You are currently browsing the Bruce Smith weblog archives for July, 2011.
27. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
The Real Thing? Super-Models, Airbrushed Teaching, Empty smiles, Stagnant minds
Cindy Crawford has said, “Even I don’t look like Cindy Crawford when I wake up”. She was commenting on the reality of media and magazine over emphasis on perfection, false perfection. NPR recently ran a story on the British uproar over new magazine pictures of Julia Roberts and others who are, despite their beauty, exceedingly touched up on magazine covers. The surprising conflict stems from the British laws which wrestle with truth in advertising. The question is, where does effective marketing actually become deception? If we are selling a kind of beauty beyond that of Julia Roberts, Cindy Crawford, and other world-class models, we have a problem with reality. As the truism goes, “If you want to feel beautiful, don’t read beauty magazines”. That is to say, with all the false perfection, and massive touchups, even the beautiful models are more than beautiful…they are not real. One can become deceived, pre-occupied, and falsely lured with a standard of beauty that is unrealistic. NPR’s program was surprisingly and refreshingly encouraging with regard to the truth of what beauty products can do and can’t do for a real person in the real world, and equally encouraging in that it called listeners to question the kind of false reality our cultures are too prone to admire. It was a rare call for individuals, and entire industries, to actually think on a bigger scale, to go deeper than skin, especially fake skin.
Have we done this in the church as well? If so, and I think the answer is obvious, should we make church laws which ban such false “advertising” in the church? Do we need someone to stand up and say, “Hey, people! Think. Use your brain. Stop listening to the false ads, and actually spend the time needed to understand what is going on!”
Let me see if I can help you understand where I am coming from. Recently, in preparing for some teaching assignments on the subject of suffering and pain in the lives of “biblical heroes”, I came across some well known, often read, and well compensated contemporary teaching on the subject of “victorious Christian living”. The speaker/writer, very well known in our culture, one who sells lots of books, and preaches to lots of people every week, as he usually does, went on to espouse the idea that Christians should experience ongoing, un-interupted, and unceasing victory, accomplishment, and peace in life. He suggested this covers everything from finances to relationships, and including health and emotions. Because Jesus, was ultimately victorious, he suggested, then we should never be without total success in every area of our lives! If we are not experiencing such, then we just need to change our thinking and watch it happen.
Really? Where in biblical revelation does anything remotely similar show up? Seriously. Abraham? Asked to kill his son! Joseph? Imprisoned, sold into slavery, lied about, looked over. Jeremiah? The weeping prophet. Job? Lost everything, health, wealth, family, reputation. Hosea? Asked to marry a whore. Paul? Blinded, shipwrecked, imprisoned, stoned (not the herbal kind!), and left for dead. The majority of Jesus’ key followers, after Jesus HIMSELF was killed, were killed in brutal ways. Jesus sweat drops of blood he was so anguished. He was tortured. He was killed. He said, “In this life you WILL have tribulation.” He had family and friends abandon Him at various times in His life. He was poor. He had no status. He is not the guy we would have picked to be the poster-boy for the religious movement. Success was not even in His vocabulary, let alone esteem.
Romans chapter 8 is a direct confrontation of such teaching, such false and misleading teaching. The list at the end of the chapter leaves no struggle out. We will face them, we are told, if true Christians. In them, through them, as a result of them, we are taught, we become more of what God wants us to be. Some thorns, problems, pains never go away scripture affirms. Bad things DO happen to “good” people, all the time. This is the real story of the Fall. The world, full of sin, sinners, full of sin, all contribute to the reality in question.
The church has to stand up and tell an onlooking world the truth about God’s beauty. What is beautiful is that God knows our suffering, and He actually suffered with us, in Christ. He is not too far removed so as not to be able to comfort and grow us through our pains. As Muggeridge has said, it is through pain that we learn the most. And to want otherwise would be a farce. If we could end all pain and suffering from our experience, he says, life would be too banal and trivial as to be meaningful. Pain, points us to God, to the Cross. And it is the cross which most testifies to the reality of God’s love for us. That is true beauty.
