ugh.
i just really feel
the need to tell the world that i have a sinus infection.
it's hard enough for
me to think some things through, but when you've got gelatinous boogers
twanging on all your brain cells, it really does something to things like
cerebral functioning, temperament and personal tissue preferences. there are some thing you just shouldn't get
store brand when you are sick. 1-ply
(anything)= hatred.
our mission team to
Brazil hadn't even made it past Washington DC before every tv in the airport
was throwing us a barrage of updates and opinions and news conference clips
regarding the latest massacre, this time in Orlando.
i had feared this
very thing- the transition between a week of seeing what God is doing in other
countries and in the lives of our friends (and ourselves)… and coming back to
America, where things like politics, work drama, societal obligations, errands and
the cat all compete for my attention.
and then i went to a
Bible study.
after a great
dinner, we sat around an irregularly shaped coffee table and opened our
notebooks, clicked our pens and flipped our Bibles to the… saddest and most
depressing and mournful book EVER.
Lamentations,
man. Lamentations.
it is exactly what
it sounds like. it is a collection of
the prophet's (historically, and therefore here, Jeremiah's) laments. his whines. his groans. his poetically penned
complaints. no, really- every chapter is written as an alphabetic acrostic. he's got skill, even in grief.
you might say, like
i have before, "why on earth?"
why would that ever be included in the Bible? why was he so frickin' upset? why didn't God
tell him to hush up?
and also, "why
should i care? how can that ever make me feel better?"
here's why. just bear with me and my snot-saturated brain
for a bit.
here's the layout of
this situation that was all up in Jeremiah's face:
he was a part of the
nation of Israel, which had for all practical purposes split into Israel
(10-ish tribes) and Judah (1-ish tribes,
depending on land, of which the Levites didn't get any, and also the fact that
Ephraim and Manasseh were both from the same son of Israel. yeah, i know. there's really 13 tribes, but one of the 12
sons got a double share, and then one son inherited the priesthood instead of
land, so everything shakes out alright).
anyway, ALL the
tribes had… failed. epically. this was the origin of the "you had ONE
job!!" line. their ONE JOB was to
show how great their God was. they
didn't even have to "do" much.
HE WAS RIGHT THERE. LITERALLY.
PHYSICALLY. VISIBLY. RIGHT. THERE. every nation had seen and heard and wondered
at the HUGE things this "Yahweh" was doing. there was a temple where
His presence resided, 24/7. seriously,
all the Jews had to do was point.
every time they
forgot Him, He gave another gracious reminder of His eternal, all-powerful
presence. then they were good for about
6 months. possibly a generation, if they
were truly impressed.
He made a covenant
with them. "follow these rules, be
different from the pagans, and I will love, cherish, protect, bless, multiply,
thrill, fulfill you. break the covenant, and I will punish you."
they agreed.
then they
forgot.
then they flat-out
ditched Him. turned their backs on the
Deity that brought them through fire and water, and started praying to carved
rocks and chiseled wooden pillars.
the One thing that
set them apart as a people was the one thing they spurned. they looked across to the Moabites and
Amorites and Ammonites and Hittites and Hivites and Philistines (and yes, they
sound like congested people named them all)- and they said, "eh- that's
not so bad. it's just a little different. no way would God really have a
problem with me doing this."
enter the prophets.
this tiny little
subset of Jews were called individually to alert their fellow men of the coming
danger.
because God did, and
does care. it's not ultimately about the
"things" the people were doing.
it's simply because He is HOLY. He is so much greater and better and stronger
and more perfect than our minds can fathom that He can not be around sin, much
the same way that light simply cannot ever coexist around darkness. even a little candle will shatter gloom. the very nature of light, or holiness, is
such that it is forever separated from darkness, or unrighteousness. it's why
He made that covenant. it's why He made
the sacrificial system and a non-deadly way for His chosen people to come near
Him, live in His presence, speak to Him "as a man speak to his
friend" like Moses. it's why He said, "don't be like them" -
because they were… they were evil, folks. evil. before you blame God for taking
out those nations, research "Molech"-just not during lunch. and every time His people chose evil over
Him, He patiently waited, He nudged, He reminded, He spoke through prophets-
everything to get their attention first. He did everything before punishing- if that's not love, i don't know what is.
well, they didn't
listen to Jeremiah, just like they didn't listen to any of the other prophets.
and because God is
holy and just and always keeps every single promise, He held to the
covenant. He left His temple. and
punishment came.
and Jeremiah wept.
this is not the
"oh boy, this hurts" crying.
this is the
hopeless, despairing, pain-beyond-words-or-tears-or-breath crying.
the armies were
coming. the cities were under siege. the
chosen people were literally starving to the point of cannibalism. and they
still chose to seek favor and help from their carved rocks and chiseled wooden
pillars, rather than receive the forgiveness freely offered by God through the
prophets.
guys, i was
convicted. and this ain't the germs talkin'.
working through such
a depressing 22 verses hurt. it still does.
if my throat weren't sore, i might be weeping right now.
this nation- my
nation- has forgotten and rejected God as surely as Israel did all those
thousands of years ago. i know America
isn't God's chosen people, but even His Church within America seems to be
floundering a bit. our ONE JOB is to
display God and His love, mercy, justice, forgiveness, power, glory… His
HOLINESS. i need to be as broken as Jeremiah over the state of this country and what it is costing our souls. i am surrounded by lost, hurting, spiritually confused people and i... i have been called by God to be a witness. and i have failed. i have retreated. i have caved to pressure. and now i see judgement on its way, and i should be weeping a whole lot more than i have been.
