Practically Speaking

Foolishness brings joy to those with no sense; a sensible person stays on the right path~ Proverbs 15:21

I have been told that I can be annoyingly practical at times. I prefer to think of myself as reasonable and logical, but to my family, logic and reason are “fun suckers” and “killjoys”. Here is a sample of some of the questions I like to ask during the decision making process…

Do we already have something we can repurpose to meet our needs?

Is there an easier way to get this accomplished? (I typically ask this numerous times)

How much will it cost? Followed by, Can we do it cheaper?

Will this work the way we hope it will work? (I’m not a big fan of surprises)

I suspect my bent toward the practical is a byproduct of the way I was raised. There were a lot of kids in our family and not a lot of money, so we were forced by circumstances to be practical, resourceful and inventive.

 One summer when I was about twelve there was a stretch of wretchedly hot weather that continued for weeks on end and there was no air conditioning in our rental. After suffering the heat for a few long, miserable days my brother and I decided to take matters into our own hands and do something about the situation.

 We had a couple of old box fans and learned we could rig them with duct tape, some old magazines and blocks of ice. We wound up devising a rather effective “redneck” cooling system. One block of ice and a well-placed fan would cool a small room fairly efficiently for a little less than twenty-four hours; we pooled our money and dwelled in hillbilly comfort for the remainder of the heat wave.  Admittedly the system wasn’t visually appealing, but at a cost of about forty cents a day for both our rooms, it worked. That was all that mattered to either of us.

As a person who can lean toward the utilitarian I have to remind myself that pragmatism has a dark side, especially when expediency and ease are my motivating considerations. I see the ugly end of practicality playing itself out everyday in our world.

The worst examples are gut-wrenching: Muslim extremists who wipe out Coptic Christians in Egypt because they are unwilling to find a way to get along. China’s one-child-policy is believed by their leaders to be a sensible solution to over-population although its led to horrendous human rights abuses. Smallpox blankets and Hitler’s “ Final Solution” are perhaps the most horrifying examples of practicality taken to an appalling place.

Less dramatic but still significant are politicians and government employees who violate personal privacy because they feel it’s a reasonable way to “keep us safe.” Teachers and school administrators have occasionally been known to look the other way when cheating takes place because lower test scores negatively affect school funding, and Pastors are often tempted to dodge divisive yet biblical topics for fear of losing people.

 And then there’s the personal stuff: fudging a child’s age to qualify for a lower price at a buffet, cheating on taxes, allowing our kids to watch things or do things we know they shouldn’t to buy a few moments of peace and quiet and other go-along-to-get-along behavior that we can all fall into on occasion.

 Practicality remains a virtue as long as we keep two things in mind as we are searching for the easiest, most sensible way to get things done. First of all…

 Christians are called to love, not practicality~ 

The book of 1^st John could be called the love book of the Bible. In this diminutive gem of a book the word love is used forty-five times (NASB). John is clear: Christians are commanded to love at all times, even when it’s inconvenient and impractical. The love we are called to embody is not just any kind of love, but agape love. Agape is the Greek word for a specific type of love that is completely selfless, utterly sacrificial and absolutely unconditional. To be perfectly blunt, agape love is completely unreasonable and lacking in sense. The use of this word tells me that if we are going to be the people Jesus called us to be we will have to throw practicality out the window from time to time and love people the way God loves people: without limits or reason.

Practicality without principles will always take us to a bad place~

 Practicality morphs into a monster when a person does not have a fixed set of standards or beliefs that guide their thinking and dictate their behavior. The more negotiable morality and truth become, the easier it is to justify bad or even evil behavior. This is especially true when conceding a principle can bring about some sort of desired result. Unfortunately, compromising principles oftentimes does bring about desired outcomes (at least in the short run). In God’s estimation, practical results are not the highest value and the ends never justify the means.

One day not long ago when I was attempting to defend my sensible self I did a Bible study of the word practical. I searched at least ten different translations looking for my beloved word. I discovered it’s not there. I have to confess that my sensible soul was dismayed to discover that one of my favorite words is MIA in the biblical text. After some thought I concluded that the omission is intentional. After all, a God who would sacrifice His own son for the sake of a mostly ungrateful race is not nearly as practical as I am.  