I actually stagger when I hear other ministers affirm the teaching of well known TV preachers and book writers who tell the world God wants them always victorious and blessed. Have any of these people read the same bible I read? One has to wonder. We expect the lost world to come to us and jump headlong into a delusion because we promise them the good life, then they see life get ugly, and wonder if it all is a game. That is not the message of the scripture, God’s heroes of faith gone by, and its not biblical experience. In our comfort culture, our lazy television obsessed existence, we are too lazy of mind and puny in our intellectual and spiritual effort. Like those who would rather take a pill or have a surgery in order to be fit rather than work at it in a healthy way, today’s church-goers want to be spoon fed something called “truth”. We don’t even take time to read the warning labels on such an approach anymore. Easy is the way and the game we would rather play. But Jesus said those who will be “blessed” are those who actually hunger and thirst for him, those who take a counter-cultural approach to life, and those who suffer. That may not sell books or keep them in the pews, but that was never Jesus’ goal. He came that we might have life, life to the full, not that we might have great music and a thirty minute pep talk about our quest for a better life experience.
Why do we, like blind consumers pulled along by false advertisers leading a pleasure hungry world astray, buy into the contemporary American deception? Most of the world, and most of history knows a different reality. And certainly the biblical story is different from this flimsy offering. Large churches, nice suits, big smiles, and large book deals are no correlation to reality, friends. We must learn to think, and think biblically. Anyone can tell you how good your are, how nice life can be for you, and how special a person you must be. That is not, however, the biblical message when presented in its fullness, and its certainly not the emphasis of scripture. How can we sit, without evaluation, because someone sells books and has a soothing voice, and listen to something so clearly out of touch with the whole of scripture? Those who buy in are as much to blame as those who sell it. They have both bought into the same lazy and fleshly approach to life and truth.
The bible tells us, clearly, though made in God’s image as His loved creation, we have all like sheep gone astray and embraced sin. We are in need of His goodness which alone will bring beauty back into our lives, and does so amidst the mess of life in a fallen world. If we don’t hear and understand how deeply sin impacts our life and our world, we cannot hope to see how God’s corrective truth helps us to find our way through toward His better way.
Close the cover on “teaching” which smiles at you and tells you that only good is coming your way. You can no more “claim, speak, or call” such realities into existence than the man on the moon! (he does not exist by the way) False advertising leads entire cultures over the brink and headlong toward emptiness and false lives. Just look at the lives of broken “blessed” celebrities in our culture. More is not always better, and obsession over prettier externals never fixes the internal need. The same is true spiritually speaking. This idea was not for God’s biblical heroes, and it is not for us now, if we are to experience depth and life-giving faith. If God chooses to bring blessing into your life as you follow Him, wonderful! Enjoy it. Don’t make it your quest or your God, however. And if He brings you through the hard journey to bless the world through your faithfulness and example, embrace that fully.
Remember, Job became a signpost to the comfort of God. Joseph became a beacon of God’s providence. Jeremiah called a nation back to God. Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament (from prison), Hosea became a testimony of God’s radical love for people who reject His loving-kindness, and Abraham is the faithful patriarch of biblical faith. All of them, through hardship and misery, found joy in the journey, and pointed a world back to Him. Put down the airbrush! Use your mind. Choose His truth.
Its all about Him, folks. Its not about us. The world needs to hear that. They want to see the REAL thing. Don’t touch up the crows feet of God’s word. Don’t liposuction the truth. Don’t stuff the body of Christ with fake enhancements. Truth is far more beautiful than fiction, I assure you.
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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25. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
Bruce’s video on The Eternal Perspective of the Hero: seeing beyond your pain to your purpose, is now up on VIMEO! Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/26901033 Check out the video. The message, pulled from the upcoming book, LIFE IN 3D! The SuperHero’s Guide to the Universe, shows us how to find God’s way through our pain. The website and blog can be found at www.bruceleesmith.co
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19. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
Life in 3D! The Eternal Perspective of the Hero: seeing through your pain to your purpose
A taste from the upcoming message this Sunday…
