Inside-Out

My youngest son often puts his shirts on inside-out. Not a big deal. I’ve done it when I was in a rush to get somewhere. But even when I tell him he is inside-out, he doesn’t care. He’s content to go around all day with his shirt tag announcing that he can’t dress himself.

I was thinking about my son as I read Matthew 23 this morning, because Jesus also liked to turn things inside-out. In the passage, He is dealing out the “seven woes” to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, and He criticizes them for “cleaning the outside of the cup or dish” while the inside is full of nastiness. To drive home His point, He compares them to freshly painted tombs filled with dead men’s bones. They look good on the outside, but they reek of death inside.

He challenges them to clean up their insides first, because when the inside is clean, the outside will become clean, too. Jesus is saying that if they will change their character, their behavior will follow. If they change their WHO, their DO will soon match.

I’m guilty of making the same mistakes as the Pharisees sometimes. I clean up my behaviors, because I want to be seen as a godly Christian. I want people to think highly of me for the way I follow God. But the problem is that it’s difficult to keep the act going when I’m not on stage. Behind the curtains with my family and even more in private moments or times of stress, I step out of character, and I find myself leading two lives. A “hypocrite” (the Greek word for “actor” that Jesus used to label false spiritual leaders) like the Pharisees.

I’ve tried outside-in for years, and it doesn’t work. Who I am has to change first, and this means changing my heart. It’s got to happen from the inside-out.

I find this clean-up project to be exhausting, but the great news is that I don’t have to do it alone. Jesus is ready to roll-up His sleeves if I invite Him to join me. And honestly, I can’t do it without Him. Jesus is the Project Manager. He plans the work and works the plan. I’m just the assistant, and I have two main roles: invite Him onto the worksite each day and follow His directions.

Inside-out work is exceedingly slow and exceedingly difficult. It never goes as fast as I want it to, and it always requires lots of challenging situations that Jesus uses as a tool to shape my character and a test to reveal the quality of my heart. It’s a project that won’t be done until I join the Project Manager in heaven, but I’m encouraged by this Scripture:

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Maybe my son is the one who has got it right. Pay less attention to how you look on the outside and more attention to being the right person on the inside. Wear your shirt inside-out every once in awhile, and you will find that life is a lot more fun when you don’t pretend to be someone you are not.

Her First Birthday Party

Each summer, I serve as the Bible teacher for a summer camp in Texas.  The camp’s mission is to create positive memories for abused and neglected children, ages 7-11.

Two years ago, we had a little girl who was at camp for her first time. Every time she would see me, she would remind me that it was her birthday during the week, and she asked me over and over not to forget. I promised  her each time that I would be sure to remember and that we would celebrate it together.

Confession: I knew something that she didn’t.  At the camp, we always throw a birthday party for ALL the kids on Thursday night.  Many of them have never celebrated their birthdays before, so we get a church to donate enough toys to fill up a large shoebox for each child, make a giant cake, decorate the camp’s mess hall with streamers, confetti and party favors and make sure it’s an event that they will all remember!

When the night of the party arrived, I was excited for her and hoped that she would be pleased with the celebration. Amazingly, none of the older kids had let on about the party, even though they had been to camp several times before. I did my part distracting the kids with some other meaningful activities while the party decorations were completed, and then I got them lined up at the door of the mess hall, ready to go in for their big surprise.

The door opened up, loud cheers and clapping emerged, and the kids bounded inside, high-fiving all the adults and teens that had lined up to greet them!  Once past the gauntlet of celebrating big people, the kids found tables and chairs set for the biggest birthday party they had ever seen!  Party hats, juice pouches, colorful plates, napkins and plastic ware, noise makers and balloons!  Everyone excitedly took their seats and began to explore their table settings while the adults brought them cake and ice cream and sang “Happy Birthday!” to them.

When I went to see the girl after the initial surprise, she caught me off guard. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she said, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Pastor Mike! You remembered!” Over and over.  She was quite undone by the grace of it all.

I was a little embarrassed that she thought I was the reason for the party when I had really done nothing except distract the kids while the preparations were being made, but I didn’t want to ruin her moment by saying anything awkward. To her, this was a promise fulfilled and an opportunity to celebrate her birthday for the very first time.