Let all that you do be done with love~ 1^st Corinthians 16:14 NKJV

A Tale of Two Lizards~

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death~ Proverbs 13:14 NIV

Early last fall, my son Alex brought home a rather weird surprise: a teeny, tiny lizard we promptly named Larry. Larry was no bigger than a quarter and super cute (for a reptile). Larry was captured when he made the rather reckless decision to hitch a ride on Alex’s pant-leg as he was walking home. I am not generally a fan of lizards but this little guy was so lively and endearing that even I was taken with him.

Sweet little Larry, clawing at the glass

 Then we had to decide what to do with him. I have a firm no-reptiles-in-the-house policy, so keeping him inside was out of the question. After much debate and discussion we decided to release Larry into our back yard. It felt like a decent solution; Larry was free to do his lizard thing out in the wild where he belonged and we still got to see him from time to time.

Everything was good until Larry discovered the swimming pool. Pools are a huge temptation for lizards. It’s easy for them to get in and they love the water. It’s all fun and games until their cold-blooded bodies adjust to the cooler temperature of the water. Then they become sluggish and too weak to escape. Unless a kind-hearted human comes along to fish them out they inevitably drown.

Larry loved the pool. The first few times we found him in it, he appeared to be drunk with pleasure at having found his own private oasis in the desert. That is, until the fateful morning I found him well, um, floating. As I fished little Larry out of the pool for the last time it occurred to me that Larry needed an Ichabod in his life.

Ichabod is the name I have given to the lizard that lives in our front yard. He is really big, very old, and extremely ugly. He’s lost his tail so many times that it has grown back crooked, thus the name Ichabod, which means “The glory has departed.” Ichabod may be ugly but he is also wise and very clever. He spends most of his days in the tree in my front yard, where he has an ample supply of bugs to eat and is well camouflaged from predators. He steers clear of the pool, preferring to get his water from the drip irrigation.  He is very wary of humans; you would never catch Ichabod attempting to hitch a ride on a pant leg.

A rare sighting of Ichabod

The other day as I was leaving the house I caught a rare glimpse of old Ichabod lumbering toward his tree. It got me thinking about the importance of passing on insight and wisdom to future generations. Like little Larry, many young people in our culture are in danger of being sucked in by alluring temptations and ideas that appear to be a sweet deal but in reality are deadly snares.

The Bible speaks about the necessity of mentoring, or of older Christians passing on truth regarding life and faith to younger believers (Deuteronomy 6, Proverbs 1-7, 1^st Timothy 6:11-12,Titus 2) and yet such mentoring has become more and more of a rarity in churches and even families. There are some practical explanations for this reality. We live in a busy world. Carving out time for relationships is difficult. Older believers often feel unqualified to offer advice and are reluctant to do so. Our churches are frequently segregated in such a way that the generations rarely cross paths.

Practical explanations aside, there are other factors that play a part in our lack of intergenerational communication. Younger believers can be stubbornly certain that they have life all figured out and often bristle at even the most gently offered counsel of older Christians. On the other hand, mature believers can be, well, cantankerous and intolerant at times. It’s easy to forget that we too were once young and smugly certain that we were right and the older generation was out of touch.

Much has been written on the subjects of cultural transformation and the need to bring Millennials back into the church; I am convinced that friendship is the key to turning things around. Building relationships can be challenging. It requires an intentional effort on the part of the older generation. We have to be the ones to make the first move. The burden for fixing the mess we’re in is on the forty and older crowd.

I have learned from experience that one of the issues that can make intergenerational friendships challenging is the level of insight that young Christians have. They can spot someone who views them as a project and will flee from anyone who is not really interested in authentic friendship. Young people are skilled at identifying legalistic junk. Older Christians who want to mentor must be willing to sort out which of their standards and beliefs are cultural and which are biblical. We must cling persistently to the biblical and willingly discard the cultural.

 Older believers must stick to modeling and teaching the stuff that really matters. Such as the need for discernment when it comes to entertainment and worldview, the importance of preserving family, the art of applying biblical principles to real-life situations and—perhaps most importantly—we need to model spiritual discipline and teach young people how to provide their own spiritual food.

