Oh Be Careful Little Fingers What You Type…

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Today I listened to Blaine Workman’s podcast: Learning to Speak TOBOG. He was speaking about our speaking — the words we say. He noted that if Paul were writing to the Ephesians today, he might say words like this:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth or flow from your fingers. Texting, twitter, facebook, blogs — they are all helpful tools for communicating in our digital age, none of them good or bad in and of themselves. But the rotting verbal garbage that some Christians are willing to post in texts or online is just appalling. It has no place among God s people. In some weird inexplicable way, talking to their electronic device somehow frees people to spew the most vile and corrupting talk in ways they’d be ashamed to do, speaking face to face with the real person. And brothers and sisters, the anonymity of cyberspace is no license for corrupting talk. If your brother sins against you, Jesus says, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. Today, we go tell the whole world in an anonymous post in a blog somewhere… ~Pastor Blaine Workman

That’s a bold thing for a pastor to say. It’s especially bold today, because it’s a quick way to be unfriended in social media.

Take a listen to Pastor Blaine yourself. Maybe you could post it on your own facebook or other social media page.

I dare you.

Who is that baby?

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That’s the question that was on my mind when I saw little John without his twin in church Sunday. I knew he looked familiar, but I hadn’t taken a good look at him in a couple of weeks and seeing him out of context, I honestly couldn’t identify him. At that age, looks change quickly.

How quickly do you change? 

Speaking to a woman recently, she was commenting on the fact that she wasn’t as disciplined as she wished. She compared herself to others in the church and said, “I am just not a disciplined person.” Neither am I. But if I could step back from my life, I might see that I am more disciplined than I used to be.

Generally discipline is considered a fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5). Several of those, mose clearly self-control, are related to self-discipline. They are fruit.

Since they are fruit of the Spirit, then they are there by the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. And since they are fruit, they probably don’t appear spontaneously, but come to be through activities such as planting, growing, cultivation, weeding, feeding, and watering — all of which take time.

I think a key to self-discipline is having a determination to never give up. And if you are to remain steadfast, then you have to believe you are growing — that you are developing in the area of discipline. Seeing self-discipline as a process is a good start.

It would also be good to observe that you are indeed growing. As a child, my parents let us mark our height on the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. I remember marveling at how much I had grown through the years. It’s tough to remember where we were in the area of spiritual discipline, so maybe it would be helpful for us each to note the growth we’ve seen in one another. And maybe it would be good to take a risk with a trusted friend and ask, “Do you see places in my life where I have grown?” Such a risk might encourage us more than we expect.

Little John will only be little John for a few more years. Then, I have a feeling, he will be John. And eventually, maybe Big John. If only our spiritual development were as easily recognizable as the physical development of a baby — we might just find ourselves encouraged to lean forward and grow even more.

Have You Ever Asked: How did I become so bitter?

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I have been listening to Erwin McMannus in recent days, specifically his podcasts in his sermon series Artisan. When talking about Job, he said something that struck me.

Bitterness usually doesn’t set in because of what happened to you; Bitterness usually sets in through your interpretation of why it happened to you. The brokenness that settles deep in your soul — I know this is going to be hard for you to believe but it’s not there because of what you experienced — of what happened. It is there because of your interpretation of your conclusion of why it happened to you.

It can cause you to take on a filter, a mindset of victimization for the rest of your life which will cause you to live a life of powerlessness for the rest of your life. It will cause you to misdirect your strength, trying to control the outside world that you have no control over, while relinquishing responsibility and control for your inner-world which you have full control over. ~Erwin McMannus, Artisan: Interpretation – Translation of Life, 2012

To come through adversity in life in a manner that’s healthy, it’s essential we grasp this reality.

Holding on to Hope…

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At Curwensville Alliance, on Easter Sunday there were 109 in the first service and 191 in the second. That’s 300, but of course, many were in both services. As I’ve talked to many concerning this great day at Curwensville Alliance, one of them remarked, “I wonder how many of them will be there next week.” The cynic that I used to be would concur, thinking, “Yeah — those Easter and Christmas People….. Tsk, tsk, tsk. They have no commitment to being in church regularly.” I have since repented of such cynicism. Thank you, God, for purging it from my heart.

The Bible tells us to be men and women of faith. We are to never lose heart, but to hope (Romans 12:12). Losing heart is the pathway toward despair. I have never heard anyone indicate it was a good place to be. On the contrary, despair is a great evil that wise people resist with all their hearts.

The concept of holding on to hope is connected with the resurrection of Jesus. Paul concludes what many call The Resurrection Chapter with the words, “58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58 — NIV) Despairing people do not stand firm in their faith in Christ. Only those who choose to hope continue to give themselves fully to the work of the Lord. Only those who thoroughly resist cynicism know that their labor in the Lord has meaning.

Some weeks ago I was speaking to a gentleman concerning some mutual friends who made the same sinful choices over and over. In our conversation, his cynicism was showing. I wanted to help him turn from that path, so I said to him these simple words: Don’t despair. I say the same to each of you who call Curwensville Alliance your church home.

Easter Sunday was glorious. The evidence of the resurrection of Christ shone in our congregation as we enjoyed the drama, the meal, the visiting, the music, and the message. Rather than asking ourselves, “I wonder how many will be there this week?” let’s take a different path. Let’s take a path of hope — hope that the same God who broke through into our lives would break through into the lives of our friends and loved ones. And let’s put some wheels on that hope by praying for and reconnecting with those who were here on Easter and inviting them to join us again this week.

Let’s leave the cynicism behind and live as people of faith.