I’ve heard it said that the most valuable things in life cannot be seen, touched, held, or possessed. I am convinced that this is true. It is also true that we spend most of our energy and resources chasing things that are far less valuable. We get distracted by the shiny trinket and fail to see the treasure sitting beside it.

When I look at a list of the greatest valuables in the cosmos and then look at the truly bad things going on in our society, or in our world for that matter, I can see a connection. All of the bad in our world…….all of the evil……is a direct result of our failure to pursue the truly valuable treasures that are right in front of us.

So…….what is truly valuable?

God……father, son and spirit……creator, redeemer, and teacher.

Our soul…….the only part of us that is permanent.

Eternity……..paradise and hell……where we will spend all but a brief moment of our existence.

Love……..the motivating force behind all of it.

We discount, we ignore, these things because we cannot see them. So…….I have an exercise for you. Write down the one thing, relationship, idea that you would miss the most…….if it were gone…….forever. Then search your world and find something more precious to you. Keep repeating this until you find the most precious thing in your world. You will find that it is likely something that is not physical…….it is not something that you can see.

If your most precious thing is a physical object, then I challenge you to abandon the shallow water and dive deeper. Because the best things in life are not physical objects………even better…….they are free.

If your most precious thing is a Maclaren roadster that you can probably never afford, then you shouldn’t be surprised if your life seems shallow…….meaningless. To find meaning, to find joy, to find fulfillment……..pursue a loving relationship……..first with God, the inventor of love……then with someone in your world……..then with everyone else.

Because that is what your soul was created for……..any other pursuit………is a waste of your time.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Jesus, Matthew 13: 44-46, ESV

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

Proverbs 31:10, ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus, Matthew 6:19,-21, ESV

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Jesus, Matthew 16:26, ESV

Let’s face it……..there are really rotten people out there. And there are many more who are sometimes unkind.

Fact is…….there are a lot of them.

You will meet and interact with one of them today…….tomorrow at the latest.

Consider the last person who treated you badly:

He cut you off in traffic……..then gave you the finger.

She said things about you that weren’t true…..behind your back.

He took credit for something special that you did at work.

She excluded you from a social event that everyone else attended.

I didn’t return your call.

You passed judgement on something that someone else did……or didn’t do………when you didn’t have all of the facts……because you never have all of the facts.

Like it or not……..this is the human condition.

Someone treats us badly……and we get mad. Sometimes we retaliate, sometimes we just stew over it.

One of the best movies that I have ever watched is “The Shack”. I highly recommend it. If you haven’t seen it, it is about an encounter between a man who has been greviously wronged…….and the Trinity. God is played by an older black woman. Whenever a human is mentioned she says, “I’m especially fond of him/her.” And that is one of the major subplots of the film.

We are all flawed…..broken. We all carry a kernel of evil around with us…….all day………every day. Obviously, some of us are 95% evil, some are 0.0001% evil. From the perspective of a God who is completely free of evil…….the difference is inconsequential.

And yet…….God loves us…….every last one of us.

God is especially fond……..of me.

And I really like that.

What I struggle with is the fact that God loves the jerk too. God loves the jerk just as much as he loves me.

God loves jerks just as much as he loves nice poeple.

So, the next time someone mistreats you…..when you are getting ready to give them the treatment that they so desperately deserve……..remember that this rotten person is someone whom God is ” especially fond of”.

When you attack them…….you are attacking God.

I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Jesus, Mathew 5:44-45, ESV

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Paul, Romans 12:19, ESV

We hear it all of the time. The Bible describes one of the key differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament as the place where God lives. In the Old Testament, God lived in the temple. In the New Testament, he lives in our hearts. Our hearts are God’s home.

Do you ever wonder……..what kind of home the heart of man is……..what kind of a home your heart is? Ideally, our hearts would be places where God is valued and loved………where he is a central actor in everything that goes on.

My meditation today is on comparing your family home with the home you are providing………for God.

First, consider what a good home looks like……..the kind of home you try to build for your family. Every member of the family is loved and valued. Just about every activity revolves about caring for the members of the family…….physically, mentally, and emotionally. We take steps to protect our family from threats that, hopefully, exist only outside. We teach our kids the skills that they will need to thrive in the world. And, yes, we discipline them when they go astray. So far so good.

Now, how does God fit into our home? What kind of a place do we find for him……….in our family?

For example:

He is a member of the family…….included in the plans and decision-making. He is included in the family conversation. We know where he is……all of the time. If we turn around and can’t find him…….we panic. We give a lot of thought to meeting his needs and wants. We work to stengthen our relationship………to make it last……as long as we have breath in us. His happiness and success are among our top goals. We cannot be fully happy if he is not happy. We spend our resources to promote his well being…….we feed him before we feed ourselves. In a word……..we put his needs ahead of our own…….we serve him.

