Power People

Kings used to dream of autonomy
and grasp at power like swords from stones.

Now, rulers creep beneath
moth-eaten veils of freedom,
trembling at the feet of
super-men who drink their power
out of cardboard containers.

Bucks blithely traded to the stars,
borrowed from the treasure of tomorrow,
would-be royals play their world away,
reckoning yesterday’s rules will reward them.


MNA 5/5/2016

The Watchful "What If...?"

It’s hard to believe my dad has been gone now for six years. He slipped and fell on an icy parking lot on his way to the evening service at his church, striking his head. About ten days later, the Lord called him home.

There are many precious things I remember about my father. He was a sweet, gentle, strong, kind, dedicated man. He loved God, his family, his church, community and country. And he displayed those loves via his continual acts of service.

One of the key elements in my dad’s life, in my opinion, was his watchfulness. Perhaps partly because of his training and experience as a U.S. Marine and a New York State Trooper, Dad had a good, instinctive grasp of both the positive and negative sides of human nature. He seemed to make friends easily, but he was never naïve in a Pollyanna sort of way. He picked up signals from people that revealed their character, and never seemed rattled when their hidden faults or virtues manifested themselves. Hardly anything ever took him by surprise.

Whether I’m aware of it or not, watchfulness is a very important part of my life. And this quality is one of the hallmarks of effective fatherhood.

When a man first ventures into the territory of fatherhood, he might be unaware of the dangers and responsibilities he’ll be expected to face. But all too soon, the reality will become clear that there are people, influences, forces, and even governments, that are poised to make their marks upon that dad’s family. And most of them won’t hesitate to use every nasty, deceitful, seductive trick in the book to press their assault.

Unfortunately, we live in an age where this kind of watchful awareness is routinely scoffed at or minimized in people’s minds. The idea that evil forces must be assumed, identified, resisted and fought against is largely relegated to a bygone age. We are told by most that the biggest problems we must encounter are things like low self-esteem, religious fanaticism, playground bullying, and who uses which restroom. Discussing things like evil, sin and worldliness is uncomfortable to most people and is simply not done.

But, like it or not, God commands me to be watchful. The Bible continually harps on this.

Even back in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord warned His children not to eat from the forbidden tree, lest they die, the implicit warning was there: “Watch out! You may be tempted to eat from this tree. Don’t do it--you’ll die if you do!” When the subtle serpent slithered into their lives and promised them godlike knowledge if only they’d disobey God, Adam and Eve should have been ready for the old liar. They’d been duly warned. They should have been watchful!

Ever since the Fall of mankind into sin, God has been warning us...encouraging watchfulness and caution. He told Cain when the older brother was angry that Abel was honored (and Cain wasn’t) “Watch out! Sin is crouching at your door; it wants to have you, but you must master it.” Ancient Israel was repeatedly warned never to forget God’s commands and His mighty acts of deliverance, lest they falter in their trust in Him and seek after other gods.

Giving gentle, serious warnings to His children is something God is particularly good at. His warnings, as well as His promises, are woven into the entire fabric of His age-long plan of redemption. His great heart of love longs for each of us to heed those warnings and cling to those promises. How I respond to them will determine whether the course of my life leads me into a path of blessing...or cursing.

The Bible generally warns against three sources of evil I must watch out for. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

The Book of Job, considered by many to be the oldest book contained in the Bible, begins with a glowing description of the title character. Job is described as a righteous, pious, wealthy, respected man who knew the blessing of God in an abundant way, and responded to God’s special treatment by way of a careful, diligent watchfulness.

Whenever one of his ten children would give a feast, inviting the others to attend and join the celebration, Job’s practice was to bring them all together after the party ended. Then he would sacrifice burnt offerings to God for each of them, just because of the possibility that one of them had sinned in his or her heart during the course of that feast!

Now, you and I might feel that this practice borders on the neurotic or the overly extravagant...but whether or not it does, I think we would agree that it proves the sincerity of Job’s faith, not only in God, but in the reality of spiritual evil and how dangerous that evil can be. To Father Job, the World was not just dangerous on a physical plain. The Flesh, to him, was capable of being enflamed by a harmless party into something offensive to God. And the Devil was an enemy worth fighting against with a stern and costly zeal.

