I run a small woodworking business. Mostly I build canes and small tables.

I have a shop full of tools that I use every day. These tools are fairly basic and for the most part I understand how they work.

However, every now and then, one of my tools does something that makes no sense. I struggle with it to get it to do what I want. I throw up my hands. Occasionally…….I say bad words to my tools. They don’t seem to understand.

Today it is a drill press that will not accept my changes to its speed control. As a last resort…….because all else has failed…..I will pull out the owners manual and read the instructions. I have no doubt that after reading the instructions and looking over the parts diagram, I will be able to work through the problem.

I can’t help but notice that the same process applies to the problems I face every day in my life.

Something goes wrong…….I get frustrated because the first two or three fixes that I try don’t work. I throw up my hands. Sometimes I say bad words.

Then……. because all else has failed……..I drag out the instructions.

For me, the instructions are contained in the Bible. Obviously, it’s a pretty big owner’s manual. The general public rarely refers to it. The vast majority of Christians have never read it cover to cover. Most Christians are vaguely familiar with a few passages.

But, I never encounter a people problem that cannot be solved by referring to it. The problem is that the solutions in the instruction book often go against my nature……against what my appetites demand. But, they work……..every time. Sometimes they don’t work immediately……..but, over the long haul they work……if I can just stick with them.

You probably have a people problem that you are struggling with today. If you don’t, just wait…..one will come up. I don’t expect you to pull out the Bible and plow into Genesis right now…….though it wouldn’t hurt.

So here is the Cliff Notes version:

The Holy Bible…….abridged:

Love God

Love your neighbor

Today I am struggling with a difficult customer. He may be a little confused. He definitely hasn’t read the information that I provided. He ordered a custom cane, returned it damaged, gave me a bad review, then ordered another cane in a different size and color. Now I have a voice message to call him. I suspect that he has a problem with the second cane. The protocols of the web site that I sell through are crystal clear. The cane is not returnable and is not refundable.

I want to scream “tough luck schmuckerooski!”

But, the owners manual says different:

Love him.

And that is what I will do…….. later this morning.

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Jesus NIV

love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Jesus NIV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Jesus NIV

Time

We deal with it every day…..all day.

We can measure it very accurately. We organize our days around it. We cannot move without a device to keep track of it…….and we can get into serious trouble if we fail to do so. If you don’t believe me, try going a day without your watch and smart phone.

And yet……..time is slippery stuff.

For many centuries, time was circular. The seasons kept repeating and little changed…….each year the same as the last. In our modern world time has changed. Time has become linear…….each year is different. Each year builds on the last. Rather than continually recycling, time is moving toward something…….for better……or worse.

How long is a year? Ask any kid in January……”how long till Christmas?” They know……they will tell you…….it is forever. To a child, even to a young adult, a year is a long time……..so long that they actually count them. Tell a 15 hear old that they are 14 and they will immediately correct you. Ask a 28 year old if they have “grab rails” in their bathroom…….and they will laugh.

But……for those of us who are old, time is entirely different. If somebody asks me, “how long since……..”, my typical answer is……”seems like 5 years…….so it has probably been 10.” At age 68, a year is extremely short. They run past so fast that I no longer count them.

So…….how much time do you and I have left?

For the time being I will ignore the obvious possibility that you or I could be hit by a train 15 minutes from now. We consciously ignore this question…….we literally “whistle past the graveyard”.

So, again, barring an unplanned catastrophy, how much time do we have?

It depends.

The child is too busy having fun. The young adult finds the question irrelevant because the amount of time is so large……and besides……they have plans. The 68 year old avoids the question because the years are so short and there are so few of them left. I just bought a new truck……it has occurred to me that this could be my last new truck. I sometimes start a project and wonder if I will have enough time to finish it.

And then there is eternity…….an idea that is so huge that we simple cannot wrap our brains around it. As a Christian, the ideas of eternity, paradise, and hell are very real and are closely intertwined. But, even for a secular humanist, eternity exists. The difference is that, as a Christian, I believe that I will actively participate in eternity……..the secular humanist believes that he will not. I will dismiss, for the time being, the secular humanist who has created his own “designer paradise”. This is a pleasant distraction………but it is intellectually dishonest. Either the Christian or the secular humanist must be wrong. There is no comfortable, middle of the road, compromise. Christianity and secular humanism are mutually exclusive……..like it or not.

We all accept the existence of eternity……one way or another. So we return to the original question.

“How much time do I have left?”

It turns out that the child and the young adult are wrong. In the face of eternity……a year in our temporal world is the blink of an eye……..and so is my life………and so is yours. I will die…….soon……..and so will you. You may not accept this now………but you will……if and when you are 68…………and that will happen before you know it.

15 years from now, I and most of the people my age will be dead.

The answer……whether you are 8, 28, or 68……is that you don’t have much time left.

What to do?

Time in our temporal world is precious. Use it wisely. You have a limited number of minutes to use……and any minute that you spend angry is wasted…….lost forever. Any minute you spent in front of a TV is almost as bad. Instead, spend your time…….your minutes……….your life……. loving and caring for God and your fellow man.

This is the central theme of the Bible.

Time in eternity is far different. I cannot say that I understand it……but time as we know it will probably not exist. It will be neither linear nor circular. But, I know one thing……..it will be big. It might be very nice…..it might be very unpleasant……. it might even be a black empty void if the secular humanist is right. But, one way or another, you need to prepare yourself.

Of course…….if you are a secular humanist and you are right, you needn’t concern yourself, you won’t be there.