I often think about this moment.  It both breaks my heart (for a little girl who had never had the simple gesture of a birthday party), and it humbles me.  There were dozens of people more deserving of the credit for her birthday celebration, but God allowed me to be the one that received her appreciation.  What I’ve realized is that God often allows us to get the credit for good works that we had very little to do with.  If we are honest, He does 99% of the work most of the time.  We have little to offer, and we are often selfish about offering what we do have.

I think He uses these moments to remind us of the joy we receive from joining Him in His work.  They are an incentive for us to trust Him more with our time, our talents and our treasures, and they soften our hearts toward those in need.

So, in retrospect, I’m not sure if the birthday party that night was more for the little girl or more for me.  I suspect God made the appointment for us both.

———–

If you would like to know more about Royal Family Kids’ Camps (which are held in many places around the world), you can visit their website at http://www.rfkc.org.

Restoration

A man walked into a pawnshop and went straight to a worn down piece of furniture hidden in the back of the store.  He moved several other items that had been stacked against it and stepped back to take a look.

The piece of furniture was once a beautiful writing desk made with fine craftsmanship, but the former beauty had been worn away through years of use as it served first one family and then another.  These years were followed by even more years of disuse after it had been left out on the curb and salvaged by the pawnshop owner.

It was no longer beautiful.  Its drawers were broken, its roll-top in splinters, its feet uneven and wobbly, its stain faded and surface scratched and dented.  Looking at it, it was hard to imagine what the piece had looked originally.  You certainly wouldn’t want it in your home.  It was a real eyesore.

Even so, the man pulled out the desk and told the shop owner that he wanted to buy it.  The shop owner named a price – a surprisingly high price considering the condition of the desk – but the man was willing to pay it, and the transaction was made.

The man loaded the desk in his truck and took it home, where he placed it in his garage.  He turned on the overhead light and gave the desk a thorough inspection.  He took note of the broken drawers, the splintered roll-top, the wobbly feet and the scarred surface.  Nothing escaped his trained eye.

Having completed his assessment, he mentally planned what repairs and improvements would need to be done.  Then, he turned off the light and headed to bed.  Tomorrow would be soon enough to begin the work.

The next day, the man arrived late in the afternoon with new lumber and a collection of well-worn tools.  He was a carpenter, and these were the tools of his trade.  He had begun and finished many projects before this one, and he would begin and finish many more.  The work thrilled him.  It was a labor of love, and he thoroughly enjoyed taking something discarded and bringing out its true value.

With a smile of anticipation and a clear vision of the finished product, the man turned the desk on its side and sawed a heart-shaped piece from the bottom panel.  He then replaced it with a custom-made heart piece – golden in color with intricate etchings and made from a fine wood.  It was on the bottom panel, where it was unlikely that anyone would see it but him, but it was his trademark and showed the love and care he put into refurbishing the piece.  Those familiar with his work knew where to look for his signature.

He turned the desk back up and began with structural repairs.  He replaced one of the feet, repaired the broken drawers and built a new roll-top.   Before long, evening arrived.  The man put away his tools and retired for the night.

The next day, he returned to his work.  Using a sanding block, he began working on the inner parts of the desk that no one typically saw.  This might have seemed like a waste to most, but again, this was his trademark.  He always began from the inside and worked his way out.

After a week, an observer might not have seen much difference, but the man knew how smooth the inner boards had become, how silently the drawers slid in and out, how strong the joints and the frame had become.  It was a work of quality he was engaged in – not a work of speed.  He was not concerned about turning a quick profit; he wanted the finished product to be a blessing to some family who needed it.  He wanted it to bring them joy for years and years to come.  He thought about the children and the grandchildren who would live life around this desk, and he wanted the changes he made to bless generations.

And so, he worked, slowly but deliberately – never leaving off a task until it was done to his exacting standards.  Then, he moved on to the next area that needed repair, and then the next…

When he was done with the inner parts, he began work on the outer, and the piece began to really transform.  Each board was smoothed to take away the abuses of the past.  But he didn’t remove every dent or every scar.  Some, he knew, added value to the piece and gave it character.  Still, even these blemishes received his painstaking attention.  In fact, he spent more time on them than he did on the smoother parts, and when he was done, they became the most interesting parts of the whole piece.  What was ugly became beautiful and interesting, and those who saw them would want to know more.