Job was said to be “the greatest man in the East” of his day. And a mark of that greatness was the fact that he could, and often did, ask the question, “What if...?” And he asked this because he believed in the harsh reality of evil and the vulnerability of the human soul.

“What if one of my beloved children had a bit too much wine at that last feast, then cursed God in her heart? What if my son has been led astray by a companion into some shady business venture? What if my foreman has been mistreating some of my servants? What if...?” Those kinds of questions needn’t be seen as fanatical or morbidly neurotic. Rather, they can reveal the heart of one who “hungers and thirsts after righteousness.” One who takes God’s warnings seriously to “watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation.”

If I am serious about my relationship with Jesus Christ, that means I will be serious about my growth in Christ-likeness...in true holiness. I’m happy to say I have more than one or two people in my life who care enough about my soul to be watchful over me.

Hopefully, watchfulness will come to characterize my own life more and more. Because there are people whose eternal souls I deeply care about...and this world is a dangerous place for eternal souls.

(1115 words)

American Lament III

Eye phone is the new oracle;
it mystifies with its imaginariness
and words that fly from thumbs
through the thoughtless void.

Finally, computers truly are personal
and man’s wisdom can be grasped
in a woman’s left hand while
she multi-tasks her way to the grave
at the wheel of her smart hybrid.

I’m reluctant to call this progress,
for robotic humanity may be closing in
on that permanent mental state
where all one does is talk to oneself.

MNA
May 2016

Mercy...Who Needs It?

(a message based on Matthew 18:21-35)

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything was “very good”... including people. There was no strife, no sadness, no sin. And therefore, there was no need for mercy or forgiveness. Nothing had happened yet that required a just punishment, and therefore, no one had to decide whether or not to give out mercy instead of justice.

For that is what mercy is: rather than demanding what somebody owes you, according to justice, a merciful person chooses to give that person a break. To at least be patient. Maybe even forgive the debt completely, the way the king in Jesus’ story chose to do. The king showed mercy to a man who owed him a huge debt he could never have paid back. Why? Jesus said it was “out of pity for him.” The king felt compassion for the man and his family, and so he showed mercy by forgiving the debt.

In the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, what did Adam and Eve owe to God? In a word, EVERYTHING: Life and breath, health and food, water and shelter, beauty and purpose, the glory of knowing and serving and sweet fellowship with God. All they could ever become and all they would ever wish for. All God asked for in return was for them to trust and obey Him. He didn’t expect them to “pay him back” for His kindnesses, for that was a debt they never could have repaid!

The first servant in Jesus’ story owed the king ten thousand talents. One estimate of just ONE talent of money places the amount at what a typical worker would earn in twenty YEARS. So if we do the math, and assume that the servant really intended to pay the king back what he owed...he would have had to work for at least two hundred THOUSAND years to do it! Obviously, Jesus wanted to make a serious point here, by choosing a ridiculously large amount for the debt the servant owed. He wanted to show that any plan he had to pay the king back was totally hopeless.

When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree, they believed the serpent’s lie. He told them “You shall not surely die.” God had made it plain that disobedience would bring death. “In the day you eat of it,” God told them, “you shall surely die.” And, being a just and holy God who always keeps His word, His justice demanded that Adam and Eve should be put to death. Because of their disobedience, the guilty couple owed God their very lives!

But, just like the kind, compassionate king in Jesus' parable, God took pity on Adam and Eve, and on all their descendants. Even though they had to leave Paradise and suffer in a fallen world, and eventually die physically, God showed them mercy by promising a path to victory over the devil and a Savior who would one day pay off the debt of their sin. Actually, this promise was given to the serpent. God told him, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.” This was the first declaration that the Savior of the world would come, namely Jesus Christ.

Well, Jesus eventually did come. And He had been teaching His disciples about how we should treat those who sin against us. He told them they should be willing to forgive and receive back a brother or sister who is willing to admit their fault and turn from their sin. Peter, who was often the spokesman for the disciples, came to Jesus with a question. How many times were they expected to forgive the same person, presumably for the same kind of offense? Is there a numerical LIMIT for one’s willingness to forgive, after which justice has been delayed long enough?

