Monthly Archives: June 2008

Facing the consequences of our actions

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Actions have consequences. We all know that. Sometimes when it comes time to face those consequences though, we do everything we can to avoid it or to hide our guilt. Is that so surprising? That is, after all, what father Adam taught us to do (Genesis 3:6-13). A much more Christian response is one showed by someone who wasn’t a Christian at all — David (2 Samuel 12:1-25).

I was reminded of this human tendency — the tendency to try to hide our sin — when reading another blog post this morning. This post told of a 14 year-old girl in Texas who gave birth to a baby boy in a school bathroom, then stuffed his mouth with toilet paper and drowned him in the toilet. As the author of the blog post states:

I cannot imagine the terror and despair this girl must have been experiencing during her pregnancy — knowing how fundamentally altered her life would be once the child was born, fearing her parents’ reactions, fearing the sideways looks and hushed glances from classmates and people in general, fearing the great unknown of motherhood. Her fears were real and resulted in the death of a baby boy. She was paralyzed by those fears during the pregnancy, undoubtedly wishing it would “just go away,” but without the means or wherewithal to procure an abortion — who knows about the father of her child. But wishing her pregnancy would simply go away only resulted in that paralysis that allows time to pass and the natural consequences of chosen behavior to come to fulfillment. She gave birth nearly nine months after having sex, as nature dictates, after weeks of fear-induced inaction and useless wishing it away. She was afraid. Her son is dead. Her fears, however, were based entirely on a lie.

Nor can I imagine what fears this girl was facing, but I do know (as do you) that her actions were inappropriate. I would urge you to read the rest of the post. (Let me say as an aside, the blog quoted is a political blog. The reason I link to the blog is not to try to steer you into voting for one candidate or another. That is not the purpose of this blog, nor would I ever use it for that. My only reason for pointing you to the post and urging you to read it is because the author makes some very valid points about actions and consequences. Although he does not write the post with the intention of teaching a Christian lesson, there are great lessons to be found there, and I urge you to find them.)

As Christians, we are forgiven. Forgiveness though, does not mean escaping the consequences of sin in this life. I have sinned many times. Sometimes I’ve hidden this sin from others and sometimes I’ve admitted my sin and faced the consequences. Sometimes this has cost me greatly, but the eternal reward of repentence is far greater than any temporary consequences we face in this life.

Persecution of Christians a first-century phenomenon?

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I think a lot of us believe that. We’re nice & comfortable & well-fed, and no one’s harassing us on Sunday morning on the way to worship, so all is well. Such isn’t the case for Christians in Muslim countries.

According to a New York Times article reported yesterday on redstate.com, persecution of Christians is alive and well in Iraq and other Muslim countries. The article reported some findings of a Canadian Parliament committee:

  • Muslim militants are crucifying children to terrorize their Christian parents into fleeing Iraq.
  • Since the war began in 2003, about 12 children, many as young as 10, have been kidnapped and killed, then nailed to makeshift crosses near their homes to terrify and torment their parents.
  • One infant was snatched, decapitated, burned and left on his mother’s doorstep.

In our congregation, we pray for our missionaries quite often. Perhaps we should just as often pray for our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries who are simply trying to worship God and practice their faith, and are dying for it.

“Christian wins car for perfect church attendance”

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Now wouldn’t that be a hoot? Actually, it’s sort of not as far-fetched as it sounds.

I’m a former high school math teacher, and am still involved in a round-about way with secondary education, so one of the blogs I monitor is that of Teacher Magazine. One of their headlines Tuesday caught my eye: “12-year-old wins car for perfect attendance“. The article explained that “Chicago’s school system has offered several rewards in recent years, including vacations to Wisconsin resorts, laptops and iPods”, and that there are those who don’t approve of such rewards. The 12-year-old in question however, did indeed win a car for perfect attendance.

What’s attendance like in your congregation? Would it be better if churches started giving out chances to win something like a car for perfect attendance throughout the year? Not suggesting we actually do that, of course. Whether or not you agree with a school district giving prizes for school attendance, I hope we can agree that such gimmicks are inappropriate when it comes to church attendance.

So what do we do to increase attendance? Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:

  • “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). That’s what Jesus said. Hey, there’s no commandment to even attend worship once a week, much less three times a week, so I guess this doesn’t apply. (That’s not what I believe, nor what I practice, but it is an argument I’d make if I wanted to make excuses for being somewhere else other than worship on Sunday morning.)
  • If you’re looking for a commandment (i.e., a “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not”) to participate in worship weekly or more often, you need an attitude adjustment. We don’t worship because we’re commanded to anyway; we worship because we’re created to! (Isaiah 43:7).
  • You don’t increase church attendance by increasing guilt. You do it by increasing commitment. If members want to be there, they will be. If they agree with what God spoke through the prophet Isaiah — that He created them to bring Him glory — then you won’t have to twist arms to get them there.
  • When the above happens, you won’t see attendance figures at Sunday evening worship or mid-week service (assuming you have one) that are one-third to one-fourth of what they are on Sunday morning. You won’t see very many who only attend on Sunday morning “because that’s the only time it’s commanded”. You’ll see a lot more who hunger and thirst so much for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) that worship and Bible study aren’t obligations; they’re “just what’s done”. They won’t consider being any place else.
  • When members see Christianity as more of a relationship than a religion, they’ll work more on building that relationship. Think of how you build a relationship with your spouse. You spend time with him. You find out what pleases her, and devote yourself to doing those things. The better you know your mate, the better you can relate to him or her. Do you see the connection?

I think we should concentrate less on what’s commanded and what’s demanded, and concentrate more on what’s right. I guess the human equivalent of that is eating oat bran, as Wilford Brimley is known to say, “It’s the right thing to do.”

Well I worship because it’s the right thing to do. I participate in Bible study because the more I know about God and His Son, the closer a relationship I’ll have with Them, and my light will be shining so brightly (Matthew 5:16) people will start wearing sunglasses at night.

Forget about commands. Just do what encourages one another (Hebrews 10:26) and is praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8-9). To God be the glory!