When everything was prepared and the dust and grit and stains of past years had been removed, the man applied a covering.  It was a deep, reddish stain that soaked into the wood and provided a protective finish.  It was such a unique color that those who knew recognized it as the work of the man whenever they saw it.

The man then sealed the piece with a clear, protective coat, installed new hardware to the drawers and roll-top and finally stood back to admire his work.  The piece was impressive and made you want to come closer to look.  Its wood was so smooth that the man could literally see his reflection in it.  He smiled and said a quick, “well done!” to himself.  It was good.

In fact, it looked even better now than the day he originally created it.  You see, the pawnshop owner thought he was taking advantage of the man when he sold the desk at such a high price, but the man always knew the quality of the workmanship, because he had made it himself many years before.  Years of abuse and neglect had all but ruined the desk, but the man trusted in his own unique ability to restore the piece – even to make it better than before.  So he paid the high price, and he had no regrets.

Looking at the restored work, he knew exactly who he was going to give it to – a gift for a family that he dearly loved.

Sharing Your Best Seed Corn

There was a Nebraska farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.  One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

The farmer had what Stephen Covey calls an “abundance mentality.”  An “abundance mentality” says, “There’s plenty to go around.”  A “scarcity mentality” says, “There’s not enough to go around, and if he gets some, that means less for me!”

Maybe we’ve got this competition thing all wrong.  Sure, we’ve got to compete with other companies for market share; we’ve got to compete on the playing field or around the track; we’ve got to compete when we want to be chosen for a new job or opportunity… but what about on our teams or with the people at the same organization or even in the Body of Christ?  Should we compete with each other in these groups?

As I look around, I see the net result of some of our competition: teams reduced to groupings of individuals who happen to work for the same boss, departments in silos that won’t benchmark with other departments because they will give away their “secrets,” plenty of “us-them” thinking, gossip, resentment, bitterness…  Even on the same teams, we can’t be happy for someone who gets a great opportunity or who God uses in a special way.  We delight in the misfortune of those we see as “competitors.”

Are we limiting the quality of our own corn just because we won’t share some of our best seed corn with our neighbors?  What could we learn from them if we were willing to give up something that cost us something?  Could helping another department, or team, or church actually help us to improve?

I had a boss one time who put it this way, “Michael, when I retire, I don’t plan to collect my retirement check from just this department.  By sharing resources and what I know with other parts of the company, I help us all to be more successful.”

Amen.  And if you belong to the Body of Christ, consider that your “retirement check” will not be based on your individual contributions as much as it will be based on how you advanced the Kingdom together with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Common Goal / Common Threat

A few years ago, a documentary movie called “March of the Penguins,” was released.  If you haven’t see it, get a copy.  It’s a beautifully photographed movie with some interesting metaphors for teams.  For example, emperor penguins make a yearly 113 km trek across the ice of the Antarctic in order to mate in the exact place where they were born.  Each mother lays a single egg during the coldest time of the Antarctic year, when temperatures can reach as low as -80 F / -62 C.  First the mothers and then the fathers take turns incubating the eggs to keep them warm.  They do this by resting the egg on top of their feet and covering it with the lower part of their belly.

The mothers pass off the eggs to the fathers a few days after they eggs are laid so that they can return the 113 km to the sea for food.  (Both fathers and mothers have been without food for about two months at this point.)  The fathers then have the responsibility of protecting the eggs during the 62- to 64-day incubation period while the mothers are away.  They spend the entire two months standing with the eggs perched on their feet and under their bellies while 160-km-per-hour winds whip around them.

While the male emperor penguins can be fairly aggressive animals at other times, they lay their differences aside during the harsh Antarctic winter.  Thousands upon thousands of fathers huddle closely together to protect themselves and their eggs from the cold and the wind.  As the days pass, they take turns rotating to the warmest spots at the center of the huddle.  With this unified strategy, the fathers are able to protect most of the eggs until they hatch just a day or two before the mothers return with food.

The partnership of the mother-father team is incredible, but what really impressed me was the fathers’ teamwork.  Instinctively they know that trying to weather the winter storms individually will lead to disaster, so they combine their resources (in this case, their body heat) for the good of the colony.

Nothing seems to bring a team together more than a common goal or a common threat.  The penguins’ common goal was survival of the colony. Their common threat was the difficult Antarctic winter.  When a team is faced with a cause that they can rally behind, they set aside their personal differences and focus on the task at hand.

