
The power of our choices and the consequences that they carry with them is infinite in its ramifications. As God tells us through Moses in Deuteronomy: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him" (Deut 30:19-20). All around us, each day in the news headlines, we see examples of people who are making choices that are not life-giving, either to themselves or to those around them. Yet, somehow, in our modern society, we expect to be immune from the consequences of those choices. We believe that we are more enlightened than previous ages and hence free of the limitations and boundaries of human existence. How blind we are.
Lord, protect us from ourselves and our own blindness. Help us to see reality from Your perspective so that we can judge our own choices, actions and behaviors in the light of Your love. Awaken us to the full picture of the responsibility that goes with the powerful gift of making choices.
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
It All Depends...
Last Saturday evening, many of the employees from my place of work gathered at the local bowling alley for a party. It was a good time of fun, food, drink and fellowship as we ate pizza, enjoyed a few beers and laughed together while throwing bowling balls at pins.
One of the things I observed during the bowling was that many of the men rolled the ball as hard as they could, apparently trying to "kill" as many pins as possible. Sometimes it worked, sometimes they found only the gutter.
On the other hand, one of the women simply rolled the ball down the alley at a slow, leisurely pace. It would take a while to reach the pins, but most of the time, when it finally arrived, it was in the right area, and she would get a strike. She had one of the higher scores for the evening.
Yesterday morning on our bible study call, we were reflecting on the topic: "Dependence on God", and especially the verse from Zechariah 4:6, "Not by power, nor by might but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts." How often we depend on our own strength, our own ideas, our own way of doing things, thinking that we know best. God is waiting to take our hand, lead us through the darkness, pain, struggle, difficulty that we find ourselves in. Yet, so often we think that we must do it alone, or that we must prove something using only our own power and might.
It is always amazing to me that each person, each generation seems to operate under the impression that history began at the moment that they set foot upon this earth. Nothing that preceded their birth has any value, and certainly not any wisdom or knowledge from which they could gain insight. As a result, each generation, and even each individual has to relearn the lessons of history, make the same mistakes that others have suffered through.
What we are invited to do through the stories of our ancestors in the faith, both in our own families and in the Scriptures, is to see the pattern that we all go through. We try to live by our own strength, our own plan. Then we stumble, fall on our faces. If we are down low enough, we look up, cry out for help, and then God comes to our aid and lifts us up. We go along for a while, hand in hand with God. Then we think that we can do it on our own again, that we don't need God. So, the cycle begins all over again.
Our greatest sin is not that we do terrible things, like lie, cheat, steal or kill others. Our greatest sin is that we FORGET! We forget that we depend upon God for every breath we take. We forget that without God we can do nothing. We forget all the times that God has been faithful to us. We forget the many occasions when God has saved our hide (literally and figuratively!). We FORGET -- and then we act as though God is not there.
What a wonderful opportunity Lent is to REMEMBER! To remember Who God Is, who I am, and how the two are connected. It's not by my might or my power that I will knock down the pins of life, but by the Spirit of God. What a relief that is. Would that I could remember it always!
One of the things I observed during the bowling was that many of the men rolled the ball as hard as they could, apparently trying to "kill" as many pins as possible. Sometimes it worked, sometimes they found only the gutter.
On the other hand, one of the women simply rolled the ball down the alley at a slow, leisurely pace. It would take a while to reach the pins, but most of the time, when it finally arrived, it was in the right area, and she would get a strike. She had one of the higher scores for the evening.
Yesterday morning on our bible study call, we were reflecting on the topic: "Dependence on God", and especially the verse from Zechariah 4:6, "Not by power, nor by might but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts." How often we depend on our own strength, our own ideas, our own way of doing things, thinking that we know best. God is waiting to take our hand, lead us through the darkness, pain, struggle, difficulty that we find ourselves in. Yet, so often we think that we must do it alone, or that we must prove something using only our own power and might.
It is always amazing to me that each person, each generation seems to operate under the impression that history began at the moment that they set foot upon this earth. Nothing that preceded their birth has any value, and certainly not any wisdom or knowledge from which they could gain insight. As a result, each generation, and even each individual has to relearn the lessons of history, make the same mistakes that others have suffered through.
What we are invited to do through the stories of our ancestors in the faith, both in our own families and in the Scriptures, is to see the pattern that we all go through. We try to live by our own strength, our own plan. Then we stumble, fall on our faces. If we are down low enough, we look up, cry out for help, and then God comes to our aid and lifts us up. We go along for a while, hand in hand with God. Then we think that we can do it on our own again, that we don't need God. So, the cycle begins all over again.
Our greatest sin is not that we do terrible things, like lie, cheat, steal or kill others. Our greatest sin is that we FORGET! We forget that we depend upon God for every breath we take. We forget that without God we can do nothing. We forget all the times that God has been faithful to us. We forget the many occasions when God has saved our hide (literally and figuratively!). We FORGET -- and then we act as though God is not there.
What a wonderful opportunity Lent is to REMEMBER! To remember Who God Is, who I am, and how the two are connected. It's not by my might or my power that I will knock down the pins of life, but by the Spirit of God. What a relief that is. Would that I could remember it always!
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