It has been said, “Talk about pain, and you will never lack for listeners”. I hope that is true because this is my task today. The message, from my book Life in 3D, coming out soon, is about The Eternal Perspective of the Hero : seeing through your pain to your purpose . Take a look at the VIDEO screen as we begin. VIDEO: The Money Pit Clip… Things can go wrong, very, very, very wrong! One mis-step, and then the chain reaction is seemingly unstoppable. Before we know it, we feel broken, dirty, abused, and totally done in. Life gets messy. The clip from The Money Pit makes us laugh because we have all felt that way, taking the blows of life, one after another. When it’s us on the scaffolding, however, or us in the wheelbarrow of life, its not so humorous, is it? It’s not so fun to be building a life only to see it fall apart all around us. In our culture of excess, comfort, motivational quips, and the thirst for the nice, fun, pleasure filled American dream, its easy to begin to question any hint of difficulty, and sadly this is becoming rampant in the church where the poster-child for Christianity, many suggest, is the healthy, wealthy, thriving, and problem free, smiley-face goodie-goodie. Is this the normative Christian experience biblically speaking? Does the testimony of those heroes of faith gone before us match this contemporary idea? Should our Christian experience feel inferior if we don’t fit this cultural church ideal? If God is not blessing us with pleasure after pleasure, buck after buck, car after car, trip after trip, success after success, have we missed the life He calls us to? Is our life missing the point if we struggle, if we weep, if we fall ill, if we don’t always feel as if we are winning? Does the suffering Christ-follower have any hope for a big life? Is our life worth as much if we don’t feel like smiling as much as the TV preacher encourages us to? “There can be no reproach to pain unless we assume human dignity, there is no reason for restraints on pleasure unless we assume human worth, there is no legitimacy to monotony unless we assume a greater purpose to life, there is no purpose to life unless we assume design, death has no significance unless we seek what is everlasting.” — In a nutshell, it’s about perspective. A true view of life. Job: The man of God for his day. Stripped of all he had; health, wealth, family, reputation, friends, …all of it. Yet, God called him out as a faithful servant. In the end Job chooses the hard path as a means to worship God. “Though He slay me, yet, will I serve Him.” Job asserts. Joseph? Born to “win”. Others told him he was a winner, especially his dad. He told others he was a winner, even his brothers! He was not only abandoned by family, he was abused, sold, left for dead, hoped to have been gone forever. He was lied about, imprisoned for doing good and looked over. In God’s time, amidst a painful life-drought of 13 years, the bigger plan unfolded. He wept, he struggled, but he never lost perspective and hunger for all God had for him. Abraham? The unraveling of a promise given to him was put at risk when God asked the unthinkable. “Abe, you know that son through whom I told you I would raise a nation?” …”Kill him! Prove yourself to me.” Uh. Ok, that makes sense. Paul? God’s man for the Gospel to spread? Educated. Honored. Brilliant. Orator. Mover. Shaker. Set for a life of success in front of all the right people. And then he came to Christ. What then? Sight impaired. Shipwrecked, numerous times. Jailed, numerous times. Beaten, numerous times. Stoned (not the fun kind). Left for dead. Hoped for death. Threatened continually. And he wrote, “these present light and momentary afflictions are nothing compared to reward ahead for me!” Light and momentary?! Are you kidding me! Jeremiah? The prophetic voice of God to a nation in need. Suffice it to say, this man of God, the voice to be heard, the spokesman of the nation, was not the most “comfortable” of God’s servants. He came to be known as the “weeping prophet”. He despaired unto death. Ok. That’s all I got today. Now, who is signing up? Come on! Who wants to sign up for that life-experience resume? Line up here! That, of course, is not all there was to their stories. And our stories don’t end with tragedy either. Job– End the end, the purposes of God were made visible, Job was shown the comfort of God, and He was a testimony of God’s nearness and love to generations. Joseph– In time, God placed him at the center of a nation, and used him to save a nation from famine. His story lives on. Abraham–Not until despair had come, confusion had hardened, and difficult obedience had unfolded, did God prove Himself to Abe, and make a way THROUGH the trial. God showed up in His way, in His time, amidst unthinkable, mind-jarring complexity. He is the Patriarch of Biblical faith and his story radiates throughout history and cultures. Paul–The majority of the New Testament was written, by him, in prison, and the world has never been the same. We could say, without too much of a stretch, he has been the best selling author in history (since of course the Bible itself is the best-seller). Jeremiah– Yet, through his ministry the message of warning, reconciliation, and restoration triumphed, and a people were called back to God. And he is chief among inspiring examples of great men of God who endured until something marvelous took place. How did they do it? Why did they do it? Why not quit? Did they want to quit? Do you ever want, fantasize, begin to take steps to quit? It was all about their vision of God. Hang on. There is a way. No matter what befalls you, Godly perspective, vision, is that way, and the glue that adheres you to Him through it all. MORE ON SUNDAY! COME JOIN US AT Northwoods Church in downtown Covington La for two services beginning at 9am, if you are in town, or, look for the video/audio coming soon to www.bruceleesmith.co Bruce Smith
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8. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
Shoreline
Walking along the shoreline, searching for grace,
Pummeled by something like a tsunami on the left side of my face,
Sandy, battered, soaked, stumbling and in pain,
I turned, got up, headed back,
in the direction from which I came,
Gathering myself, wondering,
I did not see this coming,
How can this be explained?