You can put this principle to work in your team by:

a) Identifying a goal that everyone on the team can get excited about. It has to be something that most or all the team members feel is worthwhile and possible (not to be read, “easy”…easy goals don’t motivate any more than impossible goals.)

b) Identifying a threat or enemy that everyone on the team can get enthusiastic about beating. Sometimes the threat you identify is a thing (like sin, poverty or even tasks that are pulling you away from your main priorities).  Sometimes it is a negative consequence (like losing funding, having to put restrictions on a project or being unprepared for an event).  And sometimes, it’s a person or group (like Satan and his armies).  Whatever threat you identify, it has to be something that most or all of the team members feel is worth beating or preventing.

Teams that are focused on personal differences are not focusing on team goals. If your team is slipping into this trap, start looking for something everyone can get excited about.

Son of the High Chief

A friend of mine shared this story recently.  My friend is part Samoan and part Hawaiian.  He was born in Hawaii but moved to Samoa during his childhood.  Adjusting to the new cultures in this high-context society was difficult for his brother and him, but they made a friend in one of the locals.

Their friend, as it turns out, was the son of the High Chief.  We might expect the son of a high-class family in power to be arrogant and dismissive of foreign-born, mixed race kids who were new to the area, but he was anything but.  He was friendly and took a personal interest in helping my friend and his brother adjust.

He taught them local customs, like cooking the family meal on hot stones outdoors every Sunday.  He taught them local culture, like the need to show respect for elders.  He taught them the local language, and he helped them to fit in.  He was a good and faithful friend.

One day, the town drunk appeared as the three boys were playing outdoors.  Children knew him to be a violent and abusive man, and they avoided him whenever possible, but today, he caught the boys by surprise.  My friend could tell he was drunk again, and he could see the rage in his eyes.  This day, he had come for the two foreign-born boys.

But just as he moved to attack them, the son of the High Chief stepped between his friends and the man.  The man’s anger snapped, and he began to beat the boy mercilessly.  Several times, he knocked the boy to the ground, but each time, the boy would stand again, blocking the way to his friends.

My friend and his brother asked each time he fell if they should go for help.  Should they go to get the townspeople, who would come and rescue their friend, the son of their High Chief?  The townspeople wouldn’t allow such a crime to happen to their leader’s family.  In fact, they might have even killed the drunken man for what he had done.  But each time, the answer was, ‘No,’ and the boy would stand again to take the beating.

When the man’s anger had been spent, he left them alone, and the boy was taken to the hospital to treat his wounds.  My friend and his brother visited him the next day.  His face was unrecognizable under the bruising, the cuts and the swelling, but he was alive, and he would recover.  The boys looked at their bandaged friend and asked him to solve the mystery that troubled their hearts, “Why wouldn’t you let us go for help?”

He looked at them as the teacher who patiently tries to birth a new way of thinking in the minds and hearts of his students.  “I have taught you so much… This is what it means to be the son of the High Chief.”

The boys couldn’t have asked for a clearer picture.  Their friend, knowingly or not, had shown them an image of what Jesus Christ did for each of us when He went to the cross.  He stood between us and the evil one, who wanted to hurt us.  He took the beating that was meant for us.

Had Jesus wanted, legions of angels would have come to His rescue, yet he refused to call for them.  Each insult, each beating, each whip of the lash, each thorn of the crown He accepted as an act of love for us.  And each time He fell on the road to Golgotha, He stood again.  His purpose was set; His mind was determined; no matter the cost, He would stand in the gap for us, because This is what it means to be the Son of the High Chief.

You Get What You Get…

Let’s face it.  All men aren’t really created equal.

I don’t mean that they shouldn’t have equal rights before the law; I’m talking about talent.  I’m talking about capacity.  I’m talking about leadership ability.  I’m talking about potential and about impact.  God didn’t design us with a cookie cutter.  We are different, and we are meant for different things.

This is clear in one telling of the “Parable of the Talents.”   In Matthew 25, Jesus tells about a man, who called his servants together and gave them each an amount of money.  To one, he gave five talents (a talent is a measurement of weight used at one time with Roman money); to another, two talents; and to another, one talent.  Then, the man went away expecting that the three servants would make good use of what he gave them.

