Social Justice

Recently, some media personalities have called on Americans to reject the idea of social justice in their local churches. To begin with, I have some problems with these media personalities. I do not want to take them to task for their peculiar political perspective- at least not now. I want to begin this article by calling them out on their complaints about the "media." Their assertions include claims of a "liberal" media bias and unfair reporting. But please keep in mind that the most popular and wealthy media personalities, and the highest rated cable news network are all right-wing conservation outfits. So much for the liberals who control the media.

As far as social justice is concerned, I want to address one issue in particular. The claim has been that churches who are concerned with social justice should be abandoned by all clear-thinking American patriots. I want to look at this as a Christian, a churchman, and a clear-thinking American patriot.

To begin with, the church is all about social justice. The call of Jesus is exactly to care for widows, orphans, the poor, sick, imprisoned. We are to look after the misused and the disadvantaged. (Matthew 25.40) The only reason, I believe, that the USA has become the entitlement society that it has is that the church has failed in its obligations. Someone has to care for the needs of the oppressed. Since the church has not, the government must. (Luke 4.18-19)

Additionally, Christians are to "work out" their salvation. (Philippians 2.12) I believe that this means we are to not keep our faith to ourselves. We are to express it in how we treat and relate to others. Not only that, but we are to show our faith by how we share it with others. (James 2)

Where does this leave us? Clearly, Christians are to be concerned about the needs of the oppressed in our society and around the world. Consequently, our churches must be speaking out and acting on behalf of the needy in our communities and in our nation. It is the responsibility of all Christians, all clear-thinking American patriots, t0 look after the concerns of social justice. And do it no matter what those guys on the radio say.

Went to a Garden Party

Ricky Nelson, that iconic philosopher of 1950's era teeny-boppers, made a profound observation in his 1972 hit song Garden Party. He said, "Ya can't please everybody, so ya got to please yourself." How is that for summing up life?

Nelson wrote that song in response to fans who expected him to continue singing "Hello Mary Lou" and his other hits from the 1950's. He moved on, however. He stretched. He wanted to grow. His answer to those who wanted him to always be Ricky Nelson, Ozzie and Harriet's boy, was that he was his own person.

In a recent post I discussed the importance of various relationships. This is a very similar topic to me. Who do you plan to please? Who do you need to please? Ricky Nelson was all about pleasing himself. The current crop of pop music stars are all about pleasing everyone else (so that they can sell records). But which is right.

• Pleasing myself. If I focus only on pleasing myself, I will miss many of the greatest blessings in life. I will become ingrown and not get the joy of relationships with others that can be extremely beneficial and fruitful. For as I seek to please only myself, I will alienate others who are much less concerned with my pleasure.
• Pleasing others. When my biggest concern is what others think and how I can make them happy, I may shortcut my own ability to be happy. If I do not know myself, or what I am supposed to be doing, how can I be truly fulfilled?
• Pleasing God. Here is the million dollar answer. When I spend my time and energy pleasing God, I will be personally fulfilled because God's plan for my life is to please him. I will be in good standing with others, because God will give me favor with others. I will be concerned with their wants, needs, desires and expectations.

The bottom line is that when I please God, I will win all the way around. In Matthew 6.33 Jesus says that if we seek God's ways first, everything else that we need will be taken care of. I'm for that.

What Opinion Matters

There are three categories of people whose opinion makes a difference in our lives. Each group takes a part in making a person who he/she is. Whether we know it or not, or whether we like it or not, the opinion of another person does contribute to who we are and how we feel about ourselves. The trick is to not let any of these inputs get out of balance.

• A person's opinion of herself is important. Every human needs to have a realistic view of who she is. That means that we must all know what our strengths and weaknesses are. It was Socrates who said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I could not agree more. We must know who we are, what we are good at, and what we cannot do. When we have a good grasp of who we really are, when we have an honest opinion of our abilities and limitations, then we can be a more complete person.
• The opinions of other people is important. Whether we like to admit it or not, every person cares what others think about him. It is not always healthy, but it is definitely unhealthy to not care at all about the opinions of others. Take into account the person whose opinion you are considering. Does he have a good track record? Do you generally value his opinion on other matters? Is it his desire to build up or tear down?
• God's opinion matters to a person. Unfortunately, God's opinion is often not taken into account in a person's self-analysis. We buy into pop-philosophies like "I'm OK, you're OK," and think that's all there is to it. Shame on us. We should consider what God wants for us and from us first.

There is at least one thing to remember though: You must have a balance between all of the inputs. It will leave a person insecure and flaky if he is only concerned about what someone else thinks. Likewise, you will find yourself egotistical and lonely if you think too much of yourself. Begin by listening to God, then mix in the other factors and you will be set. You will be on your way to becoming a well-balanced person.

Right Relationships and Responsibilities

I have been thinking a lot about what are the most important things in life. I have been trying to evaluate my own life, priorities and beliefs. It has occurred to me that even though I have cultivated many good and relatively close friendships, and even though I have a multitude of acquaintances who I am friendly with, and even though I love my family immensely and enjoy intimate conversation and sharing with all of them, I have some deficiencies in my relationships.

I need someone with whom I can share my inner thoughts and struggles without fear of judgment or reprisal. My wife- and other family members- is disqualified from this position because she is living through the same struggles as me. I think that I need to be intentional about developing and maintaining mutually supportive and sustaining relationships in the following categories.

