BETTER THAN YOU

Better Than You

Sometimes, I get really tired of the chatter.  I hear it everywhere:  work, church, family gatherings, the gym… 

“I’m better than you… I am not …

...black

...a redneck

...a contractor

...a female

...trashy

...lazy

...ugly
 
...stupid

on and on it goes!

“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Luke 18:11

I am glad I am not so arrogant.  oops. Sometimes I hear it coming out of my own mouth. 

God, have mercy on us!

“For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.”  Romans 12:3

“Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

  

Chocolate Cake?

Chocolate Cake?

            I walked into the fellowship hall in the church basement eagerly anticipating the “pot-luck meal” that was spread before our hungry souls!  I really enjoy fellowship meals  -- trying new offerings, returning to old-favorites, breathing in the aromas, watching the children laugh, enjoying my chance table mates in chatter and sharing.  It is a wonderful time of bonding, sharing, eating, talking, laughing, …

            But, this one was different.  I walked into a loud, noisy crowd of dirty-faced fatties gorging on chocolate cake.  And, the kids were loving it!!  Everybody was stuffing into their gaping mouths devil’s food cake with double chocolate icing.  They were not even taking single slices on their dessert plate, but were hogging whole cakes; and with their bare hands smashing it into their faces.  It was pure bedlam.

            Looking around the room, at the service tables I saw whole dishes of wonderful vegetables completely ignored – steamed cabbage, fried squash, green bean casseroles, home style fries, sweet potato casseroles, …  And, then I looked at the other end of the table and somebody had brought grilled, marinated rib-eye steaks!  And next to it was smoked salmon.  All of this was completely untouched.

            On the sidelines, around the edge of the room, a few concerned mothers seemed to be shamed into silence.  The pastry chefs had won?!

Proverbs 23:6 “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats"

1 Corinthians 3:2 “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”

Hebrews 5:12 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”

1 Corinthians 12:29-31  “²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But earnestly desire the higher gifts.  And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

EVOLUTION

EVOLUTION

                My granddad was a welder; my dad a millwright, and my sons – an electrician and engineer.  Are we climbing up or down the ladder of work?!  (just a joke for my E&I friends.)  Socially we evolve, hoping each succeeding generation will climb a little higher.

                A Hindu thinks it is a repeating cycle.  Linear is the view of orthodox Christians, with eternity on either end of time?!  A secularist sees it as a progression, from a big bang to our current thang.  Are we going around in circles, no more than dust in the wind, or moving toward a destination?

                Spiritually? Are we standing on the shoulders of those before us?  Or, are we jumping from the bank back into the mud-hole?  Ancient Israel would cycle around, every few generations:  rebellion, retribution, repentance, restoration… around and around. (or, sin, servitude, suffering, supplication, salvation, satisfaction?!)  History has seen revivals and awakenings come and go.  Maybe the picture is more like a sine wave oscillating above and below the base line of humanity?

                Sadly, our very hearts, in the words of the hymn, are “prone to wander”.  Are we “pressing on the upward way”?  Or, are we sliding down the “Highway to Hell”?!  If one is not evolving, then he is degenerating.  So, are we swimming upstream?

                The direction of the whole is determined by the parts.  Society is the sum of the individuals within it.  Certainly, leaders have a powerful influence, disproportionately, in where we evolve.  Many would wag that we are spinning downward out of control, not spiraling upwardly.  It is difficult to disagree with them?!

                I remember a episode of Star Trek, “Transfigurations”, in which a rescued, injured alien was mutating into the next stage of his species' existence, a pure energy form.  There are Eastern religions that express similar thoughts (likely where the writer got the idea?).  But, in Holy Scripture, the idea of the seed becoming something magnificently different is expressed by Paul!

                “There will be a day…” is crooned by Jeremy Camp, echoing the earnest longing of many a sensitive soul tired of this fallen world.  “…when the burdens of this place, will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face…” is the hope held out by brother Camp!  The “New World”, to which the Pilgrims escaped, does not begin to compare with the “New Jerusalem”!

                Our world is dying.  God, alone, is the stable, solid, steady One.  All else is degrading and degenerating and deteriorating.  Thankfully, He is also Savior.  God, have mercy on us.