 As I watched old Ichabod lumber off my front porch I was reminded of the older Christians who have guided me through my journey. I thought of a wise older woman named Teresa who taught me that parents who have fun with their kids are more likely to keep them on the right path. I thought of Jim, a Bible teacher whose giftedness and love of Scripture inspired my own passion to teach and Sheila whose stubborn confidence in the power of prayer has inspired me to pray for situations that appeared on the surface to be hopeless.  

My Mother-in-law also came to mind; her sincere esteem for her husband helped me to understand the role that respect plays in lasting marriages. I thought of Sharon, a godly older woman who saw leadership qualities in me long before anyone else did and helped me to refine them.

 I took a moment and thanked God for the saints who have faithfully demonstrated truth in season and out of season and for those who were bold enough to firmly but lovingly set me straight when the need arose. I am deeply indebted to those men and women and I pray that their tribe will increase.   

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come~ Psalm 71:17-18 NIV

Seeking Fairness?

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly~ Leviticus 19:15

 The game show Jeopardy has caused a firestorm of controversy. News reporters, parents, and child welfare workers all have their underpants in a bunch because the makers of a game have done the unspeakable: they have insisted that the contestants follow the rules—even when those rules feel unfair to the majority.

Here are the details: Last week was Teen Week on Jeopardy.  One of the contestants, a twelve-year-old boy, is very upset because he was penalized for giving the correct answer to a question, but spelling it incorrectly.  According to the producers of the show the rules are clearly spelled out to all the competitors before they play: spelling errors are counted against you if the spelling would change the pronunciation of the word. Apparently, it did.

The decision to penalize him brought out the self-appointed fairness police in full force and has gotten all sorts of folks fired up. Here is a sampling of some of the more colorful Facebook comments that were fit to print:

I hope the kid who won gets diabetes

You lost a long time fan on this one Jeopardy

Boycott Jeopardy

Shame on Jeopardy. The spelling mistake was minor and did not interfere with the understanding of the correct answer. Very petty...

The Kid deserved credit!

Are you kidding me!

Alex, shame on you and the judges

The answer was right! That is what the point is here. No one said that it had to be spelled perfect. He’s in grade 8 for heavens sakes. No wonder I can’t stand jeopardy.

I will be honest. I didn’t watch that episode of Jeopardy; in fact I can’t remember the last time I watched any game show.  I’m not really a game show kind of person. This story captured my attention because it got me thinking about the whole concept of fairness. Our culture is evolving in such a way that many have come to believe that…

Personal fairness is the highest value that there is

Fairness is defined by feelings

Every rule should be open for negotiation if a majority feels the rule is unfair

Before I go any further I would like to clarify a few things, lest anyone think I am a monster: I am not opposed to fairness as long as fairness is truly just. In my mind and understanding of Scripture there is a huge difference between fighting for justice and arguing for personal fairness.

Justice is about stamping out oppression and tyranny. Scripture teaches that justice means ensuring the oppressed and underrepresented are protected and cared for (James 1:27, Micah 6:8, Jeremiah 7:5-7). Christians should be the first to stand up and fight for justice for the oppressed; the church should be at the forefront of fighting poverty, abortion, racism, sexism, violence against women and children and all other forms of injustice.

 Admittedly, the line between personal fairness and justice can be thin at times. One way to sort it all out is to remember that fairness tends to be all about the individual. Fairness is about the individual “feeling” good about their situation. People who are fixated on personal fairness don’t always look at how fairness to one person might cause injustice to another. If the producers of Jeopardy had bent the spelling rule for the young man who had the right answer but the wrong spelling, they would have ended up effectively penalizing the contestants who spelled their answers correctly.

The value of personal fairness has made its way into the church. Many Christians cry foul when they are asked to sacrifice a “right” for any reason. Giving up a personal right for the benefit of another, like the right to dress any way you want, eat or drink whatever you like, or go into any establishment you choose may feel personally unfair. But, the Apostle Paul teaches in 1^st Corinthians 8 that sacrificing personal fairness for the benefit of others is one way to demonstrate love to weaker brothers and sisters. Biblical justice is achieved when the weaker among us are protected from their personal weaknesses and immaturity.