But I will.

And more than anything else……I want you to join me.

you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James, NIV

Show me, Lord, my life’s end
    and the number of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
    even those who seem secure.

David, NIV

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Solomon, NIV

Image someone coming to you and offering you something of great value. All they ask for in return is that you love and honor them. Seems like a great deal.

This is Christianity in a nutshell.

So…….how do you explain the fact that about half of us reject the offer outright? Then, about half of those who nominally accept the offer do so half heartedly………they accept the gift….but shut the giver up in a tiny corner of their life. They check the box for an hour on Sunday……..or worse, only on Easter and Christmas Eve.

That is pretty much the case with Christianity.

Why do so many of us resist God’s offer?

What is it about the offer that is so terrifying?

Some will say that science and history don’t support Christianity. They don’t want to look foolish…..or naive. But, realistically, science and history don’t support secular humanism either…..science has no answer to the really big questions: “what caused the big bang?” or “how did life begin?” or “how does a new species form?” or “how did we shift from asexual reproduction to sexual reproduction…….among others. Science is a foil that we use to keep God at a distance. The source of our fear must be somewhere else.

I believe that the reason that so many people embrace secular humanism……….even among nominal Christians………is that Christianity terrifies them.

I have always been a nominal Christian. But, for decades, if you judged me by the way I ran my life, I was a practicing secular humanist. During that time I dated a serious Christian woman and one day my lukewarm “secular” faith came up in conversion. She said, “what are you afraid of……that God will ask you to do something that you don’t want to do?” Afraid didn’t come close……I was terrified. I dropped her like a bad habit.

And that brings me around to the topic of this post. I believe that the thing that terrifies people the most about serious Christianity is change.

We like our life just the way it is. We are comfortable and we are afraid of being nudged out of our comfort zone. We have no use for a belief system that will disturb the status quo…….that will disrupt the way we operate. We want to be in charge. We ask ourselves……what if God tells me to sell my stuff, take a plane to Nicaragua and wait for further instructions?

Well……here it comes.

There is one thing that you can count on…….and that is that becoming a serious Christian will change you.

The change will be big and it will be permanent. All of your friends will notice. Some may even drop you.

There it is.

But……… what will that change look like?

It probably won’t be a “vacation” in Nicaragua. When God asks you to do something…….it will be something you are good at. After all he created you for a reason and gave you the skills that you posses for a reason. You will never be more satisfied than when you are using the talent that you have been given for the purpose that it was intended……….by the guy who made you. I promise you that this is true.

Rather….

You will be expected to love and care for your fellow man.

You will love and honor your creator.

You will be asked to live your life in a fashion that will make God happy…….and that will make you happy.

You will ultimately give up some things:

Lying, stealing, murder, disrespecting your parents, extramarital sex, jealousy, working on Sunday.

Relax……you can ease into this. You don’t have to be perfect…….not today…….not tomorrow……. not ever. But, you will find yourself trying to improve.

And the result of that change will be the peace and the joy that comes from being in the relationship that you were created to be in………..that comes from being the person whom you were created to be……..the son or daughter of a king.

Christianity will change you into a better version of yourself………….into a better spouse/parent………. into a better friend for the people around you………into a better child of your creator…………into a happier version of yourself.

That change is good. It’s good for the rest of us. But, it is especially good for you.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul. NIV

“I am making everything new !”

God, NIV

Hypocrisy.

The hallmark of hypocrisy is inconsistency. We talk a good game……..but then we go and do something else.

This is a charge often leveled at Christians by non-Christians. They say that we don’t practice what we preach.

It is also a foil often used by non-Christians to avoid dealing with Christianity. They say that they would be hypocrites to accept Christianity…….and the promise of paradise…….. after having lived the way they have lived. They have a vision of paradise that they just don’t fit into (clouds, harps, halos, etc).

So…….first, let me get one thing out there in the open.

I am a hypocrite.

I say we should love our fellow man……but it is a rare day when I don’t fail to do this at least once.

Will I make it to paradise?…….. probably…….me and whole crowd of people like me. The simple truth is that paradise is going to be crawling with hypocrites…….people who recognize Jesus but have often failed to follow his command to love one another.

Even worse, hell will probably have a lower percentage of hypocrites than paradise. Imagine a sociopathic serial rapist. His philosophy of life is to take whatever he wants and to do whatever he wants with no regard for others. There is not a whiff of hypocrisy there.

And that brings me to a couple of common misconceptions:

Paradise is a place where you will be rewarded for your good behavior. Nope…… paradise is a place where you will be rewarded for recognizing and honoring Jesus’ sacrifice for you……..in spite of your behavior.

Hell is a place where you will be punished for your misbehavior. Nope……..hell is a place where you will be isolated from the love of your creator. This is its worst feature……..but hardly its only bad attribute. Yes…….the coffee will probably be cold. I won’t dwell on the details……but I can promise you this…….you do not want to end up there.

So…….I am a hypocrite. I try to root it out of my life…..but I fail…….every day.

And I’m on way to a very nice place where I will spend forever with a bunch of other hypocrites.

If you are a Christian……..and a hypocrite…….. I’ll see you there. We will sit down someday in a quiet little cafe and wonder at the incredible gift that we have been given……by a creator who loves us in a way that we simply cannot comprehend.

If you are a non-Christian…….if the way you run your life is completely intellectually consistent……..my hope is that someday you too will become a hypocrite.

I’ll save you a seat.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Paul, NIV

I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

John, NIV

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Paul, NIV

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Paul, NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Paul, NIV