Or

We visit him on the weekend. Maybe we have his picture on the wall. When we are in trouble we seek his help……give him a “to-do” list. We honor his advice…….as long as he agrees with us…….or, even worse, as long as he agrees with our favorite politician. If he tells us that what we are doing is wrong…….we tell him to sit down and shut up. God is to be seen…….not heard. When it comes to our resources………he gets the left overs. When it comes to our love……..he gets the left overs. In a word……..he serves us.

I think that all of us drift into the second category from time to time. But, some Christians live there every day. If they treated the rest of their family……..the way they treat God, they would be candidates for a visit from a child welfare worker.

So…….what does your family……..your home…..look like……to God?

Is it possible that you are guilty………of God abuse?

Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ

Paul, Ephesians 3:17-19, ESV

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul. Galatians 2:20, ESV

the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John. 1:14, ESV

We love them. We want them to be sucessful……and happy. It doesn’t matter if they are 6……or 60. And it breaks our hearts when they mess up……..when they do something that we know is self destructive. And they do it………over and over.

I used to tell my sons that I could predict the future…….that if they were late getting home on Friday night……..that they wouldn’t be going out on Saturday night. This was usually not well received.

The rules and restrictions that Cindy and I placed on our boys were set up primarily for their protection…….were set up primarily to lead them to success…….were set up to prevent them from doing something self destructive. The rules grew out of our love.

As our sons grew into manhood, they became more and more independent……..and our rules and restrictions gradually morphed into advice. But, the motivation behind them remained the same……..we still want them to be sucessful and happy…….and to avoid self destructive behaviour. The other thing that hasn’t changed……..is that much of this advice is ignored.

We see our adult children doing something. We look down the road and can see the inevitable bad outcome. We offer advice…..and often the advice is ignored…..or outright rejected. And this breaks our heart…….because, like it or not, we can still predict the future. Pretty obvious……..this is one of the inescapable realities of parenting.

Here’s the thing………God is my parent…….my creator. He gives me advice because he wants me to be successful and happy…….because he wants to spare me from a bad outcome. God’s advice…….God’s rules grow out of his love for us. And…….from time to time……….I ignore……..I reject his advice. And I break God’s heart……..because he too…..can see the future.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!

Jesus, Luke 19:41, ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jesus, Mathew 23:37, ESV

Politically, I am conservative……..you probably guessed. As for the major hot button issues: I oppose abortion, support the right to bear arms, and favor freedom over big government. I favor personal responsibility over entitlement. Of the major “news” outlets, Fox, more than any, other caters to my opinions. And yet, I rarely watch Fox. How can that be?

For what it’s worth, if you are a liberal, you can substitute CNN, MSNBC, or many of the other major media outlets. The problem is the same.

If you tune in Fox or CNN or MSNBC, there will be a “talking head” discussing the three or four topics that have him or her outraged today. Stay tuned for 5 hours and he or she will say the same thing over and over 50 different ways.

I can summarize the next 100 hours of broadcast journalism on all of the major networks in one sentence.

There are a lot of bad people doing bad things out there…….all day……every day.

I don’t watch Fox because when I do……I get mad. And that is the whole point. Fox, CNN, and the rest want you mad. They make their living by making you mad. They hope to advance their political agenda by getting you mad and keeping you mad.

Here’s the thing…….I don’t need the media to get mad. I am fully capable of getting mad………all on my own…….completely unsupervised.

And perhaps, that is the other face of the problem. We are all mad and we’re getting madder.

Mad is not what we were built for. God didn’t create Adam and Eve and put them in a garden so that they could fight. He put them there to love each other and to care for each other, and to love him. Instead, what he got was a “cage match” between 8 billion combatants.

Here is my suggestion.

Take the time every day that you spend watching the news……and getting mad…….or maybe scared. Set apart some of that time……maybe half of it……..and read a good book. Choose a book that will take you to the place that you were created for……..a place of love, charity, and, most of all, hope. Do this for a week or so. You couldn’t choose a better book than the Bible. A good place to start would be the book of John.

I bet you’ll feel better. In fact, you won’t just feel better…….you will be better. Because you will have taken a step closer to the place where you were meant to be………the place that you were created for…….and a step away from the “cage match”.

The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James, 1:20, ESV

But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry…”

Jonah, 4:9, ESV

I was a physician for almost 40 years. In that time, I have seen a lot of pain……physical……and emotional. We all deal with it. We try to avoid it. But, we really don’t give it a lot of thought. We understand that pain is bad…….that there is mild pain……and severe pain. But there is an aspect of pain that we rarely consider…….the time course of pain. There is short term pain……..and there is chronic pain. In terms of misery, the duration of pain is a bigger contributor than the severity of the pain.