A few steps forward, catching my breath
A force, a huge wind,
Blew me over like a hurricane.
What is going on here?
Is this real or am I insane?
I went out for a little stroll,
Wanting to taste the beauty of the world again.
What happened to the earth, the sky, the rain?
How does this orb, so celestial, sublime,
Bring such scathing disdain?
In all my life, the story remains the same,
Hungry, thirsty, craving a touch of the lovely,
Finding only a lonely and empty game.
Weak, trembling, standing, bracing against the wind,
It was then I realized, my help would not come from within.
I thought, I cried, I guessed, I sighed,
Surely this tapestry of wonder and disaster,
Has a beginning and an end?
It struck me oh so funny,
Drenched from end to end,
Amidst my pain, amidst my pity,
It was there I turned to Him.
The beauty has a reason, even the pain its place,
Its all about the Creator,
He who gives life to time and space.
The waves and wind are wondrous,
They collide and swirl with grace,
Able to bring pleasure,
Renewing the oldest face,
And havoc they can carry,
Readjusting locales with haste.
Somewhere along the way,
I learned to take it all in stride,
The winds, the waves, the storms,
No longer force me to run and hide.
Though often I search out a cleft,
Peacefully, there, I seek refuge inside.
I don’t always see them coming,
North, South, East, and West,
Each wind has its own power,
Each wave its own crest.
Now as I walk along that shoreline,
Taking in the grandeur of this place,
Even amidst the roaring,
The extra footprints show His face.
I’m learning to like the weather,
The sun, the moon, and stars,
The winds, the rain, the winter,
The mountain’s north face.
Its all a part of my story,
It all leads me to my place.
Every step, every battle,
Every foe, every blaze,
Every bite of winter,
Every buffeting, fall, and disgrace,
Its all part of the journey,
Not one inch of the shoreline is a waste,
Like every grain of sand,
Each one unique and crafted,
Every snowflake a creation,
Every life, every trial,
For His purposes, all is needed,
Each and every moment on the dial.
I shall remain along the shoreline,
Ever ready there to play,
The sun in all its glory,
Prepares a whole new day.
The sun, wind, and waves,
Cool sand beneath my feet,
He brings vacation for the soul,
Amidst the fun and the fury,
He is my retreat.
Bruce Smith
ww.bruceleesmith.co
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7. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
“Did You Hear?” … the lies?! The Super Trial (part two)
A liar does not make one a killer. That is the way the reasoning went according to experts. A liar could be a killer, but is not necessarily one. And that is true enough, as far as it goes.
But what is a lie if not an all out assault on truth itself? If truth is reality, then a lie would be an attempt to do away with reality, to get rid of it, knock it off. The lie, then, successfully woven, kills at the heart of truth. A lie is the death of life, relationships, trust, and hope. If the truth sets us free, as we are told, a lie buries us beneath a mountain of debris. The lie is a death sentence for those involved, but most assuredly for the liar. It is one of those things which God wanted to make clear to us, “God does not lie”. He goes on to tell us that our enemy, Satan, is the father of lies.
In the aftermath of the Casey Anthony verdict many pundits have presented their views on the trial, its verdict, Casey, and more. One of the more perplexing expositions, not too surprisingly, came from the mouth of Alan Dershowitz, who, with many suggests the verdict is correct. That is “fair enough” from a strictly legal perspective, perhaps, but what is disturbing about Mr. Dershowitz’s comments on the legal system as a whole is terribly troubling. He asserts, without hesitation, that our legal system is “not about truth or justice”, but merely about the correct outcome technically. I cannot help but be horrified by the comments of the jurors now coming forth which play in the background like a morose dirge, “We wish we could have returned a different verdict”. The words, together, take me back to the comments of Herod toward Jesus, “What is truth?” The scriptures tell us, with that, he (Herod) walked away. It was a question for which he wanted no answer. Have we become a country of Herods, a culture of denial and gamesmanship?
Dershowitz, and many in our culture, though bright and able debaters, it seems to me, have made the courtroom a game, and truth secondary. Were not our courts set up to get us to the truth about things? Should they not be about such? Or, are we to be fine with our legal system becoming a technical game of personality, money, reputation, and manipulation? Should it really be about who has the better team? Dershowitz, you may remember, was intimately involved in the O.J. Simpson game, uh, trial.
