What on Earth Are People Thinking?

     As we traveled home from a glorious vacation this past week, I noticed the radical change in road trips from the time when I was growing up.  My parents did a lot of driving on various family vacations, but I do not remember having as many close calls as we did on our recent trip.  People today are not very courteous nor do they signal when they attempt to change lanes.  The only way to describe their driving is aggressive as if they are mad at someone.  Several times we were nearly run off the road by people who tried to cut between us and the car in front of us when there was no room. I know we are not the only ones that experience this kind of thing.  However, looking back at my childhood trips, it seemed that people were more patient and aware of fellow travelers. In fact, there are many areas where we can observe how the tone of our society has changed.
     On a shopping trip, not long ago, I listened as a customer berated a cashier for the pricing of a certain product.  The cashier patiently explained what the special was and how this product did not qualify.  Nothing satisfied the customer.  After further argumentation she stormed out of the store vowing to tell everyone how bad this business was to those who do business there.  I could not help but feel sorry for the cashier as she was just doing her job.  She had no control over policy; yet she took all the of the anger from the customer.  I complimented her on her kindness to this person.  I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of someone's rant.  Still the question remains.  What on earth are people thinking when they drive aggressively or take their anger out on a store clerk?  What has happened to civility, good manners, kind words and looking out for our fellow man?
     Reading Scripture today, I came across a verse that seemed to answer that question in so many ways.  It comes from 2 Timothy 3:1-4:  "There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."  Well, that about covers it all doesn't it?  Paul never minces words in what he writes by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
     Now I cannot say that these are the "last" days as no one knows, but God, when the end of time will come.  Nevertheless, I have lived long enough to see how our society has radically changed over the years.  What was unheard of twenty or thirty years ago is often a regular occurrence now like the example of the cashier in the store.  At the root of all of these behaviors, though, is sin.  There is no other explanation, and unfortunately, we are all infected with this problem of the heart.  We are selfish, and there is only one remedy that can set us free.  Only by confessing our sins and acknowledging our need for Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior can we receive a new heart by God's grace.  At that moment, not only does God give us a new heart, but He also gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us as well.  Does that mean we will never lose our temper in a store or on a highway?  No.  I wish I could say that was the case.  However, we do begin to change.
     As the Holy Spirit works in us, He produces the fruit of righteousness within us:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.  This is a big difference from the description in 2 Timothy 3:1-4.  Our goal and target is to be conformed more to Christ than to the world as believers.  The good news is that God is the one doing the work within us as we surrender to Him day by day.  I don't want to be like those drivers we encountered on our trip nor do I want to hurt another person with angry words over a product in a store.  Rather I want to demonstrate the love of Christ in what I say and do.  Therefore, let us strive to live as examples of light to those who are living and working in great darkness.  The times have changed and not for the better, but we are to be of good cheer because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has overcome the world....and by His blood, we too shall be more than conquerors through Him.  Selah!

No Place to Run...No Place to Hide

     Our grandchildren delight in playing the game of "Hide and Seek" in our home when they come for a visit.  I have to admit that some of their hiding places are very good too.  However, there are times when a giggle gives them away, and they are quickly located.
     As adults, we often try to play this game in more sophisticated ways. My husband and I enjoy watching true crime programs where detectives use modern forensic techniques to discover who committed a crime.  In almost every case, the person responsible leaves a clue behind which leads to their eventual arrest.
      When we do something wrong, we try to hide it from those around us as well as God.  We may be able to fool friends and family, but we can never hide from God.  All we have to do is look back to the Garden of Eden.  After Adam and Eve sinned, their first response was to cover themselves and hide from God.  Yet, God knew where they were all the time, and He also knew what they had done. There is no place for us to escape the all-knowing, all-seeing God who made us.
     One of my favorite Psalms is 139.  In this beautiful Psalm, David describes the intimacy with which God knows us:  "O Lord, you have searched me and know me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me."  Now that is knowing someone very intimately and whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, God knows each one of us in the same way.  In some ways that can be unsettling especially if we think we are hiding something.  As David said, He knows our thoughts and what we are going to say before we even say it!  This calls to mind a children's song that goes:  "O be careful little eyes what you see...for the Father up above is looking down in love so be careful little eyes what you see."  It goes on to mention ears and mouth as well.  We would do well to remember that little ditty before we say something we should not.

