Last week I got some bad news.

I have prostate cancer.

Conventional teaching says that there was no disease in Eden……that disease came along with Adam and Eve’s sin…….that disease is, directly or indirectly, the work of Satan.

We generally don’t attribute disease to God.

But, there can be no question that God tolerates disease. This week I am going to upset a lot of you……..by raising the possibility that God created a disease………specifically prostate cancer.

Bear with me.

The first people on earth, Adam’s children, grandchildren, etc. lived a long time……hundreds of years. Methuselah is the poster child for this longevity……969 years. Many others lived almost as long.

Prostate cancer is a lethal disease of old men. 80% of 80 year old men have it. The number is likely much higher for 100 year old men. Prostate cancer could not have existed in the era of Methuselah. It is inconsistent with that kind of longevity.

What happened?

I’m not sure why, but in Genesis 6:3, God decided that we would only live 120 years…….and it’s been downhill ever since.

Fast forward a few centuries and nearly all men 80 years and older have prostate cancer. In summary, a lethal disease that could not have existed in the era of Methuselah is ubiquitous among old men today. And our decreased longevity reflects it.

It is quite plausible that God created prostate cancer as a tool to limit our longevity…….to achieve his goal of 120 year lives. And, if God created prostate cancer, could he have created other diseases as well…….perhaps breast cancer……..heart disease?

By now you may be ready to post a red hot rebuttal. But, the reason for this post really has very little to do with prostate cancer…….or any other diseases for that matter.

We have a tendency to ascribe everything that we like in this world to God…….and everything that we don’t like to Satan. The corollary is that, in our minds, we don’t allow God to do anything that causes us pain. Instead, we blame it on Satan……or Adam……or the other guy’s free will. Because, if something causes us pain, it must be evil…….and if it’s evil, it must come from Satan……or Adam………or the other guy………anybody but God. In other words……….God wouldn’t dare do anything that I don’t like! I won’t allow it!

In a way we indirectly censor God. We erase anything that we don’t like from God’s CV.

This is precisely why we like the New Testament so much better than the Old Testament.

This mindset puts us in charge of God’s history……and we love being in charge.

But, this is backwards…….God is in charge of our history………both the good……..and at least some of the bad.

Please don’t get me wrong here. God tolerates all of the bad things that befall us. But, he does not cause them all.

And here is the key point.

God loves us. He loves us when he tolerates our misfortunes……and he loves us on those occasions when he orchestrates them. In all of this God promises us a good future……because he loves us.

And here is the hard part.

We need to trust God and his promise.

This is easy when you get the big promotion…….the new car…….when your child is born. It is much much harder when your child dies…..when your wife gets cancer……..when you get old……..when you get prostate cancer.

I believe that God values our love. I also believe that our loving God and trusting in his love is far more valuable to him in our times of pain……when disaster strikes…….because it is so much harder for us to do. Trust, in the face of disaster, is much rarer than in the good times. That makes it more valuable…….to God.

So…….disaster strikes……..and we cry out….WHY????

And he whispers……..trust me……I love you.

And then he waits to see how we handle the disaster.

Father, please strengthen me…….so that I can trust you and love you…….in the good times…….but even more so………. in the storm. Amen

I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

God, NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Paul, NIV

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

John, NIV

Evil

We encounter it every day…….all day…….. everywhere. And yet we don’t talk about it very much. We rarely call it by its name. The only time we mention it in passing is when someone we don’t like does something we don’t like. It has become one of the taboos of our modern society. No matter what the other guy is doing…….no matter what you are doing…….you never look them in the eye and say, “that is wrong…….that is evil”.

You never tell yourself, “that was wrong……that was evil”.

Evil, is arguably one of the two most important forces in our world. Good would be the other.

We talk a lot about good……and the people who do it. This makes us feel hopeful. But I think it’s time we looked under the rock and studied evil for a bit.

Evil comes in three flavors. Evil in the people around us. Evil in ourselves. And, ultimately, evil that exists independent of mankind. As you can see evil permeates every aspect of life.

I could have a field day discussing the evil in the people around me. It would be a lot of fun. But there are plenty of people in the various media platforms that have that base pretty well covered. Besides, the evil in my fellow man is highly resistant to my efforts to defeat it. So……I don’t spend a lot of effort on things that I cannot change.

I could delve into the evil that lives inside of me……and you too. But, I think I’ll put that off for another day.

Today, the topic is the evil that exists independent of mankind.

