Sunday, March 30, 2003

March 30, 2003: Divine Shock And Awe

When I consider the works of creation, it provokes in me both amazement and fear.

Amazement because of the complexity. In our adult Sunday school class we're watching Unlocking The Mystery of Life, a video in which scientists describe some of the biological machinery that performs technological wizardry at life's molecular level. The data they present are riveting. A bacterial flagellum, for example, has all the components of an outboard motor, rotates at 100,000 rpm, can stop dead in the space of a quarter turn and then start rotating the other way. That didn't come about by chance. Somebody made it. And he made a lot of other things too.

While there is plenty in nature to amaze me, I must admit there is also a lot to scare me. Just watch any National Geographic video, and consider this: God concocted the poison in the cobra's fangs. God taught the praying mantis to chew its mate. God put hot death in the volcano's chamber, and armed all the oceans with village-destroying tidal waves. I can't be the only person who feels deep disquiet when I watch film footage of a cheetah harassing a calving wildebeest, and eating the newborn as soon as it is expelled from its mother's womb. That disquiet becomes fear when I understand that God taught that cheetah how to hunt, and gave it teeth and claws and a relentless instinct to consume the weak.

God amazes me and scares me. He fills me with dread and astonishment - or, as the phrase of the day has it, "shock and awe." As you know, "Shock and Awe" is a label placed on the U.S. military strategy for deposing Saddam Hussein. The idea is to overwhelm the opposition, causing it to cower in fear of all that smart firepower, and to make immediate surrender look like the only good option.

I make no statement here about the war in Iraq. Reasonable people may differ about whether the cause is just or the means are wise. All I am saying is that in creation, it seems likewise that God gets our attention by means of "shock and awe." In this world we are like Iraqi citizens, aware of an invading force that is technologically superior, overwhelmingly powerful and capable of doing us fearful harm - but that strangely keeps informing us that we are loved, and that we are being offered freedom and peace and escape from savage tyranny. Like the Iraqis, we can respond to that "shock and awe" by either shaking our fist at the invader and vowing to fight him to our death, or by raising the white flag in meek surrender. It is better to surrender.

Sunday, March 23, 2003

March 23, 2003: Excel

A piece of advice I like to give to young people is, "Try to become really good at something."

There is joy in skill. I remember my pleasure in watching "Tango," a man in his early 50s who performed every day in the San Jose, Costa Rica city square, keeping a tennis ball in constant motion with feet, head, thighs, back and neck. The ball never touched his arms or the ground. Tango claimed to be the best in the world at this craft, and I don't doubt he was right. I heard that soccer legend Diego Maradona
was once asked if he could do a certain trick with a soccer ball, and he said, "There is only person in the world who can do that, and it is some little old guy in Costa Rica."

My wife once told me that one of the things that brings tears to her eyes is witnessing a truly exquisite performance. I know what she means. You'll find a good example of that emotional rapture in the film Amadeus, where Saliere relives unutterable joy as he calls to mind strains of Mozart's music. I feel some of that too when Baryshnikov executes 11 consecutive pirouettes, or when Allen Iverson disappears from the top of the key and reappears under the basket, or when Mariah Carey hits a note that you almost have to be a canine to hear, or when Garry Kasparov sacrifices a rook at the chess board, or when WMBI's Pastor Donald Cole quietly puts a distraught caller at ease.

Skill is good. I believe it is one of those things (like conscience, pain, and beauty) through which the voice of God speaks and his character is revealed. There are many places in the Bible where God inspires skill. Look at Exodus 31:2-5: “See, I have chosen Bezalel...and filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

God inspires ability, and we all love to see it. So develop a skill. If you get really, really good at it, you may bring tears to our eyes. (Young people, being good at video games doesn’t count.)

Sunday, March 16, 2003

March 16, 2003: Tell The Truth

Be honest, all the time, about everything.

The following stories are true, and they all involve Christians. I've changed their names.

- Heather told a potential employer that, since she was making $11 an hour, they would need to offer her at least $13 to entice her to change jobs. But she was really only making $9.50.

- Alice went to a funeral and was embarrassed that her grown children did not attend. So she signed their names on the guest register. They received thank-you notes from the bereaved.

