In Recovery

As I sit behind this screen of pixels with a keyboard before me, I am reminded that in the morning I will not be preaching from the pulpit at West Ripley Baptist Church.
I am in mourning because it just doesn't feel right not going to bed knowing I will rise and mount the pulpit.

My incisions have not fully healed, I'm not fully prepared and my Associate Pastor is ready to go in the morning.
Still, it as if there is a fire burning in my bones, a flame awaiting to rise and come out of my body; as the Prophet Jeremiah spoke of so long ago.

Therefore, while I cannot preach, I can write; satisfying the urge to share God's grace and message once again..

I have had much time to reflect and think in the last 10 days since the removal of my favorite spleen by my doctors at the Cleveland Clinic.
Prior to my stay, I noticed various news stories, both local and national, contained some hard crimes. I also notice now that there seems to be an invasion of big city crime in nearly every town in my immediate area.
During my stay, I noticed on television, the most popular shows contained violence, injustice and morbid acts.
 I wonder why Americans are increasingly drawn to such shows as 'entertainment.'

Yet, in view of all the injustice and violence in the world, this sin, these evil acts, each one of them offer a back-handed proof of God's existence and His work in the world.

Whether it was 9/11, the Jonestown Tragedy, or the kidnapping of a child seen on the nightly news; these are horrible acts.

WTC Cross

Yet, in them, we also witnessed and continue to witness unbelievable acts of compassion and grace amid the horror and pain.
All the while, whether we are dispersing grace or receiving a compassionate blessing from another, when the tragedy takes place there is always an alarm which goes off in our souls which tells us something is desperately wrong.

When it comes to God, many people run from Him when they have sin prominent in their life; that's the wrong move.
God's image to us should not be of an angry, cosmic police officer, judging every step we make. God isn't an enforcer when it comes to our sin.
Instead, it is God who desires the best for our lives; but the sin we have is an obstacle to the most desirable life possible.

But when we do sin, just like when we experience pain or when we are engulfed by a tragic act of another - these, rather than showing God's absence or anger, they are markers pointing us to the solution who is God.

 I believe that the misconceptions about God have chased many people away from eternal life.
The truth is that the misconceptions of God are man-made creations; usually, no person even has a chance to living up to what the misconception is, for often, it is devoid of grace.

In my lifetime, I have seen women treated as unequal partners in marriage and unequal citizens in the church at times; to some, it says that God doesn't value women as much as He does men.

I have seen racial bigotry by Christians hurt minorities; to them, it says that God likes white people more than any one else.

Then there are those Christians who insist that since they are a little more well-to-do that God approves of them and their life more than of a Christian who lives in a trailer park and works 10 hours a day for a little over minimum wage.
I have seen this and the arrogance and pride it produces is nothing short of a hell-inspired lie to destroy the church from the inside of a believers' heart.

All of these are misconceptions about God; none of them are ultimately true.
And when it comes to our sins or our situations in life, rarely do I see Christians searching out for that one spark of grace which is always present.
God's grace and compassion was rising in the ashes of the World Trade Center, even before the second tower fell.
It was at Columbine; as it was also at Virginia Tech.
Yet, we do not hear people pointing out the instances of grace; I have come to expect that from the media but Christians ought to be on a constant lookout for God's work in the World.

I have noticed that when a national tragedy takes place or even a personal setback, like being diagnosed with cancer, someone inevitably points to the cause as the Original Sin.
Now, I agree, all things do have their roots in the Original Sin because it spread to all mankind; yet, it runs deeper than the Original Sin because we also exercise free will.
In all honesty, we have beat the original sin to death while we have ignored the original grace which followed the sin and then later appeared on the horizon in the form of a Cross.

Maybe we would have a better understanding of God's grace if we didn't sugar coat 'sin' so much.
Being a preacher, I have read and listened to sermons of all styles and eras, stretching back over a thousand years in the history of the Church.
In this generation, the word 'sin' is seldom seen in Christian books, magazines and you will rarely railed against from the pulpit - and it is even more rare to see or hear sin spoken of on so-called 'Christian' television.

While it was once THE dominant topic, the notion of sin has disappeared from among us; which, consequently, means that the meaning of grace and its need has also vanished.

On a side-note, it should also tell us as Christians, if there is not a discussion of personal sin and its effects in our lives, we must ask if God's Word is truly being utilized appropriately.
Any minister worth his salt can see and describe sin as what it is, but he can also display the compassion and grace of God so that the sinner can find the path home to redemption.

Wrong acts which cause guilt are found in every human culture; every culture calls it something and ascribes a penance.
This means, though liberals charge otherwise, Christians did not invent the notion of sin to control people.
The idea of sin and the reality of sin has always existed and it is a universal problem.

In the modern world, we hear of a 'health crisis' taking place; we hear of abject poverty and people not being able to climb out of the projects or ghettos; we see images on the streets of people selling their bodies and the diseases which these acts generate; and we see, even in our schools, a drug culture sucking our youth down to a powdery level.

Well, all thing being equal, has anybody ever considered the idea that these things might just be caused by one root cause - personal sin? 

You see, if you want justice in the world, convert those who oppress.
If you want to eliminate drugs, help the dealer meet Jesus.
If you want to see people stop selling their bodies and get out of the ghettos, show them Jesus who ministered to the same.
Truthfully, it isn't rocket science; Christians just need to be honest with what they are dealing with in others. And while we may name it other things, it is still just sin.

Our society has trouble today even being sure if evil exists; many think we are just a computer that has been programmed wrong.
But the truth is that moral guilt is a light which points to another world and to a Sovereign Lord.

We know something is wrong here.
No amount of victimization or rationalization can ever make what is wrong with the world, make it go away.
The only thing that can take it away is Jesus Christ.

It has been said that character is determined by how we act and what we do when nobody is looking.
Well, friend, God is always looking.

But God is not looking as a policeman looks for a speeder on the road; He is a Spirit within me and about me, guiding me to realize fully who I am.
And in maturity and in time, through surgery and diagnosis, in good times and bad, tragedy and triumph; God is guiding me to become fully who I was created to be in the first place.

By the grace of God, we will become ourselves and then one day, we will be like Him.
Until next time, win one for the good guys.