When the man returned, he found that the one with five talents and the one with two talents had both doubled their money while the one with one talent had hidden his as insurance against his master’s judgment in case he lost what little he had.  The master was pleased with the first two and commended them,

“Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 & 23)

The praise was identical for both servants even though one had accumulated ten talents and the other only four.  There is such a hopeful Word for us in this!  Jesus was using talents in the sense of money, but we wouldn’t be wrong if we borrowed the more contemporary use of the word.  Jesus is saying that it doesn’t matter if you have less talent, abilities, resources, opportunities or capacity.  It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have!

Few of us will ever be Billy Grahams or Rick Warrens or Bill Hybelses (the “official” pluralization of a singular Bill Hybels).  So what?  God didn’t call us to have their level of impact.  That doesn’t make our role any less important to His plan.  God is not all that interested in what we can “do,” because He is the one who really “does.”

Billy Graham doesn’t win all those people to Christ through his own efforts.  He just joins God in the work.  Billy’s role is more like the role of a toddler helping Dad wash the car.  Dad appreciates the company, but He doesn’t need little Billy’s expertise or skill.  He could get the car washed in less time, with less mistakes and less waste, but Dad is not interested in efficiency; He’s interest in relationship.  Doing the work together gives Dad an opportunity to train little Billy and to let Billy get to know Him better.  Dad doesn’t care that it takes longer to wash the car, because He loves spending time with Billy, and that’s more important to Him than a clean car.

So, back to my first point…  The master in Jesus’ story praised the first two servants equally.  He wasn’t focused on how much money they had accumulated, because He could have doubled his money without their help.  His focus was on their stewardship – what they did with what they had been given responsibility to manage.  The master wanted to see his servants invest wisely with what he had given them.  Both did, and the master was no less pleased with four talents than he was with ten.

This leads to another interesting point.  The servants didn’t own the talents.  They were just stewards, or “managers.”  They couldn’t take credit for how much they had, because it all came from their master.

Rick Warren is a talented communicator.  He most likely has a natural ability to communicate both in writing and orally, but he can’t take credit for that.  Any natural talent he has came from the Lord.  All Rick can do is invest what he has been given and improve it.  This he has done quite successfully, but it would be wrong for him to look down on others with less communication skills just because they aren’t as good as he is.  He would have no skills if God hadn’t given him the natural abilities and/or spiritual gifting to communicate.

This is where we get into so much trouble as human beings.  We are always comparing ourselves to other people to try to see if we are better or worse.  What nonsense!  God has different roles for all of us to play.  To accomplish the purposes He has planned for us, some of us are given “five talents,” and some of us are given “two,” but our capacity comes from the Lord – not from our own merit.  Feelings of arrogance or jealousy betray our pride, showing that we think that we, ourselves, are the true source of our own talents, abilities, resources, opportunities or capacities.

In our home, we taunt our children with the phrase, “You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit!”  This is the final word on arguments about fairness.  We hate hearing, “He got more than I did!” or “That’s not fair!  She always gets to go first!” (Our children hate hearing, “You get what you get…”, but that’s parental prerogative.)

The truth is, life is not fair.  We don’t always get equal opportunities or resources.  The sooner we learn it, the sooner we will be able to forget about fairness and focus on being good stewards of what we do have.  That’s the point of Jesus’ parable.  Some get five; some get two.  Get over it!  Be faithful with what you have been given, and stop peeking over at what your brother or sister has to see if you’ve been treated “fairly.”

There is no shame in having less than our brothers and sisters.  There is only shame in acting like the third servant, who distrusted his master and buried his talent rather than investing it.  When he was called to account, he made excuses.

‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ (Matthew 25:24-25)

I’m sure he looked at his fellow servants and thought, “That’s not fair!  They got more than I did!”  He blamed his master and decided he wasn’t going to play the game if he couldn’t have things his way.  Someone should have told him, “You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit!”  Instead, his master told him he was wicked and lazy and took the one talent from him to give it to the faithful servant who had ten (most likely so that he would get a better return on his investment).

Accept whatever talents, abilities or spiritual gifts you’ve been given.  They may not measure up to your neighbor’s, but they were never meant to.  You won’t be held accountable for having the impact of a Billy Graham or a Rick Warren if you weren’t given the raw materials that they were given, but you will be held accountable for what you do with whatever you did get from the Lord.  Invest wisely.