the thing with the prophets, and God's judgements, and all that stuff nobody likes to talk about it that it is just
impossible to have a true concept of His holiness and a warped concept of
sin. they go hand in hand. to minimize one is to minimize the other. you can't take God seriously and in the next
breath say, "my sin's not so bad."
because sin is a direct affront to His holiness. more than that, to wave off sin is to show
straight-up contempt for Jesus' sacrifice.
the epitome of love, mercy, grace, justice, humility, perfection- and
sinners blow it off. "my sin's not
so bad; thanks for the gesture, Jesus, but i'm a pretty decent person and i
don't need your sacrifice." when we
itemize sin, when we compare ourselves, when we apply our own standards to
ourselves and hold it up to God like it's some great accomplishment...all of
it...all of it takes the camera off God and focuses on us. try as we might, our souls are never gonna be
a pretty picture apart from Christ. we've deluded ourselves into thinking we
can dress up the outside and be okay.
i have heard many
times that a main deterrent to Christianity is that while Jesus and His
teachings are pleasant, God and His punishments-particularly of the ancient
non-Israelite nations- are simply intolerable.
they shout "God is love" as if they really understood that
phrase and stalk off in anger. could you
appreciate a God who didn't take Himself seriously, who didn't punish wrong,
who broke His word and was so small and weak that human brains could completely
understand Him? no, really- think about that for a sec before you answer. they ignore the atrocities those people were committing, in flagrant disobedience to God, and say Love wouldn't punish it. God IS Love- but His perfect Love is included as a part of His majestic HOLY character.
they, just like the
ancient Israelites, have forgotten His holiness. we as Christians have snuck
into the background and hidden from these hard questions because we don't
always know the answers- we have forgotten, too.
it hasn't happened
overnight. the Jews didn't collectively
wake up one Tuesday and say, "Hey- here's an idea. let's ask that Asherah pole for some rain,
good crops and many many children."
but what was once "wrong" became "weird." before too
long, "weird" became "different." soon after,
"different" turned into "acceptable/normal/okay/celebrated".
but unlike Jeremiah,
we aren't weeping. we've become callused
to words like "abortion" or "Obama" or…
or "lie"
and "pride" and "gossip" and oh yes, i just said all that.
we've downsized our
"little" sins. we've blamed those who struggle with the
"big" sins. we've got them all
ranked and ordered, so we know just how upset we should be.
the problem is that
ALL OF THIS takes our focus off God. if
we were doing our job and upholding His holiness, i think several things would
happen.
-we would recognize
that our sins are every bit as bad as anyone's from Orlando, whether inside the
club or outside. murderer, hater, liar, thief, gay, glutton, abuser,
gossip/slanderer...if you sped on your way to work, you broke the law. if you can't even handle state laws, how on
earth do you reckon you're just fine with God's laws? quit calling a wicked
gunman "God's judgement on gays" unless you're ready for God's
judgement on your sin, too. NO!! just
no. man, that makes me so mad- i almost feel like my fever's coming back. STOP IT!!
-we Christians would
recognize our part in America, and that we share some of the blame for these
atrocious sins happening every day across the nation while we creep back into
our tiny little comfort zones and block it out. we need to speak out, fight evil, uphold righteousness, be involved in this country and do more than we are to represent Christ.
-we would get over
our pride and reach out. reach out to everyone. even if 99% of the ones you
reach out to choose to remain trapped in their blindness, if you hold that
flame up someone might just see their way to the path leading to eternal Life.
BE THE CHURCH. the Church is the Holy
Spirit's dwelling place, the arms and feet and eyes and heart of Jesus. BE THAT. not the loudmouths who so full of
anger and pride that they can't recognize the hurting souls all around them.
-we would weep. we would weep for our families, our friends,
our coworkers and our neighbors who don't/can't/won't see God and His
truth. we would weep for our LGBT
community and the sin committed against them.
yes, i think that lifestyle is wrong and outside God's will, but God is
lovingly waiting for them, not targeting them.
no, God was not caught off-guard by the massacre; even though it was
wrong, it is a part of God's plan that uses people's evil to show His
contrasting holiness.
because the whole
point of the Gospel is that because of God's holiness and our utter inability
to perfectly maintain His standards, there was a Plan already in motion. He wants to be with us. He wants us to love Him. so He took a
"risk" a gave us free will to follow… or to flop.
God knew we'd
flop. He knew that sheep and goat
sacrifices were not a long-term solution to our daily sins. so to maintain His holiness, keep His
covenant and punish sin- but ALSO to not destroy the objects of His affection
(that's us, people)- He sent Jesus.
those who accept His
sacrifice are forgiven. that's it. clean slate. there is no "ranking"
of sinners or penance to be paid.
those who refuse it
will take the punishment themselves. the
Jews got a taste of it- the temple forsaken by God, they were left alone and
destitute. hopeless and without anyone to even hear their parched cries.
the Gospel is a word
of hope, however.
even though the
critics, and many Christians… and i… forget, even something as tragic as a
massacre is not outside God's plan. His
greatest victories often come through the most troubling of crises. our lack of understanding does not negate His
omnipotence, or His ability to turn the
whole situation around for good. this is
a dark time for us, for our nation and specifically now for our LGBT community.
we as Christians ARE GOD'S TEMPLE that is not forsaken, the visible presence of
God- and we have ONE JOB. let's do it!
let's fall down and weep with those who weep.
let's proclaim the news of hope like Jeremiah. let's hold up a flame and light the way to
the Cross, where His holiness is fully satisfied, were darkness disappears,
where Hope is eternal and where all God's chosen people find the comfort, love,
forgiveness and peace that can only come from Him.
