A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

 1. One of the preachers on your team returns home having been beaten.

2. Someone asks if they can borrow a room in your home to have a Bible study.

3. A village nearby doesn’t have any water and there is a breakout of severe diarrhea among the children.

4. You get word that another village has sold 20 of their children to a couple of men who say they can give the kids a better life.

5. You have a committee meeting to decide on the order of worship.

6. A baby gets dropped off at your doorstep.

7. A small group of ‘rookie’ preachers asks you to help them prepare for an upcoming sermon.

8. You have a lunch appointment to encourage a friend who is having trouble deciding what to do with his business.

9. You hear of a village where the children are going blind for lack of Vitamin A.

10. The church needs new carpet.

Which one will you do first? Why? Seriously…give it a try. I’ll tell you my answer if you tell me yours.

It is entirely possible to build a house on a foundation that seems solid, that will hold in most circumstances, and in fact may hold the house for decades. Likewise, it is possible to build a life on a foundation that has some good properties, but isn’t sufficient for the trials of life. Jesus knew both of those truths, and he combined them in one of the most famous illustrations of all time: building a house on rock, or building a house on sand.

That story is found in both Matthew 7 and Luke 6. The Bible in Basic English translates the Matthew passage this way:

Everyone, then, to whom my words come and who does them, will be like a wise man who made his house on a rock; and the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock. And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand; and the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

What does a life built on sand look like? In the world, it looks like relying on natural talent without adding hard work. As a former tennis professional, and even as someone who has a bit of natural talent, I know something about that. Natural talent — some people might call it a gift — is great fun at first. People praise you, you win quickly, and the sky seems to be the limit. But the missing link, the failure to work, keeps many naturals on the ground.

The corollary in Christianity is the one who has been in the church for a long time, for whom Christianity is “natural,” but who fails to work at following the teachings of Christ. As a minister — and a long time Christian myself — I know something about that, too. Jesus can be part of your life, you can be a declared Christian, and you may be able to quote a lot of the Bible. But the missing link is that you don’t consciously work at applying the teachings of Jesus in your daily life, because your “natural” Christianity already makes you better than most, and that is good enough for you.

If that sound like you, here’s the good news: the link doesn’t have to stay missing. Find it and you can be part of a modern day miracle — the miracle of turning sand into rock.

Praying that you do…

Ron Poncy sent me this. But, since he doesn’t read blogs, he won’t know it appeared here. My recommendation to those who do read this, tell Ron ‘thanks for the laugh’ but don’t tell him why, where or how you know.

He sent me a story of a woman who was saved because she knew Acts 2:38.

——

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services, (another good reason to go to church) when she was startled by an intruder.

She caught the man in the act of robbing her of her valuables and yelled:

‘Stop! Acts 2:38!‘,

The burglar was stunned and immediately stopped. The woman then calmly called the police and explained to them what had been going on and what she had done.

As the officer handcuffed the dude to take him in, he asked the knucklehead: ‘Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a Bible verse at to you.’

‘Bible verse?’ replied the burglar. ‘I thought she said she had an ax and two 38s!’

Acts 2:38 saved this woman. It could save you, too.

Did you ever have one of those days when you felt like Satan was getting through your e-mail spam filters, causing static on your phone calls, and stopping the mail man to hand him a few extra bills for the day’s delivery?

I had a day kind of like that today, and I thought all that was a bit ironic given that yesterday’s sermon was about the causes and cures for anxiety. “Oh yeah, Greer? Let’s see how you like a little bit of this.” Well, I don’t like it. Satan is craftier and stronger than I am, and he has a lot of resources he can draw on to remind me of all that, which he did today with, I suppose, great delight.