Today I want to share three ways we can tell the difference between fighting for justice and demanding personal fairness.

Fairness has a hard time seeing other people in the bigger picture~

Fairness wants what it wants and is often unwilling to acknowledge how a right to fairness may affect someone else’s liberty. Abortion is an issue that is often presented in terms of fairness. Pro-choice people will say that it is not fair for a woman to be penalized with the responsibility of a child just because she had sex. They forget that, in the vast majority of cases, the woman chose to have sex (5% of all rapes result in pregnancy) and when a woman who chose to have sex chooses not to be pregnant her choice ends another person’s right to be alive and pursue happiness.

Fairness is about feelings rather than facts~

Fairness is all about what feels good; it’s rarely, if ever, about facts and evidence. Justice looks at facts and examines situations from every angle. When a person, movement, or mob is obsessed with fairness, they are seldom willing to let anyone bring up pesky facts or statistics that might possibly interfere with what feels fair. If “it feels right” is the strongest case that can be made for going forward with a ruling or plan, I’m willing to bet it’s a bad plan.   

 Justice wants what is best for future generations~

Justice is all about making the world a better place for future generations; fairness is all about getting what feels good right now. Fairness rarely thinks about how a choice or ruling today will affect the world tomorrow.  The greatest leaders and movements in history have all been focused on making the world a better place for future generations, often at the expense of the leaders’ present comfort. Selfish movements and people demand personal rights and think little about how the exercise of those rights will affect society as a whole.

Many situations and causes in our culture are presented in terms of fairness. It is up to individual believers to apply discernment to all things and figure out if these emotional appeals are really matters of justice or simply the masses’ idea of what is fair and feels good. God promises that if His people seek justice, He will sort out the fairness issues in His time and His way (Hebrews 10:30). 

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers~ Proverbs 21:15

The Millennial Challenge~

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them~ Psalm 145:17-19 ESV

This past week I came across a thought-provoking post by Rachel Held Evans entitled “Why Millennials are Leaving the Church.”

The Millennial Generation is the nickname given to those children born between 1981 and 2000.  As a Mother of three millennials and someone who has worked with youth I have found Millennials to be intelligent, engaging individuals with many admirable qualities. Millennials value relationships and family connections. They care about social justice and the environment; they value diversity and are generally very accepting of all kinds of different people. All in all, not a bad set of values. One could certainly do worse.

Millennials have some beefs with the Evangelical Church and Rachel Held Evans does an excellent job of communicating them. Millennials assert that churches are too concerned with looking cool, shallow, excessively political, old-fashioned, indifferent to social justice, obsessed with sexuality, apathetic towards the poor and not inclusive enough.

Sadly, some of these criticisms are legitimate. It’s fair to say that for the last couple of decades the church has sought to cultivate a veneer of coolness through edgy music, casual clothing, coffee bars and “relevant” teaching. This has been done while sidestepping doctrinal instruction and declining to draw boundaries around attitudes and behaviors that are discouraged or even forbidden in Scripture.

 Because churches have tried so hard to appear cool and tolerant of everyone and their pet sins, it comes off as weirdly dogmatic when leaders draw boundaries around behavior. The one behavior church leaders have consistently put boundaries around is sexuality. It’s also fair to say that sexual standards have not always been applied evenly to everyone. I totally get how this might be perceived as some sort of weird obsession.

I would also agree that the church has largely ignored the poor. I believe that some of the indifference has been born out of confusion and ignorance. Many church leaders have no clue how to help the poor in a wealthy society where many basic needs are met by government programs. I have visited poor countries and it is much simpler to offer assistance when needs are critical and solutions obvious.

I am not troubled by Millennials’ concerns about church. Concerns inspire dialog and dialog is the first step towards reform. I am deeply troubled by the fact that young people are leaving church; the church needs the next generation’s energy, authenticity and concern for social welfare. Just as the church needs the Millennials, the Millennials need the church. Every generation needs the grounding and wisdom that 2000 years of teaching and tradition brings to the table.