Our grandson Hudson hiding in his tent

     David goes on in this Psalm to also describe that there is really no way to escape God's presence.  Verses 7-12 read:  "Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you."  Like Adam and Eve, we may think we have successfully hidden from God so that He may not see what we have done, but we would be wrong, and there is a very good reason for this.
     In verses 15-16, David writes:  "My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them."  At this, we should be amazed.  God created us and formed every part of our being laying out the days we will live.  There is no one who knows us more intimately than God.  So how should we respond to this knowledge?
     First, we must realize that even if no one else sees us commit a sin God does.  Being everywhere present and with us always, we have the unseen Creator who doesn't miss any detail of our life.  Therefore, when we sin, we must be ready to come in repentance to God and confess what we have done and seek His forgiveness.  Keeping a short account also keeps our relationship with the Lord intact (I John 1:9).
     Second, we can trust in a God that knows us and loves us in spite of ourselves.  The heavenly Father loved us so much that He sent His only Son to take our punishment for sin so that we might be forgiven and restored.  He proved His love with the blood of a new and better Covenant.  What security we have through Christ our Lord!
     Finally, we have the assurance that when others do not understand us, God does.  He made us, He knows all our days, our thoughts and even our weaknesses.  Therefore, day or night, we can, through the blood of Jesus Christ, come to Him.  We do not have to hide any more now that Christ has broken the bondage of our sin.  We can come freely to the throne of grace any time in order to talk with our Creator.
     Realizing that we cannot escape the eye of God, we need to keep short accounts as David desired to do.  He closes this beautiful Psalm with these words in verses 23-24:  "Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"  When we ask God to reveal to us our motives/sins, He will be faithful to do that.  This will help us to live a holy life before Him and bring greater glory to His name.  Selah!

The Blame Game

     Lately the news has been revealing more than just current events.  On two occasions, I listened as a comedienne and a politician tried to blame their failures on everything but the kitchen sink.  In the comedienne's case, she blamed the victim of her grisly satire leaving me to scratch my head and say, "How does that even sound reasonable?"  Both cases, though, reveal something about all of us.  We have a sin nature and it shows up whenever we do not want to acknowledge something we have said or done in violation of God's Word.  The Bible makes it clear:  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
     This "blame game" is not new to us.  As my husband says, "It started in the Garden."  Indeed, when God confronted Adam with his disobedience, he blamed Eve.  Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent. Since that time, has anything changed?  All we have to do is watch children when they are caught disobeying a parent.  The justification for doing what they did comes pouring out of their lips very easily.  Unfortunately, we all have this bent both in our thinking and in our hearts.  All we have to do is read through the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 to see if this isn't so.  Have we lied?  Have we taken God's name in vain?  Do we honor the Sabbath as a holy day of rest?  What about stealing, bearing false witness against our neighbor or even lusting after what someone else has?  There is no one who has kept the Law of God perfectly except for Jesus Christ.
      Back in the Garden, God promised to send a redeemer who would deliver us from the bondage of sin.  He would perfectly fulfill the Law of God and take our sins upon Himself dying in our place to pay the price so we do not have to endure eternal punishment in Hell.  God even gives us the faith to be able to turn and receive this gift of His Son.  Now I write this not just for those who have never understood what it means to accept the free gift of salvation but also for Christians who still may not comprehend how great our salvation is.
     Before we come to Christ, we are dead in our sins and unable to make the right choices.  The Reformers called this "total depravity" meaning we are infected throughout our mind and spirit with sin.  It does not mean we were as bad as we could be.  However, when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes so that we might repent of our sins and turn to Christ, we are now able to choose the right course according to God's Word.  In fact, we desire to please the Lord and serve Him.  Even more, the Holy Spirit guides, teaches and enables us to serve God.
     As believers, we are free from the bondage of sin, but that does not mean we will never sin again.  We still have to contend with our old nature that wants to draw us back into sin.  Ah, but God has made a way for us to come back into fellowship with Him when we stumble
(I John 1:9).  From start to finish, God had a plan to save us.  What Good News for this hurting world!
     Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his series of sermons on Ephesians 2 reminds us that God not only provides a way of salvation, but He also keeps us through the power of the Holy Spirit that we will never be lost again.  What's more, He will never leave nor forsake us.  This is the blessing we have from God in Christ.  It is no small thing.  He took us from the pit of despair and sin where we made excuses for our misdeeds to a new life where there is no longer condemnation but forgiveness.
     Whether you are a person reading this who has never heard this before or a seasoned believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, think on the things I have written.  We do not have to walk through life with excuses blaming others for what we have done.  Instead, we have an advocate in Christ who breaks this continual bondage.  He, alone, has all we need for life and godliness.  Selah!