In my career……..and in my life…….the most miserable people I have met did not have the most severe pain. They were people whose pain was mild to moderate, but whose pain was long term. The most miserable of all had pain that was never going to go away.

This post is about the most extreme form of chronic pain……..eternal pain.

The Bible teaches many radical concepts. In terms of importance, the most important is the concept of a creator………a creator who loves us, who wants the best for us, and who has expectations of us. Arguably, the second most important concept in the Bible is the idea of eternity……..the idea of a place where time has no end…….where time, for all practical purposes, does not exist. This is closely tied to the concept of the soul…….that part of each of us that operates…….or will operate…… in eternity.

Pain……..joy…….eternity.

The Bible teaches that when we die, our soul will ultimately go to a place where time does not end. It also teaches that there is a division in eternity. There will be pain and there will be joy. And they will be permanently and completely separated, unlike our temporal world where we experience moments of joy and moments of pain. In eternity, there is a chasm separating joy and pain. In eternity, we will either experience constant joy……or constant pain……….paradise or hell.

We hear a lot about the severity of the pain in hell. But, I think that this misses the point. The worst part of hell will not be the severity of the pain……..it will be the fact that it has no end. There will be no hope for a better tomorrow.

Eternity + pain + lost hope = misery

This is a place that I really want to avoid. You may say that you don’t believe in eternity……..that you die and the lights just go out…….or that you go to a place that you have dreamed up on your own……..but you had better be right.

The threat of pain after death is real. Don’t focus on the details of the cause of the pain…….”will the coffee be cold”……..focus on the duration of the pain, which is ultimately the determinant of your misery.

‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

A conversation between Abraham in paradise and a rich man in hell as told by Jesus, Luke 16:24-26

When I was a kid, my Mom rarely went to church…….and my Dad…….never. And yet they sent me and my sister with the neighbors to a local Baptist church. Later a church opened up near our house and Mom attended with us. In a word, I was raised as a Christian…….but a fairly lukewarm one. In college I walked away from my faith. I wasn’t a “bad” person…….but I wasn’t a practicing Christian either. I ran my life according to my rules……..I did as I pleased…….I executed my plans…….and I did well.

Later I was dating a girl who was a strong Christian, and she called me out. She said, “What are you afraid of?…..are you afraid that God will ask you to do something that you don’t want to do?” In so many words, she was saying, “Are you afraid that God will disrupt your plans?” I realized that I was standing on the brink……of a precipice. I realized that to return to Christianity could drastically change my path in life. And I blinked. I broke up with the girl and returned to my self-directed…….successful…….non-Christian life. Decades later I found my way back…….and here I am.

So…….what’s the point?

The point is…….the precipice…….the brink.

Intuitively, we know that stepping off of the brink……embracing Christianity……..will change things……will change us.

Making a serious commitment to Christianity will permanently and significantly alter the trajectory of the rest of your life. I knew that when she asked the question……..and I can see the results of it now.

Sooner or later, most of us find ourselves in the same spot I was in……..standing on the brink…….with a permanently life altering decision to make. Do I step off of the edge and give up control of my life……or do I turn away and resume a safe, fairly predictable life where I get to make the choices?

Ultimately, that is the decision we face…….at the brink.

“WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?”

Me……..or God.

For the first half of my life……I made the decisions…….based on what would get me ahead……socially, financially, and professionally…….over the next few decades. For the second half of my life…….I have tried to run my life on God’s rules…….love God/love man……..hoping to get ahead for eternity.

And I am happy……..and I am looking forward to a very bright future…….and not just for a decade or so…….but forever.

whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Jesus, John 5: 24, ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Paul. 2 Corinthians 17, ESV

I can’t address the rest of the world……..but America seems to have evolved into two separate and completely different worlds. There is the urban world, concentrated primarily on the coasts and the rural world concentrated primarily in the “flyover” states. One world is primarily liberal……the other is primarily conservative. One world leans secular humanist…….the other leans creationist.
These worlds are so different that we have trouble conducting a civil conversation……..much less reaching a consensus on solving important problems. The divide is getting wider and more contentious with each passing year. You can argue that this divide is an existential threat to our democracy and to our culture.

But, where did it come from?

I think it comes from our surroundings. I live on a hilltop out in the country. This morning I’m sitting by a fire on my patio waiting for the sun to come up. I can’t see my neighbors’ houses. I am surrounded by trees. The only sign of mankind in my view is a pair of cell towers on the horizon. Deer, turkeys, coyotes, and the odd red fox wander through my yard. In a word, I live in a world where I am surrounded by beautiful things that man did not create…….that man could not possibly create……ever. A few hundred miles away, on 104th street in New York city, there is a guy who is very much like me. He too is having his morning coffee, he looks out the window of his apartment and sees a huge incredibly complex city…….with theaters, museums, restaurants, and millions of people. He lives in an amazing world as well. But, his world is exclusively the creation of man.