We live in a physical world, limited by space and time. But there is also another realm that exists alongside the physical world. It is governed by an entirely different set of rules…….space and time are not nearly so important there. We know relatively little about this other realm. It is largely hidden from us. It is occupied by beings who are not physical. These beings are spiritual. They are not constrained by space and time. Because of this, we can’t see or measure them. Because they don’t operate by the “rules” of our physical world many of us deny them or ignore them. That doesn’t make them any less real. Yahweh……..God……is one of them…….but there are others.

This spiritual realm can be divided into good and evil. We talk a lot about God because he runs the good part of the spiritual realm. He loves us and wants us to succeed. His ultimate goal for you and for me is relationship……a relationship based on love…….very much like a parent-child relationship. His goal for us is joy. Sometimes God does send pain into our lives. But pain isn’t his ultimate goal. The pain that God sometimes sends is a side effect…..a necessary intermediate step in his plan for our well being…….for our long term joy. Sort of like a flue shot.

But what about the others……..the spiritual beings on the evil side……… demons…….evil spirits. We don’t like to talk about them. Many of us deny their very existence. People will make fun of you if you bring them up. You are considered immature, naive, if you believe in the “Boogeyman”. But, these evil spiritual beings are real……and there are many of them. They may be independent operators or they may be organized. They operate beneath the surface in our world…..all day……every day.

The key feature of these evil spiritual beings is this:

Just like God……..they have a plan…….a long term goal.

And the plan is simple……..they want you in pain. They can do this by sending pain directly into your life as they did with Job. But, it seems to be far more entertaining for them if they can set it up so that you cause the pain yourself. As with God, they can send you joy. But, the joy that they send is a temporary side effect on the path to their ultimate goal for you……pain. Any cigarette smoker can tell you that they really enjoy that first cigarette in the morning. But, the long term result is pain.

Joy and pain……. Good and evil……health and illness.

You cannot deny their existence though you can ignore them……for a little while.

So…..how do you deal with them……in concrete terms?

You have to choose……you have to decide what side of the joy/pain spectrum you want to live on.

As you go about your life……in every thing you do, even the tiny seemingly inconsequential things………you can either create long term joy…..or long term pain………for yourself…….and for others. And that is how you decide whether you want to operate on the good side or the evil side of the cosmos.

So……..try to grow joy in every thing that you do. If you mess up, take a deep breath, relax, and start all over.

Know this.

The surest path to joy is to grow your relationship with the ultimate source of joy……God…….Abba…….. Father.

And that includes trusting him and accepting the temporary painful side effects that sometimes come our way.

This is the best description of evil and pain that I have ever run across. It is in “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. It is a letter from an old demon counselling an apprentice demon whose job is to lead a man…….. his client……. to hell.

“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (God). It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards will do the trick.

Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

C.S. Lewis

I am an American.

If you had to digest the idea of America down to a single word………it would probably be “freedom”.

We are………”the land of the free”. Freedom is what makes us different………it is what makes us special…..and we are special, despite what the talking heads and many of our leaders tell us………freedom defines us.

But what is freedom?

There is an interesting relationship between freedom and rules.

It turns out that these ideas are not opposites.

The absence of rules is not freedom. The absence of rules………is anarchy.

These ideas are not the same.

The presence of rules is not freedom. The 625 rules of the old testament law did not lead to freedom……you can make a good argument that they led to slavery. Far too many Christians……and secular humanists for that matter…….think that rules are what Christianity is all about. Do this…….and don’t even think about doing that!

Freedom, however is much more subtle than that.

Freedom is the product of being who we were created to be……..of doing the job that we were created to do……of existing in the relationships that we were created for……..and that requires us to seek out our place……..our purpose…….our identity. Some do it well……they get very close………others struggle through an entire lifetime in a pigeon hole that just never seems “right”. They try so hard to create their own identity. And they usually find one………typically, an identity that aligns with their appetites. Then they spend a lifetime pursuing appetites that just don’t satisfy. And there’s the rub. It turns out that we do not get to choose our identity…….our place……. our purpose. It has already been chosen for us.

We do not get to choose our identity. It has already been chosen for us.

It seems odd that we become free, fulfilled, even satisfied by following a path that was defined by someone else…….but it is true. You are not going to create a new unique identity. You are not going to become a unique snowflake…….and neither am I. Ultimately, we are both going to follow some entity. So…….whom do you decide to follow?