To be fair to the spiritual warfare going on in this part of Palo Alto today, God’s warriors got in some pretty good shots as well. I got a video mail message from our great-nieces that was delightful (I’ve watched it at least seven times already), I had a great conversation about church and church related things with a good friend and was able (I hope) to help him with some challenges that he is dealing with, and I got to fix and mail a card to some dear friends who are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

Does the day balance out? No, God wins. Even when it doesn’t look like it, God wins. But I recognize that I have a part in the battle, too, and not just as a punching bag, but also as a fighter. I have to leave it up to the Holy Spirit and God’s angels to be the real fighters, but one thing I can fight i the anxiety that is so easily created in my life. I’m not going to do that, because I’m choosing the best portion (fellowship with Jesus), the best conversation (talking with God), and the best priority (seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness).

My goal is not just to preach God’s way of fighting anxiety, but to practice it, and I’m thankful that I’m getting this chance. Not that I’m asking for more chances, mind you.

Under the mercy…

We are discussing hot topics for the church in one of the Sunday morning classes. Homosexuals in the church, Christian views on sex, masturbation, cohabitation, pre-, extra-, cyber-sex, war, preemptive strikes, pacifism, so far. Yeah, and it gets a bit heated, too. But, not always because of the topic at hand.

I generally begin my class with a list of “Things I think I think.” I didn’t do it last week, but should have. That point is beyond the scope of this post.

Here again are the things I think I think for newcomers to the class and for those who might like to discuss them without taking up class time.

1. There are answers to any and all problems. I believe Jesus is the answer, not mostly the answer. I believe the Bible has answers, not most of them. (more…)

Over the years I’ve often wondered about the “balancing side” of bad things. For instance, what good is a flood? About five years ago, experts in Indiana said that the heavy rains and flooding they got that year had the benefit of temporarily delaying the “onslaught of disease-carrying mosquitoes.” Of course wet weather is a boon for the West NIle carriers, so I’m not sure that’s a fair balance, but we’ll take it.

What about mosquitoes themselves — any redeeming value or balancing benefit? Certainly the birds and bats think so, because they eat them. So do spiders, which is why I’m on friendlier terms with most spiders than a lot of folks might be. (If you don’t like spiders, you have that in common with mosquitoes.)

But there is one balancing benefit to many, many bad things, and that benefit is prayer. I don’t like it when bad things happen in my life or in the lives of those I know and love. I don’t like it when people get sick, when they are in financially difficult times, or when they are experiencing some emotional crisis. But the good side of that is that it causes that person, and more than likely many others as well, to turn to God in prayer.

God doesn’t always grant the requests of the prayers that are spoken in the midst of life’s challenges, I know, but he always likes it when we talk to him.

So don’t wait for something bad to happen, talk to him anyway. Just talk. If the world is going to be out of balance at all, let it be on the good side for a change.

Which do you think is easier — to be a preservative for the world or to simply let it rot?

The world is rotting, you know, decaying morally and spiritually in many places in many ways, and it is happening all around you. Can you see it? Can you smell it? Do you even notice it in books, in magazines, on television, in movies?

The reaction I see from most Christians is hand-wringing, sometimes accompanied by a little bit of flag-waving. What I see too rarely is salt-shaking. But just the other day I came across a fairly long, obviously heartfelt, statement about language in movies that had me smelling the salt air, and it was as refreshing as standing on Carmel Beach. The writer was one John Ware, founder of the 168 Hour Film Project.

I’ve known about 168 for several years, and been on their mailing list for perhaps four of their five years of existence, but perhaps you don’t know them. Their web site states that “The 168 Hour Film Project is a competition where producers have 168 hours (1 week) to film and edit and 11-minute movie based on a theme and a Bible verse. All films are created during production week to premiere at the 168 Film Festival.” Pretty cool, eh?

But in John’s blog he wasn’t writing about film-making per se, he was writing about language. What should the judges do, he wondered, about film-makers who wanted to included bad language in their films? Producers could often make the case that such language was “necessary” to the film and the development of some particular character in the film, and I’m sure you can see that they could. But ultimately John decided to draw the line in the sand, and to deny any such film a place in the festival that included any such language. Not an easy call to make, I know, but good for him for making it and holding back the decay.

Too many of us might have taken the easier path of allowing those producers to make the film they wanted to make. After all, what could be the harm in a little dirty language sprinkled here and there in a film? But how much better to have the salt sprinkled instead!