Much of my world is beyond my control. It rains and the grass turns green…….it doesn’t rain and the grass turns brown. My brother’s house was flooded by a hurricane and then narrowly missed by a tornado. The guy in New York, on the other hand, controls, directly or indirectly, most of his environment.

I live in a beautiful world that I did not and cannot create or control. He lives in an amazingly complex world that was created and is controlled by man.

Is it any wonder that I give the credit and glory for my world to a creator…..God…….while he gives the credit and glory to the genius of man?

Is it any wonder that I say that I have been blessed and that he says that he is smart and has worked hard?

Is it any wonder that I put my trust in my creator and his plan for me……for my future………and that he puts his trust in human government?

The trouble is that one of us is wrong.

I suspect that we are not going reach a consensus any time soon. But, perhaps, we can develop some insight into where the other guy is coming from. Perhaps, we can learn to have a civil exchange between our two worlds.

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17, ESV

I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices

God, Isaiah 65:2, ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Paul, 2 Timothy, 4:3-4, ESV

My morning reading yesterday included a verse that sums up the entire Bible:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Paul, Ephesians 2:8, ESV

I chose Christianity so that I could be saved………from myself. If you don’t need to be saved…….if you don’t want to be saved………this post may not resonate for you. As for me…….if I look back through my life and honestly weigh my actions against God’s expectations……I have come up short……sometimes only once…….usually repeatedly. Measured against God’s expectations……..my life is a hot mess.

Love God………fail.
Love my fellow man…….fail
Don’t lie…….fail
Don’t steal…….fail
Don’t murder…….pass
Sex is for husbands and wives……fail
Honor your mother and father……..C+
Don’t covet……fail
Rest on Sunday……fail

God has set the bar pretty high. Most of us are satisfied with setting the bar of our expectations much lower. The fact is that we conveniently set our expectations for our own behaviour right about where we are. We are kind……then we are unkind…….then we tell ourselves that……on average……we are “a good person”……..at least that we are good enough.

But good enough…….for what?

You can make a solid case that your behaviour is good enough for this world……for this culture. Your behavior might even be in the top 10%…….the top 10% of a culture that aborts 3000 innocent children every day in the US……..the top 10% of a culture that tells your son that he can walk naked into a girls locker room if he feels like it…….the top 10% of a culture that considers serial killing on prime time TV a legitimate form of entertainment.

You get the point. The bar that has been set by our culture is very low……..and it is getting lower every day.

If paradise is real…….and if you get to set the standards…..you are going to be just fine.

But in your heart…..you know……that your definition of “good” is not legitimate……any more than mine is. In your heart……you know……that……just like me…….you are a hot mess……..that you don’t measure up to God’s expectations.

And that is why Christianity works.

We will be judged…….against God’s standard…….not against ours………not against the standard of “the culture”.

And you will fall short.

And I will fall short.

Enter the 2 pillars of Christianity……grace and faith.

Grace is God’s cosmic “get out of jail free” card. God gives you eternity in a paradise that he has created…….even though you are a hot mess…….even though you don’t deserve it.

Faith is your recognition and acceptance of that gift.

Both grace and faith are required…….both are mandatory. God does grace……you and I must do faith.

No matter what the culture says, we cannot create grace. We cannot invent a paradise that aligns with our appetites. Grace and paradise……….and hell………are God’s domain. And you are not God……nor am I.

What is left is faith. Faith is our domain…….and we can create faith. We are men and women…….and faith is our job.

God is God and he will do grace.

I am a man…….and I must do faith………or forego grace.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John, John 3:16, ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Paul, Hebrews 11:6, ESV

“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

Jesus, John 11:4, ESV

This is an old story………with a valuable lesson.

Once, there was an old dam that burst causing a catastrophic flood. A Christian, in his home, heard the evacuation order on TV.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!

And the water rose.

A truck came to rescue him.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose.

A boat came to rescue him.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose.

A helicopter came.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose……..and he drowned.

In paradise, he met Jesus. Jesus said, “I am amazed at your courage…..I have never seen such faith.”

The man cried, “But you didn’t answer my prayer…….you just let me drown!”

Jesus replied, “I sent a truck, a boat, and even a helicopter.”

The lesson is that our job is to pray for the things that we need. But…….we do not get to dictate to God the terms and details of his answer. We do not get to micromanage God’s response to our prayer.

God is not our cosmic “gofer guy”………working his way down our “to do” list.

Remember……..when your prayer seems to go unanswered……..God may have a different plan…..a better plan afoot.

In this time of horrific wars, senseless laws, failed governments, and rampant crime………God is working out his plan. Even if this world makes no sense to me today, I will put my trust in the love of my creator.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Paul, Romans 8:28, ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah, 29:11-14, ESV