The “who” of this decision will determine the success of your life. You will be influenced by many ideas. The burning question is this: when push comes to shove…….when two ideas are in conflict…….to whom do you turn as the final arbiter.

Who is your ultimate guide?

There are countless organizations screaming at you every day…….trying to herd you into their flock……. progressives, conservatives, secular humanists, atheists, and …….yes……Christians. No matter how confident you are in your choice of identities……..you are following someone and his or her ideas.

You can probably name the person/entity that you follow……….try it.

If you believe in Darwinism…….then I have no answer for you. You are a biochemical accident. There is no overarching truth. The only hard rule is that you must broadcast your DNA as widely as possible. Make your way as best you can. Do as you please……….and so will the other guy. But, understand that Darwinism…….the absence of an overarching, absolute………truth puts society and you on the anarchy end of the spectrum…….and the last year or so sure looks that way.

If you believe in rules……..things are not much better. Our government will gladly provide you with plenty of rules. Follow as many of them as you can…….and hope that the other guy does too. But understand that rules put society on the slavery end of the spectrum.

Where is the answer………where is the key to living a successful life…..where is the truth?

I believe in a creator…….. God, who loves me, cares for me, and wants my life to succeed……no matter how wonderful today looks……..no matter how black today looks. He has a long range plan for my well being.

He gives me the credo that will lead to a successful life.

Love God……Love my neighbor.

Yeah….. Yeah….you say……I’ve heard this all before.

But, imagine a world where everyone followed this credo……..can you honestly say that it wouldn’t work…….can you honestly say that your plan……or (fill in the blank)’s plan is better.

I think that God……..the creator………my creator……Abba……..is on to something. And I am trying hard to follow his plan for me…….even when it is in conflict with my appetites. And every now and then, I have a whole day when I actually pull it off.

And guess what?…………it works.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul. NIV

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father .” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Paul, NIV

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus NIV

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Paul. NIV

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus, NIV

To start off with, I’m a Christian…….you probably guessed.

I believe in a creator……..and I believe in heaven and hell…….because he does.

I also believe that there is some truth in Darwin.

But, I believe that Darwin has been badly “oversold” and that Darwinian evolution will result in more people missing out on paradise and suffering hell than any other idea that mankind has ever encountered.

So……what part of Darwinian evolution (DE) is true?

I am satisfied that DE operates on a small scale. A colony of e coli that is treated with tiny doses of penicillin can develop resistance to penicillin. This resistant bug is not a new species, but it is a example of DE at work.

The problem with this is a problem that any businessman is familiar with…….. scalability. Just because you can make a widget with hand tools in your garage doesn’t mean that you can make a million copies in a factory and sell them at a price that is competitive.

In more concrete terms:

If you put a monkey in a laboratory with a pile of bricks, it is entirely feasible that he will stack 3 bricks in a neat stack. That doesn’t mean that if you assemble a large number of monkeys, give them a large pile of bricks, and allow them a large amount of time that they can build the empire state building. The process of monkeys stacking bricks is legitimate……..but it doesn’t “scale”. And yet that is what Darwin requires us to accept…….that because e coli can develope antibiotic resistance by accident in a lab…..then every living organism in this amazing world can develop…….purely by accident.

DE has 2 components…….random mutation and survival of the fittest.

Last week I addressed the reality that the 100 billion chemical bonds in the human genome could not accumulate by a series of accidents…….by random mutation . This week I will tackle survival of the fittest. Survival of the fittest says that after a mutation produces a trait that is positively adaptive, that, because of its benefits, the trait will spread through the entire population by outcompeting weaker traits. This will then repeat for every one of the millions of traits present in man. This process must occur as a series of individual events, lest positive trait #50589 could undo positive trait # 24775.

So I propose a hypothetical:

Assume that you have a daughter. At age three you realize that she can see through walls……just like superman. This is obviously a highly adaptive trait which she passes on to all of her children. How many generations do you think it would take for that trait to spread through the entire population of the world……now almost 8 billion souls? Remember, DE operated mainly in an era before transoceanic travel. Perhaps 1000 generations?……each 20 years. So maybe 20,000 years for one trait to work through the entire world population? Now multiply 20,000 years per trait by the trillions of traits in the billions of species between the “primordial ooze” and Angelina Jolie.

Science tells us that life has existed on earth for 4 billion years. That’s a lot of time. But it’s not nearly enough time for survival of the fittest to do the job that DE has assigned to it. In Darwin’s defense, he didn’t know the time frame involved and he didn’t know just how big the human genome…….and the billions of other genomes are.

