He Can't Be Serious

Earlier this week I was driving to work. I was driving the speed limit, minding my own business when I heard a very large engine rev up behind me. I looked in my review mirror only to see a large truck whip out, pass me on a double yellow, and continue to speed up the hill.

I will have to admit that when I reached the light at the top of the hill and found him stuck at a red light right in front of me I chuckled. Then I was even more amazed that when he got the chance he ran the red light and tore off down the road. I waited for my red light to turn green and continued on my way to work.

I laughed out loud when I got to work and realized that this guy in the truck was going to the lot right next to where I work and had beaten me by less than a minute.

He had blatantly broken quite a few traffic laws and put other people in danger only to get to his destination a few seconds sooner then he would have if he had obeyed the traffic laws.

I do not use this to show off how good of a driver I am and how reckless this other driver was. I have broken my fair share of traffic laws. But the way this guy was driving it was as if he did not take the traffic laws seriously. That he thought he could just do as he wanted to.

This thought, logically (probably only in my mind), led me to remember a sermon I heard a few weeks ago in which the preacher asked if we truly take the words of Christ serious.

Since then I have been pondering that thought. Do I take the words of Christ serious? Believing as I do, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, do I take everything in there serious?

When I speed, when I do not fully stop at a stop sign am I doing as Romans 13:1 says and submitting my self to the governing authorities? That answer would be “no” because if I were truly submitting to the governing authorities I would be obeying the laws they have put in place.

You may say, you are a good person, you do not steal, do not murder, not out sleeping around. There again, we are not taking the words of Christ seriously enough.

Have we forgotten the words of Christ in Matthew 7:21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

I am fairly certain that I called someone a fool this week, I know for a fact that I have been mad at someone. According to Jesus this is no different than if I had murdered.

And moving right along let us not forget about Matthew 7:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

I do not think I really need to elaborate on this one, suffice to say: I am guilty.

Honestly, this is the easy stuff about what Jesus taught. It gets even harder. Matthew 25:31-46...let us read together, shall we?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

That is very sobering. Let me think here: I have never visited anyone in prison, because they are hardened criminals and I am just a kid from the suburbs. What kind of impact can I have?

Homeless people on the street ask me for money and I ignore them, because I have been taught by society that if I give them money they will just use it for drugs. But, I do not offer to take them somewhere and buy them food.

Yes, I give my old clothes to ‘Goodwill’ but is that because I truly care and want to help the less fortunate or is it because I want rid of the junk. It is better than just throwing it away and...well...I get a tax write off.

And guess what? Because I did not do any of the above for my fellow humanity, I did not do it for Christ - which is the greater sin?

These are just a few samples of the teachings of Christ. What do we do with the really hard stuff like “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through me” or “deny me before men and I will deny you before my Father”

And as I posted last week do we take the teachings of the power of Christ to care for us and protect and guide us seriously?

I am not writing all this to make everyone who reads it depressed. I am writing it in the hope that we will re-evaluate how we view the words and teachings of Christ. We claim to be Christians, we claim to believe the Bible. But, when it comes down to it, we really only do the easy stuff.

We really need to start taking the words and teachings of Christ as serious as He did, He suffered, died, went to hell and rose again...that is how serious He was. He was not alone either. The early followers of Christ took his teaching so seriously they were willing to die for them. Do I take them that serious? Do you?

Come What May

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

Those who know Your name will trust in You,
for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.

- Psalm 9:9-10

Sometimes I wonder if Christians actually believe these words (and the many other words of comfort in scripture). Stop and think about your life for a moment. Something bad happens, something way out of your control happens and what is the first thing you do? Do you run to God and cry out for help or do you look for human comfort, human wisdom for help and direction?

I know in my life God is not always the first place I turn. I comfort myself when I realize that I have not taken my situation to God with the excuses that God has given me wisdom to solve problems. God has placed people in my life that love and care about me and provide me comfort. But those are just excuses.

I say I believe the words of scripture. I tell people that God is a refuge in times of trouble, but do my actions bear witness to what I believe.

I think my actions may speak louder than my words when it comes to my faith. Because I can say I believe anything I want. But until I act out that belief in practical experience I wonder if I really believe.

So if my actions speak louder than my words then my actions say that I believe in my strength and my family and friend’s strength more than I do God’s. Because generally God is where I turn last. I turn to myself or family and friends first.

But I think I am in good company. Abraham, the father of faith, lied not once but twice to two different kings and said his wife was really his sister, instead of trusting in God’s protection. If the father of faith struggled with turning to God why should it be any different for me.

Maybe I really do believe what I say and it is just human nature to struggle in this manner. Maybe the struggle is what it is all about. Or just maybe the point is that no matter what life brings we learn to turn to God. Not because it is what we say we believe, not because it is what scripture tells us. But because through our own life experiences we learn that the wisdom and comfort God brings is far superior to anything a human can provide.

And like most people I have to learn things the hard way.

So I Finally Did It

So after all these years of being online, I finally decided to create my own blog.

No, I'm not going to post random tidbits about my life so people can keep up with my life. But I often feel the desire to write thoughts down about life and faith and how faith expresses itself in various aspects of life. I may even post a devotion or two that I write primarily for use at the church I am blessed to minister at.

The title might come across as a bit odd at first. 'Complicated' is a bit ominous and may scare some people away. But, when we stop to think about it life is complicated and the sooner we admit that the sooner we can move past the complication and start enjoying.

So for better or worse, here we go.