You Can’t Hide What’s Inside

After World War II, Germany was divided into East and West.  The eastern side was under the communist control of the USSR.  The western side was occupied by British, French and American forces.  The capitol city of Berlin was divided in a similar fashion.

Between the years of 1949 and 1961, at least 2.7 million people fled East Germany, more half of them through West Berlin.  In an attempt to stop the depletion of its labor force, East German officials ordered the building of a barrier that would one day become known as the infamous “Berlin Wall.”

As the initial barricades were going up, East Berliners were feeling powerless and resentful of West Berlin’s freedom.  In an act of antagonism, they filled a garbage truck and drove it into West Berlin late one night.  They dumped the trash all over the streets and then retreated back to East Berlin on foot.  A few days later, the truck returned under cover of darkness.  But instead of the filthy garbage that the East Berliners expected to see in it, it was full of canned goods and non-perishable food items.  On the food was a sign that read “Each gives what he has to give.”

Times of great pressure and stress tend to have a polarizing effect on people.  They bring out both the very best and the very worst of human nature.  In the same difficult circumstance, some will focus on helping others and some will focus only on themselves.  Both are responding to what is hidden deep in their character.  The trial simply brings what is hidden to the surface, to where it can be seen in our words and our actions.

Jesus once said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”  (Luke 6:34-45)

The Apostle Paul later tells us that Christians have a war going on in their hearts and minds.  The Holy Spirit fights on our behalf against our sinful nature.  If we submit to the Spirit and deny our sinful nature, our “tree” (our life) will bear good fruit, fruit that will last – the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5)

It was this fruit that enabled the West Berliners to send love instead of hate back across that border.  It was this fruit that kept them from retaliating or escalating the conflict.  It was this fruit that made them understand the hurt and the fear behind what the East Berliners did.

If you get an opportunity to swap fruit this week, remember the good fruit of the West Berliners, and do you best to bless even when you are cursed.

(S – original story from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

Substitute Dads

In 1 Chronicles 27:32, the writer tells us:

“Jonathan, David’s uncle, a wise and literate counselor, and Jehiel son of Hacmoni, were responsible for rearing the king’s sons.”  (The Message)

They apparently did a spectacularly bad job with King David’s boys.  One son raped his sister; one killed his brother, usurped his father’s kingdom and slept with his father’s concubines in broad daylight for all the neighbors to see; another one tried to usurp his father’s kingdom and sleep with one of his father’s wives only to be put to death by another brother; and one left his faith in the one, true God, because his sexual lust led him into at least 1,000 sexual relationships with women who worshiped foreign gods.

Where was the moral fiber that characterized their dad, “a man after God’s own heart?”  Why didn’t these boys grow up knowing right from wrong?  Why did they fail so miserably?

I believe the main reason is that you cannot substitute for Dad.  Boys need their fathers.  They need that intimate, male relationship in their lives to help them learn what it is to be a real man.  Not a man who sleeps with the most women or who has the most money and toys or who always settles his problems with his fists.  A REAL man.  A man who submits to the authority of Jesus Christ; a man who puts other peoples’ needs (particularly his family’s needs) ahead of his own; a man who commits to one woman and honors her all the days of their marriage.  A REAL man.

Ironically, David was many things that we admire.  He was a warrior; a poet; a musician; a king and even a man who submitted to the authority of the Lord – but he was an abysmal father.  During the years his boys needed him most, he delegated his parental responsibilities to other men.  And while those men might have been wise and literate and many other good things, they weren’t Dad.

God has designed the family as the perfect way to disciple young children into mature Christian faith.  When it works as planned, godly parents live their lives humbly before God and model powerful spiritual disciplines for their children.  It takes place over years and years in real-life situations.  Because it is lived in real life, its credibility is beyond reproach or suspicion.  No teacher, preacher, mentor, friend, book, seminar or seminary will be anywhere near as effective at passing along spiritual wisdom and discipline.  …that is, when it’s done well.

When it’s not done well (as in David’s case), it teaches equally powerful negative lessons.  David modeled that work and personal pursuits were more important to him than his children.  No wonder all his boys could think about was themselves.  They had 20+ years of discipleship in selfishness.