The problem for both random mutation and survival of the fittest is the same…….they don’t “scale”. Even if Darwin has 4 billion years to work with……there just isn’t enough time.

Darwinian evolution, by design, eliminates the creator from the equation. Darwinian evolution replaces the creator with trillions of random, consecutive, positively adaptive accidents. Darwin also
replaces eternity……heaven and hell……with nothing…….a black void.

So……the burning question is this:

Are you prepared to gamble your eternity on Darwin? Are you willing to bet your eternity on a bunch of monkeys building the empire state building?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John, NIV

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Paul, NIV

I am the Lord,
the Maker of all things,
who stretches out the heavens,
who spreads out the earth by myself,
who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,

God, NIV

I’m sitting on my front porch watching the day begin. I’m surrounded by trees and flowers. The sky is a deep rich blue. There is a gentle breeze rustling the leaves. The birds are singing and raiding the bird feeder. It’s still just a little cool……but not uncomfortable. A hummingbird hovers in front of me. I am blessed to live in what amounts to a garden. So do you. I often think that this setting must be something like Eden once was.

And that brings me to a question……… the greatest question of my life…….yours too.

“How did this all come to be?”

And the implicit second half of the question:

“Is there a creator behind it all?”

There are only two possibilities: either it’s all a series of accidents………or it is the handiwork of an intelligent creator.

This question is the first step in a “logic tree”…….it is a fork in the road. The two choices are mutually exclusive. One of them is right and one of them is wrong. Going downstream from this fork, we will make millions of choices. But, they will all be pre-ordained by this first decision. And that is why it is so important that we get the first decision right.

So we decide. The accident fork leads to what we call secular humanism. The creation fork leads to what we call intelligent design.

Neither of these answers can be conclusively proven. Each fork requires us to make assumptions that we accept on faith. Each of these forks is in fact……..a religion.

So…….how do we decide?

Typically, we begin with some assumptions.

For example:

Modern science is essentially complete……it can explain it all.

There are parts of the cosmos that cannot be seen, measured, or even understood.

Mankind is the highest life form in the known universe.

There is an intelligent being superior to us.

We look around us. We measure. We assess the probabilities.

Then comes the dangerous part. We filter all of this through our desires…….our appetites. In particular…..do we want to be the final arbiter…..the top decision maker……..or do we submit to a higher power.

Do we assume command of the universe or are we subservient to a creator?

If we are honest with ourselves, we generally put our appetites ahead of the truth. The reality is that this last step is largely how most of us handle the decision…….this is how we choose the fork in the road. To get this right…….we must ask…….am I in charge of my life and my world……..or is God in charge?

So…….first of all……..what is the object of the exercise?

I think that it must be………to find the truth………accident or creation.

How do we do that?

We have to begin by stripping away all of the ideas that interfere with our search for the truth. We must set aside all of our assumptions. Especially the assumption that we understand everything…..that we are even capable of understanding everything…..because it is crystal clear that we encounter things every day that we cannot explain. Second…….and this step is much harder…….we must stop filtering our analysis through our desires and appetites. In today’s political climate this has become the norm. We sift through the facts on the web, we share the facts that agree with our needs, that agree with our desires, and we discard anything that we don’t like.

These two steps will prepare you for an honest searching assessment of the question. If you can do these two things……then you are ready to begin an honest quest……..for the truth. If you can do these two things…….then you are ready to choose the fork in the road.

Accident vs. Creation.

Accident:

We are actually talking about trillions of accidents. Each one improves the situation. Each one builds on the preceding accidents. Each one is permanent. But, here’s the rub…….each accident has a probability. The net probability that the accident explanation is true is the product of multiplying the trillions of individual probabilities. The human genome alone has about 100 billion “accidental” chemical bonds. And that is just one of trillions of genomes out there. The net probability that accidents could account for this amazingly complex universe is staggeringly small….even if you allow hundreds of billions of years…….so small that it is a good working definition for the term…… impossible.

Creation:

Creation is an almost magical explanation for the universe. It is very simple………God did it. As a theory, it is comprehensive. It is easy to understand. It has withstood the test of time……. it’s been around a lot longer than science. So…..what is the problem? There are several. First of all, creation flies in the face of modern science. It requires us to discard the thousands of assumptions that science is founded on……especially the assumption that science has it all correctly figured out. Second, and most important, it requires us to accept the idea that we are not in charge here……the idea that we were created…..put here…..by an entity who is in every way superior to us……..God. Even worse, we must sign on to the idea that our creator has expectations of us……. expectations that often run counter to our appetites……and we hate that most of all.