• A relationship with God. For me this one goes without saying. The very foundation of my life and priority system is based on the values that I receive from my spiritual life. The first thing I do each day needs to be to spend time with God.
• A relationship with my family/spouse. These are not the same, but somewhat similar. I need an intimate and strong support system. Family can provide specific checks and accountability that no one else can. Likewise, my family nourishes my emotional life like no one else.
• A relationship with friends. This is the most tricky. These friendships run the gamut of experience. I need friends to socialize with, friends to share my heart with and friends to challenge me professionally, spiritually and intellectually.
• A "pressure-valve" relationship. The one thing that is missing in my life is a relationship with someone that I can 'blow-off' to. I need someone who will not think less of me if I struggle or stumble. I need someone that I can complain to who will not judge me or be offended at me. I need someone that will listen with an open heart, and whom will not worry me.

This is a very personal list, but get this: Everyone needs these relationships. I do not believe that any of them are optional. Look around. Start your search for these people in your life. Let me know how you do. You can be sure that I will report to you.

Getting Control

Here is a paradox: Americans strive their whole lives to be in control of their lives. We are trained from an early age that the American dream is to be independent, wealthy and successful. We want to control our own destiny and make our own decisions. However, the Christian faith teaches us that we can only be successful (and faithful) if God is in control of our lives. What a conundrum.

I have been working with a person who has never been in control of anything. She is scared to be in control because for her first years her parents were in charge. Later she was in a relationship where her mate was in charge. She has learned to let things happen to her. What a travesty.

We should all be in charge of our own decisions. We should be assertive and not wait for things to happen to us. I must confess that I have not arrived at this point. But here are some suggestions for people of all ages and backgrounds.

• Don't put things off. Take advantage of every opportunity to resolve conflicts and disputes. When you wait for someone else to resolve things, they are in charge of them.
• Regularly evaluate your life, your values and your purpose. Make sure that you are spending your time doing the things that will give you control. Don't waste your time on "trifles."
• Be aggressive, but graceful. Take advantage of your position in life, but not to the disadvantage of others. Your goal should be to control your life, not someone else's.

The second part of that paradox is just as troubling. God needs to be in control of our lives. We must voluntarily include him in all our decisions and preferences. We need to take his desires into account and do them.

Eventually, as you grow in faith, you will learn that what God wants will become almost indistinguishable from what you want. That is when you know that God is in control.

Problems I Have with the Bible

I know that it probably seems like heresy to some, but I do have some problems with the Bible. Now before you get too worked up with me, let me explain that I believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible. I believe that it is the word of God. Whenever I need to know God's will, be reminded of his way, or be refreshed by his words, I turn to the Bible. I own dozens of copies of the Bible. There are very few people I know who love the Bible more than I do.

That is why I have mixed emotions about what I am about to write. I love God and I love his word. I do not want to seem disrespectful, but there are some issues that I want to raise with the Almighty at the first opportunity. I have some questions that maybe only God can answer.

• The Prodigal Son (Luke 15). The story of the Lost Son is pretty straightforward and familiar to everyone. But I wonder about the older brother. He gets all the reward? His father insists that all he has belongs to the older brother. On the one hand this is only fair, but on the other, the father is to serve as a picture of God. Is this the loving Father that we are to believe in and hope for? When we turn from our sins can we anticipate forgiveness but no reward?
• The Wedding Feast (John 2). This was Jesus' first miracle- commonly referred to as turning water into wine. The servants in the story obeyed Jesus' directions to fill the jars with water. Why? No one had ever seen Jesus do a miracle, surely they did not expect one now. Why would they? Whose wedding was this? Why was Jesus so interested?
• Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22). God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We know how the story turns out. We know that God provides a sacrifice in place of Isaac, but what a state of discomfort we go through on the way to the end of the story. Why does God do that? It seems like some sort of sick game that God is playing.
• Wrathful War. There are numerous instances in the Old Testament in which God orders his people to kill everyone of their enemies, including women and children. The Israelites, in fact, are punished when they do not completely kill everyone. Why would God order this? Isn't there a better way?

A Difficult Thing

I am just muddling through life. I mess up on a regular basis. If I were to keep track of my mistakes, I am sure that I would need counseling. I am not as good as people think I am and I get lost, confused and unhinged regularly.

There are some days that I do nothing right. I hurt people's feelings with my words. I offend others with my actions. There is a whole group of people who I neglect all together. Meanwhile I am in near financial ruin because of poor choices. My family is struggling because of my deficient leadership. I feel hopeless and directionless.

The bottom line: I don't know what I'm doing.

Life is a crap shoot. You give it your best shot and you hope it works. But sometimes it doesn't. My life isn't always bad, or difficult, or confusing, or pointless, but when it is it stinks. That's when I am reminded that no matter how hard I work at it, I don't get it.

So I pray. I pray because I don't know what I'm doing and God might. He might have an idea where I have gone wrong and what I can do to improve things. He might be able to help show me what I need to do, where I need to go.

Ultimately, no matter what, God cannot make my mess any worse than it already is. Even if he doesn't care and can't do anything, praying to him can't hurt.

But, I don't believe that. I think that God is interested. I believe that he is powerful, caring and involved. I think that he knows my situation and can fix me and my problems. Not only that, I believe with all my heart that God knows what he is doing. I'm going to give him my problems. He will know what to do with them.