We shouldn’t be too hard on Peter for asking this. All of us have been sinned against by others. All of us have seen sinful people getting away without being punished, and have felt angry and indignant about it. After all, each of us is made in the image of our Creator, who loves justice and righteousness. We long for a just world where everyone is treated fairly and all the wrong things are made right. Jesus even said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Jesus answered Peter’s question, telling the disciples--and us--that “seven times” is far too small a number! “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!” (Or, seventy times seven). In other words, the demands of mercy far outweigh the requirements of justice. At that point, Jesus tells his story of the unforgiving servant. He wants His followers to know who it is that really has the right to administer true justice, and the merciful way He has of dealing with all His servants.

Like the servant and his family were to the king in the parable, all our lives are in the hands of God, who can deal with us in any way He pleases. He alone has the right to sell us, use us, cause us to live or to be ill or well, or even to die. We are His creatures and we belong to Him. The Psalmist says in Psalm 100, “We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” It would certainly be a fearful thing if God were not so kind and gracious, so loving and faithful. What if He delighted in inflicting pain and agony and tragedy on all His creatures instead of supplying them with all they need to live and grow and thrive?

And yet, rather than thanking and praising our good Creator and King, how do we treat Him? Do we often forget to pray and thank Him? Do we often complain and forget how much we owe the Lord for all His blessings? I know I do. I constantly need to be reminded of the enormous debt I owe to Him. A debt of gratitude, of love, of worship, of obedience to His commandments. And every opportunity I lose to pay that debt, is one I can never get back. It is a debt that can never be repaid. Even in a thousand lifetimes.

But the hopeless servant was shown mercy by his king. “Out of pity for him,” the master forgave him the entire debt he could never have paid. What a burden was lifted from the servant’s shoulders in that one moment! He entered the king’s presence with the weight of the world on him, and left that throne room completely debt-free! He was a forgiven debtor, without a care in the world.

Sadly, though, that’s not the end of the story. Apparently, the king’s kindness to him had made little or no difference in the servant’s own wicked heart. All the man could think about after leaving the throne room, was finding his fellow servant to demand back what he himself was owed.

Let’s consider for a minute the depth of this kind of wickedness. If the king had NOT shown mercy to him, forgiving his own enormous debt, then the amount the other servant owed to him would have seemed next to nothing! In fact, compared to what he owed the king, it would have been just a drop in the ocean! And the money would have been the king’s anyway, even if the first servant did collect it.

But this wicked, ungrateful servant chose to insist on justice, rather than show mercy. Instead of being melted and molded by the generous king’s example, instead of having his own heart moved to feel pity and show compassion on others, instead of being instructed by the abundance of forgiveness he himself had received, this first servant had the second poor wretch thrown into prison. And when the other servants informed the king about it, the king was filled with anger!

Jesus is telling His servants that all of them NEED mercy, and day by day, year by year, all of us RECEIVE mercy from the generous hand of our kind Creator and King. Every time we sin, every minute we withhold from God the worship and glory and honor and obedience we owe to Him, we are piling up a mountain of debt we can never hope to pay. And yet, because of the grace of God, and the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross, our sin debt has been paid!

Do you believe this? Do I believe this? Truly believe that my mountain of debt before God has been paid and forgiven? To really accept and believe it, I need a changed heart. You need a changed heart. A heart that is clean and new and loves God and His ways. A heart that longs to show the same mercy and grace to others that I’ve received from my Master.

Adam and Eve’s children, all their descendants, have proven again and again that it is much easier to insist on “our rights” and demand justice from others, than to love mercy and walk humbly with our God. The first, unmerciful servant was handed over to the jailers because he failed to show his own Master’s mercy to a fellow servant. In that way, the king was making a clear statement: You are surely no true servant of mine!

A “good and faithful servant” of our Father’s kingdom will do what he sees his Father doing, acting as He acts, forgiving as He forgives, loving as He loves, and, as Jesus taught us, “doing unto others what we would have them do unto us.” Let us all be quick to show mercy and forgive, and leave justice in the hands of the Lord. Truly, an unforgiving heart...is an unforgivEN heart!

Jesus, God's Son, paid our unpayable debt so we'd be freed from sin's slavery, and out of gratitude, emulate God by showing mercy to others.

Have YOU trusted this merciful Savior, and turned from your sin to follow Him?