Many church leaders are taking note of Millennials concerns and jumping to make changes. Few leaders are challenging Millennials’ to think deeply and critically about their questions and concerns. Young Christians need to figure out which issues trouble them because the church is out of step with God, and which concerns are connected to their own struggle with God and His methods of running the universe.

 Society is changing and to some extent the church has to change with it but not at the expense of core truths. Today I want to challenge Millennials in particular and the Church in general to take a few things into consideration as we look to reform the church. The three challenges we all need to be confronted with are…

The challenge to embrace the heart of the gospel~

Gospel means “good news”. Regrettably, good news is often preceded by bad news.  The bad news of the gospel is the core truth that the entire human race is not okay (Romans 3:23). We are all messed-up, deviant sinners who are out of step with God and in serious need of changing. Scripture teaches that if something is not done to rectify our sin situation, when we die, we will be forever separated from God in hell (Romans 6:23).  Jesus is the good news, and the only answer to our sin problem (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through faith in Jesus and His resurrection we can be forgiven and given a new beginning (1^st Corinthians 5:17). It is up to the individual to accept or reject this offer. The gospel is clear: we are all deeply loved by God but we are not accepted without repentance. Admittedly, this is hard truth and unpleasant news to a society that has made the mantra “I’m okay, you’re okay” its war cry.

The challenge to accept God the way He is~

Christians and non-Christians alike desperately want to give God an update. He’s just so 1st century and the 1^st century feels a bit backward. No matter how much the majority would like God to revise some of His views, it’s not going to happen. God is God and He’s not changing. He made the universe and gets to decide how its run. It’s up to us to accept God as He presents Himself in the Bible or reject Him if we so choose. We do not get the luxury of remaking Him in our own image.  If we reject Him on the grounds that He’s outdated and old-fashioned, we have to accept the fact that there will be no negotiating with the Almighty on Judgment day.

The challenge to think biblically~

We live in a noisy world; there are a million voices competing for our attention and allegiance. It is up to each of us to take responsibility for our own growth and development, sometimes that means getting away from some of the noise. I challenge all believers to take a season and fast from secular entertainment. Spend your extra time with the Bible and some good books on doctrine and historic Christianity. You will find the issues we struggle with today (sexuality, science, abortion, materialism, helping the poor) are not new. Christians have wrestled with these issues throughout history. As you search for reading material, choose your authors wisely. You will never be led to a better understanding of God and a deeper faith by an atheist with an ax to grind.

 And now I will attempt to tackle the inclusiveness issue (God help me).

Objectively, there have been Christians who have behaved in a less than loving manner towards some in the church. That is not okay. We should warmly welcome all people into our Church communities.  We must sincerely and passionately love everybody with the love of Jesus. Unrepentant sinners need to be shown the truth that God pardons anyone humble enough to come to Him regardless of their past choices. The church has not done a good job of communicating the fact that the only real difference between the saved and the unsaved is repentance (Colossians 1:21-23). We need to change that.

 Love is essential, but so is theological honesty. If we are going to be theologically honest at some point we have to teach people that Jesus came to change us, not to celebrate all our choices. Sadly, many equate love with full acceptance of every choice they make. God loves all people but does not validate all behaviors. This may cause some who are unwilling to change to feel unloved or unwelcome. As long as people in the Church are loving sinners and teaching truth in a sympathetic and thoughtful way the church is not responsible for an individual’s decision to reject revealed truth. Some will reject it and use the behavior of Christians (real or imagined) as justification for doing so.   As heartbreaking as it is, we have to face the reality that not everyone will make the choice to fully embrace Jesus.

Every generation of Christians is tasked with living out the life of faith in the midst of the culture they were born into. Millennial believers have it tougher than previous generations; they have been thrust into a culture that is increasingly hostile to the things of God. But with great challenges come even greater opportunities. If Millennials can correct the blunders of the past while fully embracing truth they will powerfully impact our world for Jesus Christ. I believe that the millennial generation could usher in a great revival of faith. Conversely, if they allow themselves to be conformed to a sin-sick world they will miss out on the opportunity to be a part of something bigger and far better than themselves. The choice is theirs.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free~ John 8:32 NKJV