Try to do that in your life and work. Don’t be one of those Christians for whom “slightly rotten” is the new “fresh.”

Years ago I saw a science program on TV about vision. In one of several experiments that were conducted, volunteers were fitted with special “corrective lenses” that made them see everything upside down. The devices could not be removed by the volunteers, and although they were not allowed to drive, they were encouraged to live the rest of their lives as normally as possible.

Some of them got physically ill, which was pretty easy for me to imagine, and many of them stumbled and fell as they tried to do something as simple as walk down the street. Aside from various bumps and scrapes, headaches and feelings of nausea, none of them were really much worse for the wear. And not a single one of them “got used” to the idea of seeing the world upside down. No real surprises there.

But the test yielded one incredible — at least to me — result: within about 24 hours, every one of the volunteers saw the world as right side up. After that happened the scientists removed their special viewing devices so that the volunteers were all looking just through their own eyes… and the world was upside down again!

Add that to your list of amazing things about God’s creation: our brains can figure out that the image we are seeing is upside down, learn to make the correction, and change how we see everything.

Are we that adept spiritually? Can we see when things are upside down, or do we only look through the eyes of the world? Too many times I fail to use the vision God has given me to see things as they really are, and not as the world would have me see them. But when I do see properly, I fall down far less often.

How do you decide which candidate to vote for? If you really sat down and analyzed that process for yourself, you’d probably be surprised at all the elements involved. Just over a week ago, my wife, Judy, and I sat down and tried to make decisions about voting on at least one judge to be selected for our county, and on a few other folks. All in all, not that many choices, but still something to be taken seriously.

I try to be somewhat informed, but there was no information about some of the people running for various offices, so how was I supposed to make an informed decision? Well, I did what any red-blooded American would do, I looked at the list of names and picked out one or two that I liked and voted for them. They can thank their parents for getting my vote.

Somewhere along the line, I believe, I also asked God for guidance on all of this, but I did not lift up each name and wait for a word from God on how to cast my vote. Perhaps I should have, but I didn’t. Something else I didn’t do was try to figure out about their hearts. That might have been an important consideration, especially for the judge, but I went with the name thing.

As we begin the process of selecting elders for PACC, I hope to personally do better about making my decisions. I already know, though, even before one man has been nominated, that I’m going to be more inclined to support someone with a great name more than someone with a crummy name. After all, who would vote for Archibald Leach when they could vote for Cary Grant? Who goes for Marion Morrison when they can have John Wayne? And doesn’t Fred Astaire get your vote when Frederick Austerlitz does not?

My message here, of course, is that if we are sometimes swayed in our decision making by the sound of a name, think how much we should be on guard when it comes time for us to nominate and affirm those who might serve as elders.

Let us use our knees to decide, calling on God’s Spirit to guide us. Let us, wherever we can, not decide based on the things on the outside (reputation, accomplishments, degrees, appearance, or even name), but let us examine the things on the inside, especially the heart. That is a much better way.

As I read Lewis’ blog on putting on the Armor of God, he said something like, “children are given little, if any, say in what they wear.” That reminded me. . .

When my kids were young, a friend told me that one of the hardest things for kids to learn was how to make choices. Everyone faces choices, and in our culture, the choices are myriad. (Another acquaintance from a Soviet bloc country hated shopping in the States because he felt paralyzed with indecision over the selection of dozens of cereals, t-shirts, watches, and so on.) I resolved to train my kids from their earliest moments to make choices. For example, when D was an infant, I’d hold up two outfits and ask her to make a choice. When she appeared to point to an outfit, I would use that outfit and praise her for making a choice.

In life, I think a lot of our choices (from God’s perspective) are similarly inconsequential. Why would he want to control which outfit, job, or road we take, as long as our eyes are fixed on him and our desire is to serve him?

If we sense that God is nudging or calling us in a certain direction, by all means we should go that way. And of course we should continue in prayer about everything.

But when it’s time to make a decision, make one!