If you have ever witnessed a lie, a cover up, a betrayal, a spinning web of deceit, personally, you know how deadly such blows are. The lie, delivered and relentlessly pursued, grows like a cancer, spreads, and kills all involved. It twists reality, confuses those we love, and strikes down any efforts toward depth and intimacy. Lies sever families, wound children, and lead cultures toward an abyss we are blind to. When the battle between truth and lie becomes a game, entertainment, or something other than real life and death reality, we are spiraling down the ride to perdition.
The real danger revealed in trials like those of Casey Anthony and O.J. Simpson, even amidst the outrage of many, is that we become desensitized to the game of life. Indeed, we begin to think of everything as a game to be one or lost rather than a life to be lived in light of truth and meaning. What does it mean when we accept a technicality over truth? What have we gained? Again, as I said earlier, I did not follow the trial as many have, but I have reviewed many of the critical facts in the case at this point. Whether Casey killed her child or tried to cover up a horrible accident or someone else’s vulgar crime, we will, likely, never know. The issue we must wrestle with, now, in light of all her lies, is our intense pain and confusion over the clear reality that truth never came forth. We do know she lied. It is true, she is a liar. Seemingly, a pathological one. Only in being caught in the lies (as is usually the case…and all of us who have teenagers know this!) did she own up to anything. And then, actually, her attorneys owned up to it. The tangible sense of death we feel right now is that, even beyond her daughter, she took blows at our ability to trust, our hope for good, our idea of truth. When that is gone a sure death has occurred. That is why, now, perhaps forever, death runs wild within her family and she is estranged from so many, if not everyone, save her legal team.
What is truth?, so asked Herod… Maybe the question should have been, “What is a lie?” and “What is the outcome of living within a lie?” Marriages fail, emotional turmoil sets in, psychological dysfunction hardens, friends flee, parents are pained, kids are set up for a life of trouble, prison doors shut, hearts break, bodies decay, hypertension and hypersensitivity characterize one’s moods, self is served, goodness is abhorred, gossip is lusted after, mouths run like uncontrolled rivers, nerves are frayed, and the rut of life becomes a grave unto misery. The lie is death. Its intent is murder one.
Truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the Truth, and the life”. He also said no one finds truth in any other place. The answer, therefore, for Casey, her family, the jury, the judge, the attorneys, and for all of us, is found in, well, The Truth. He is truth in its essence, and He alone sets one free. The verdict is rendered, yet, without the truth, all those attached to this case will feels a sense of imprisonment until and unless the truth is revealed. If this mother killed or covered up a killing of her daughter, no matter how much money she may make from those who would prey on this story, she will live a life of internal emotional, psychological, and spiritual imprisonment. And without coming to Christ for freedom in the truth about herself and life, she will never get free. This is how it is for each of us. The lie always lingers. We will own the lie, and seek grace, or we will live in a state of brokenness. This is why so many families, relationships, hearts, never heal. For many, its too much to go back an unwind the tale fully and ask for forgiveness.
We may not have killed our child or covered up a massive crime like this, however, each of us has, at times, for our own reasons, played Herod and dismissed the idea of truth to meet the cry of our own cravings. The murderous power of the lie lurks within the heart of every man, woman, boy, and girl. It is only Christ who allows us victory over such death, and that is the point of the cross. Interestingly, even as He was murdered, and lies were told about Him, and as death overcame Him, He turned the tables on all of it, proclaiming Himself alive, asserting Himself as The One Truth, and offered us freedom from our spiritual imprisonment. Wow. In the face of the lie, in the presence of death, and amidst the trap of the the grave, He wins a victory unlike any other. Justice served. Grace extended. Mercy unending. Love unfathomable. Life renewed. Freedom for all who would embrace it.
Thanks be to God for Truth.
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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5. July 2011 by BruceSmith.
Did You Hear? …the verdict …
The Super Trial of Casey Anthony
Grabbing a quick bite to eat today, amidst my errands and work, a friend spotted me, came over to the table and said, “Did you hear?” With awkward pause in play, not knowing what she was referring to (I have not been watching the case play out on T.V., I confess), she continued, “…the verdict?” With minimal pause, I caught on, and said, “NO, what was it?” “Not guilty!” she replied with disgust and a smirk. “Not guilty!” Then people at tables all around me chimed in, “Yeah, not guilty! Can you believe that!”
Just ten minutes later, walking into the coffee shop, the barista was visibly upset, “I cant’ believe this! It would have made my day (referring to a guilty verdict)!” … “I just can’t get over this, this day is now horrible!”, she continued.