- Ed needed to run an errand, but did not think his boss would give him time off for it. So he planned to tell him that he had to take his wife to the doctor.

- Wilma was asked by people who wanted to buy her house what her heating bill usually came to. She gave a figure that was low by $100.

I'm afraid I could go on with many more examples. The lies are troubling enough, but what really knocks me off my feet is that Christians report their fabrications to me without a shred of guilt, without any indication that they need to repent. They would do it again, and it seems they assume that I approve or that I would even do it myself. Well I wouldn’t. And I don't approve. It is wrong to lie.

The Bible says, "Do not lie to each other" (Colossians 3:9). In Matthew 5:33-37 and 23:16-22, Jesus rebuked people who thought they only had to tell the truth when they were under a carefully crafted oath. He said, "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Lies are of the devil. In John 8:44, Jesus calls Satan "a liar and the father of lies."

Several years ago a church officer told me what he thought was a really funny story. His mother called in sick to work so that she could go to a Cubs' game. She sat in the bleachers and got sunburned, and then had to scramble to explain at work the next day why she was so red. Ha ha. Later, when this church leader was slandering me with malicious falsehoods, I remembered the story he told about his mother and thought, "Of course! It all fits. His mother raised him to lie." He had learned on his mother's knee that lying was just something you did to get what you wanted - whether that was an afternoon at the ballpark or a pastor out the door of your church.

Don't lie. Ever.

Sunday, March 9, 2003

March 9, 2003: We Murder Millions

Last Friday night I heard a preacher say that the two worst evils in our nation today were racism and materialism.

He was wrong. I don't know what our second greatest sin is, but the greatest is abortion. If our nation were a house, then racism, bad as it is, would be like a leaky faucet compared to the 10-ton abortion elephant stomping about the living room. We'd rather not think about this, but the simple, brutal fact is that our nation has, over the last few decades, mass-murdered tens of millions of innocents. Add up the number, and you will find that Stalin starved fewer Russians and Hitler gassed fewer Jews.

If you were to ask a German pastor in the early 1940s what he thought was Germany's greatest crime, and he answered anything other than, "We're slaughtering millions," then you would have to regard him as hideously misguided and in need of serious correction. So I regard “in need of serious correction" all Christians who do not yet understand that murdering babies is wrong - and more than merely "wrong", it is our nation's all-consuming holocaust. Those who do not take a vigorous, principled stand against it are no better than the quiet German townspeople who did nothing while trainloads of Jews were carted off to the ovens.

In a couple weeks we'll have a guest speaker from the CareFirst Pregnancy Centers tell us about the good work their organization does in saving lives from abortionist death mongers, and in saving mothers from becoming active participants in their babies' destruction. I encourage you to learn about and support this work. Once again I'll be going on the "Hike for Life" in May to help raise support. I hope to do more. Join me in praying against abortion and fighting it on all fronts.

Sunday, March 2, 2003

March 2, 2003: When Suffering Makes You Compassionate

A word of encouragement for any of you who have a sorrow deep enough to make you cry, or troubling enough to rob you of sleep.

Last night my teenage son Ben was telling me about friends and acquaintances of his (12 of them!) who are suffering from distresses ranging from anorexia to suicidal depression to bipolar disorder. He prays for them, talks to them, and has gotten them help from authorities at school. I rejoice over Ben's compassion for troubled friends. I think of Rabbi Saunders' words in Chaim Potok's great novel The Chosen: "A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!"

I believe that Ben's heart of compassion has been refined by his own horrific experiences. Last year at this time he was in and out of a psychiatric ward with episodic depression severe enough to be life-threatening. My wife and I were at our wit's end. There were Sundays I did not want to preach for fear that I would not be able to hold myself together.

Now, a year later, Ben has been restored to such a degree that we dare whisper the word "healing." Glory to God. And more glory to God for the good that has come from his sorrow. I do not claim to know all that God is doing, but I think that anyone can see that Ben has, from his pain, become better equipped to touch hearts with the comfort wherewith God comforted him.

There is divine purpose to your sorrow. You must believe that. You must believe that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Take courage.

His purposes will ripen fast
Unfolding every hour
The bud may have a bitter taste
But sweet will be the flower.