So our choice is between secular humanism, which is statistically impossible, and creation, which requires us to accept a realm that is beyond our ability to measure or even understand…….a realm that requires us to submit to a higher power…….a power who insists that we follow two foundational rules:

Love God and love our fellow man.

That’s it……….now choose.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Moses, NIV

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

God, NIV

then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

Solomon, NIV

My wife Cindy and I have been married for almost 45 years.

She is the love of my life and has been from the moment when we met.

She is a fountain of love and care for the people around her. She is highly entertaining……a lot of fun to be around. If you know her, you’ve heard the ring tone on her phone……”Girls Just Want to Have Fun!” There is only one sure way to get on her bad side…….and that is to hurt someone she loves and cares for……..and she loves and cares for just about everybody.

Cindy has breast cancer.

Invasive

Metastatic

Terminal

Breast cancer.

This came at us right out of the blue. It turned up on a screening mammogram. One day we were looking at vacation/retirement homes…….the next day we were shopping for a surgeon and an oncologist. You would think that this turn of events would be devastating. The thing is……….the cancer hasn’t changed her much at all.

How can you be joyful, loving, generous, and most of all at peace………when you have invasive, metastatic, terminal breast cancer?

It’s not as difficult as you might think.

Cindy is a Christian. That means that she has accepted Christ as her saviour…….and along with that, his promises: That he has her in his hand…….that he has prepared a place for her…….that he has a plan for her well-being. That she is loved and cherished…….not just by me………but by the creator of the universe.

In a word……….Cindy anchors her life on trust. She trusts that we were put here on purpose by a creator who has a plan……a plan for our well being……..even when we cannot see it or understand it. She trusts that behind that plan is a father who loves her……..and me……..and you…….with a love that is completely beyond our understanding. She trusts that he will take care of her………that he has her in his hand.

If all that you have to hold on to is your own wisdom……..if all that you trust is what you understand……..then it is no wonder that you live a life of quiet desperation……..because you…..and I…… can only see a tiny bit of reality. And what we can see is not very encouraging. The greatest hope for any of us is, to a large degree, hidden from us.

This is probably not an accident.

That hope centers on the love of our creator.

Our greatest hope in this life is the love of our creator.

If you reject that hope…….all I can say is that I disagree with you………and that I admire your courage. I couldn’t make it through a day without the hope that comes from my father……Abba.

Cindy is my guide on this journey.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul, NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Paul, NIV

We don’t think about today very much. Often, today is something that we need to get through…….so that we can get on to tomorrow. Tomorrow seems to be when the important stuff is going to happen.

There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead…… Proverbs encourages it.

But we need to keep tomorrow in perspective. The place where we live……..is today. As I get older……closer to the end……..I find that I am developing a more intimate relationship with today. I spend a lot less time thinking about…….worrying about…… tomorrow.

The tension between today and tomorrow has even crept into my prayer life. I’ve noticed that my prayers have developed a focus on the long term.

I pray for a Christian government……..in the next election or so.

I pray for an end to abortion……… when the supreme court shifts to the right……hopefully in my lifetime.

I pray for healing from cancer for family and friends…….over the next decade.

This is very practical. If I miss a day……no biggie. Last week’s prayer should be good for a while. Also, if nothing improves in the next 24 hours, it’s not a problem. In a way I’m saying to God…….”take your time”…….for now….. I’ve got this under control.

But do I really have things under control? A quick look around suggests that things are not going well.

So ……..I am shifting the focus of my prayers…….my “to do list” for God. I am going to spend more time on praying for today.

Please guide our leaders (Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and McConnell)………today.

Please convince one woman with an unwanted pregnancy to let her child live…….. today.

Please destroy Cindy’s cancer…….today.

This is interesting.

In a way, this increases the urgency of the prayer…….the immediacy of the prayer. These “today” prayers expire. They are good for one day. If I miss a day……I’m not covered.

If I miss a day………I’m on my own…….and that is a scary place.

In addition, there is a side effect. My “today” prayer brings my relationship……my dependence……..on God into focus. Instead of firing off a list of long term objectives……sort of a 5 year plan for God, I am depending on God to get me through the next 24 hours.

And this is the correct posture for a 68 year old man in relation to the creator of the universe.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus, NIV

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