I admit, I have seen some excerpts from the trial, maybe a total of five minutes, actually. But I remember when the story broke, and I remember the “mom”, allegedly, being out on the party circuit while the child was missing and presumed dead or gone forever. With most, apparently, something just did not add up. Seeing too many judicial, personal, cultural, and otherwise nasty outcomes in so many instances, I decided to rest on my knowledge of depravity, God’s justice, and reason, and I just stayed away from this latest media spectacle. At a a minimum, confessing again, from an obviously limited access to details, my assumption was that anyone so apparently heartless, self-consumed, and given to play, would get what was coming to them. Somehow, I had forgotten about O.J. (I still remember where I was when I heard and watched the highway chase of the white bronco in which the disguise, money, and other suspicious items were found). That glove did not “fit” and so the verdict, then, like now, was to acquit.
There is, of course, no way possible for me to know the heart of those involved in this latest case. There is, of course, no way possible to truly know what was going on in all of this tragic mess unless we were there. And despite having that feeling again that all is not right in the world (surprise!), and wondering if justice was or ever is served, I am at rest with the teaching of God on justice, vengeance, grace, and mercy. We have to be if we are to live with any sense of stability in a world where tragedy and injustice rules the day the world over.
Its not just this trial. Look at the headlines. Dictators, world “leaders”, killing their own people. Racism and poverty and food shortages. Ethnic cleansing, corporate corruption, and political deal-making. Manipulation of currencies in back door dealings amongst market-makers, set-ups, fall-guys, and more. Injustice is nothing new, and its not going away.
This is where a biblical perspective comes into play. As has been asked by the Psalmist, “Why do the wicked prosper?!” We still cry out for that answer. Why do good things happen to bad people? Why do bad things happen to “good” people?
The scriptures teach us we are living in a fallen world where things go bad, have gone bad, and will go bad. The Word of God also encourages us in the mercy and grace of God. Into this plight the goodness of God is extended as His people walk in ways that are pleasing to Him and demonstrate His character. We have the opportunity to remind people struggling to make sense of this mess that vengeance, ultimately, belongs to God. Those that appear to “get away with it” never do, eternally speaking. And those that appear to get the short end of the pointed stick in this life, can, through the grace of God, find all they ever dreamed of and more in Him and in His eternal glory.
Sometimes events in the world distract us from the reality that God has all of this in His hands, that He sees each of our dirty hearts, and that He loves every last one of us. It pains Him to see His kids go astray. Indeed He absolutely hates sin. He despises that which eats away at our purpose for being. He hates cruelty. He hates lies. He hates gossip. He hates sexual immorality, and a list of all manner of evil. More than that He hates what it does to His world and those He longs to be in relationship with. He hates the dirty money made from entertainment which glamorizes and desensitizes us to the reality of evil. He hates that Christians, seemingly, are at ease entertaining themselves with the messes of this world (as all sociological church studies demonstrate), all the while denying the moral and personal impact.
Whether she did it or not, whether any of us did “that thing” at any point or not, God knows the truth. If we “get off” in the eyes of others, we have not escaped the truth before God and it will eat us apart. “That thing” which many others think is true of us, which we know not to be so, God sees that as well, and He carries our pained hearts in the midst of such scandal. He knows,will support, and one day vindicate us in light of eternal truths.
Thankfully, for each of us, the truth of God’s grace extended to people gone bad (actually we start bad, and only God can impart any good) is there for the asking. We all could receive much worse from a perfect God with an impeccable standard of truth and goodness. We all deserve much worse than we have gotten so far, no matter what we have gotten. It is only grace which extends the mercy of blessing, forgiveness, and hope for a future. Any and all good gifting is from God.
Amidst the headlines, amidst the injustices of our world, amidst the lack of details about ourselves and others, we can cry out for and find rest in the love and mercy and justice of God. It is appointed for each person, once, to die, and then be judged, the scriptures say. Our favor, as people who have embraced Jesus, is that He Himself, the judge, has become in Christ, the judged for us. He has taken our punishment, and offered us life! The life sentence which should be proclaimed upon each of us, by Jesus’ work overcoming the grave, has become the road to eternal life in Him, by Him, and for His glory!
Thanks be to God that we don’t get what we deserve! Thanks be to God that He rights all the wrongs ultimately, and all are all held to account. For those whom God has “accounted” as His, we receive the sentence of Grace! Even eternal life with Him! Hallelujah! We should pray that all involved in this case, and in the case of this world as a whole, find their way to a God who is searching them out amidst their brokenness and sin.
That, my friends, is a headline the world needs to here. Use this latest episode to get the news out there! Help people to know the whole story, the story that matters.
Have you heard? Have you shared?
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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