Our boys need us, men.  We can’t delegate fathering to their school teachers or their soccer coaches or even their youth group leaders.  Those men serve an important role, but they cannot replace what God intended for us to provide.

And no, you don’t have to wait until you get your stuff together to start spending more time with your boys and being intentional about discipling them.  Start now, and get your stuff together as you go.  There are powerful lessons that our boys will learn as they watch us struggle against our sinful nature.  In fact, if we pretend to be perfect, we will do more damage than good.  Let’s just live our lives and invite our boys along for the journey.

Send the substitute home.  Class is in session.

Volunteer Donor

I was developing a game for our church’s Christmas celebration, and I needed some photos for the game cards.  In my search, I came across the one pictured above and noticed that the label says, “Volunteer Donor.”  I wonder if that is an important designation.  Are there non-volunteer donors?  How do you get selected for that assignment?

But being the Christmas season, I think it’s appropriate for us to remember that there was an ultimate “Volunteer Donor.”  His name is Jesus Christ, and He volunteered to donate His blood a few thousand years ago so that we might be reunited with our Lord and Creator.

But why blood?  It seems so creepy!  All those Christian songs about the blood washing us clean and making us white as snow…  It seems really weird.  Why couldn’t Jesus just give us a “Get Out of Jail Free” card?

I’ll admit, it’s a hard concept to get our 21st century minds around.  Most of us don’t come in contact with blood on a daily basis unless we are avid fans of CSI, Law and Order, Dexter or Bones.  Even so, we all know that it’s precious…that without it, there is no life.  We take it for granted until the day we are in a serious accident or when a friend is in the hospital.  Then, we begin to grasp how essential it is.

God set the standard in the Garden of Eden.  After Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they tried to cover their shame with fig leaves.  God replaced their itchy undergarments with animal skins, because they were a more perfect covering and because He was illustrating that only a blood sacrifice would cover their sin.

It’s why Cain’s sacrifice of produce wasn’t acceptable to God and why Abel’s animal sacrifice was.  It’s why God required daily animal sacrifices from the Hebrews.  It’s why He also required an annual atonement sacrifice where the high priest would sprinkle animal blood over the cover of the ark of the covenant.  Only a blood sacrifice covers sin.

The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.”  This means that when you sin, you earn death.  The debt of death has to be paid.  Blood has to be spilled.  In the Old Testament, God allowed men to pay their debt by killing certain animals.  Killing other humans wouldn’t work, because they had their own sin debt deserving of death.  We know this from Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The death had to be of someone/something innocent.  No humans were innocent – not even babies, because they were born with a sin nature.  In other words, they inherited sinfulness from their parents.  It can be hard to see in a precious infant, but it’s there.  It just takes a little while for the infant to be able to communicate his or her selfishness.

Animals are always innocent, because they don’t have free will.  They can’t choose to sin, because they don’t know the difference between moral right and wrong.  They can learn consequences, but they can’t learn to modify their behavior based on a moral code.  So, animal blood is always innocent.  It can pay the debt that men earn by sinning.

The problem is that animal blood only pays the debt for a short time.  Eventually, you have to sacrifice another animal, and then another, and then another…  It never ends.  Unless…. Unless there could be a perfect sacrifice – one that wouldn’t wear out – one that would pay the debt for all time.  That’s where Jesus comes in.

God gave the Hebrews the animal sacrifice as a model to point them toward the perfect sacrifice that Christ would make on the cross.  He was demonstrating that we needed a Savior, one that would end the need for daily and annual sacrifices of innocent blood.

But why is Jesus’ blood perfect?  Because He is the only man who has ever lived without sin.  He didn’t inherit sinfulness from His parents, because He was conceived from the Holy Spirit.  He lived His entire life without giving in to temptation.  At the end of His life, He had no sin debt to pay for Himself, so He was able to offer His payment (the innocent shedding of blood) for those He loved – namely you and me.

Blood is life.  Without it, your physical body could no longer sustain itself.  But the blood of Jesus is Life!  Spiritual Life!  It doesn’t sustain the physical body; it sustains the spirit and gives us the hope of new Life here on earth and everlasting Life in heaven after our physical bodies give out.  The blood of our Volunteer Donor pays our sin debt.  It IS our “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

That should give you a very Merry Christmas, indeed!