Laws and the Perpetual Problem of Evil

We’re a nation of laws, maybe more than any other country. When we elect men and women to the House and Senate, we refer to them as ‘lawmakers,’ and that’s exactly what they do – make laws.

 

We have traffic laws, zoning laws, housing laws, parking laws, and education laws. Laws for banking, food and drugs, marriage and families, animals, noise, and advertising. Even laws for enforcing laws. We have criminal laws for dealing with people that insist on breaking the law. 

 

You’d think that with all our laws and regulations, society would be orderly and law-abiding. ‘Here are our expectations. Here are the boundaries. Now do as you’re told.’ That’s hardly the case. 

 

Despite laws against operating motor vehicles under the influence of intoxicating substances, almost every day we hear about people killed by vehicles steered by drunk drivers. Laws have banned texting while driving, but we still notice drivers with their eyes down, focusing on the latest message rather than what’s happening on the road right in front of them.

Child abuse. Domestic abuse. Burglary. Robbery. Murder. Scamming. Lying. We have countless laws concerning these and other forms of bad behavior, but they persist.

 

Whenever I hear someone saying something like, “We need stricter gun laws,” I wonder about the copious laws we already have regulating the use of guns. The problem is the folks who pay no attention to them. The late Charlton Heston, when he was president of NRA, observed: “There is no such thing as a good gun. There is no such thing as a bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys.”

 

If we want to consider the power of laws to control behavior, all we need to do is look to ancient Israel. Besides the Ten Commandments (listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5), God gave His chosen people many other laws. Reading through the Old Testament, it seems the Israelites delighted in how many of the laws they could ignore and how frequently they did.

 

Even “heroes” of the Old Testament, people like Jacob, Moses, Samson, King David, King Solomon and Hezekiah, had an amazing propensity for disobedience. They knew the laws yet defied them in many ways.

 

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t have laws. They’re important and we need them. Without speed limits on our roads, some drivers would exhibit reckless disregard for the safety of others and themselves. There’s a reason we have laws against taking merchandise from stores without paying for them. But no matter how stringent, those determined to break laws will continue doing so.

 

The problem isn’t that laws aren’t clear enough, or we don’t have enough of them. It’s more basic than that. The problem is the perpetual presence of evil, as it’s been from the beginning of history. Adam and Eve were given one simple law, “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

 

It wasn’t that there were too many laws to keep up with. They had one law, just one. God said they could eat of any other tree in the Garden of Eden. So, what did they do? They ate fruit from the one that was off limits.

 

Since then, every individual born into this world has been doing what seems to come naturally: Rebelling against God, His laws, precepts and statutes. “But we’re only human!” is the excuse. In one sense that’s true. We read in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Perhaps there’s a spiritual component to our genetic makeup and we’re behaving according to a ‘sin gene.’

 

In the words of the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” we’re “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” This wandering is a result of the perplexing appeal of evil. As has been stated more than once, “If sin wasn’t fun, we wouldn’t want to do it.”

 

How do we respond? Forget about making laws? Resign ourselves to people just doing what they’re going to do? From what I hear, that’s kind of the conclusion some states have made. But there’s a better answer.

 

In Jesus Christ, who called Himself “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), we find the capacity to turn away from evil, to say no to sin. When we become born again as new creations in Christ (John 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17) we step outside the “I’m only human” box. The Lord not only gives us new life spiritually but also the desire to pursue right and reject wrong.

 

The apostle Paul expressed it this way in Romans 8:2-4, “…through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering…that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

 

This isn’t saying we should cease making laws since our “sinful nature” doesn’t like obeying them. But it also doesn’t say the only reason for pointing people to Jesus is to get them “saved” and assured of going to heaven when they die. He wants us to become living, breathing, law-keeping examples of what a life transformed by the power of Christ looks like. 

 

Other stanzas from “Come Thou Fount…” say it well:

“Jesus sought me when a stranger,
  Wand’ring from the face of God;
He, to save my soul from danger,
  Interposed His precious blood….

 

Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
  With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
  Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,  

As a son and heir of God.” 

When the Chips Are Down, Who Do You Trust?

Do you remember Johnny Carson? He’s best known for having set the standard for late-night talk show hosts over his three decades as star of The Tonight Show. Even to this day, his talent and excellence make contemporary late-night hosts seem like rank amateurs.

 

However, before Carson’s emergence on The Tonight Show, for about five years he emceed a daytime quiz show called “Who Do You Trust?” (Grammatically dogmatic English teachers contended it should have been called, “Whom Do You Trust?”) The quiz show has long since faded into TV archives, but its thematic question remains relevant today: Who do you trust?

 

Sadly, we find ourselves living in an age when it seems there are fewer and fewer people and entities that we truly can trust. 

 

For a vast assortment of reasons, trust levels have decreased – at least in the eyes of some – In one or more of the following professions that once enjoyed almost implicit trust: law enforcement officers; scientists; doctors and nurses; educators; business leaders; the clergy; the media; manufacturers. This barely scratches the surface of all those who have had members that betrayed public trust.

 

It’s become a cliché to claim that no politician is worthy of trust. Some are (at least we'd like to think so), but we’ve become all too accustomed to hearing about those who aren’t. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” we’re told in Romans 3:23, but as moral and ethical standards have declined in our society, that’s become more evident than ever.

 

When all else failed, we’ve usually felt we could trust the family dog. Sadly, there have been occasions when even that proved untrue. The same can be said of spouses – and parents.

 

So, the question remains, who do you trust? Or more accurately, who can you trust?

 

For me, I’ve concluded there’s only one answer. And it’s not myself, because I’ve failed my wife and children – even myself – more times than I can count.

 

Rather, my answer is found in two Old Testament verses that many years ago I adopted as my “life verse,” Proverbs 3:5-6. It says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

 

It’s less than 30 words long, but it captures a wealth of meaning and wisdom that I continue to mine. Of course, my trust in the Lord was not automatic. Just as with any relationship, my trust and confidence in Him has grown over time. It’s one thing to read this passage and given it mental assent. It quite another to actually embrace its assurance and live accordingly.

 

I could write entire books about the many ways God has proved Himself unfailingly trustworthy. Suffice it to say He’s never failed me, and I know He never will. When the Lord says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” – in Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5, and many other places – He means what He says.

 

If you go to a Bible concordance or do an online search, you’ll find dozens of passages that encourage us to trust in the Lord. Given the reality that everyone and everything else in this world will fail us, proving unworthy of our trust at one time or another, He’s the one we can trust without fear of betrayal.

 

Another of my favorite passages, Psalm 37:3-4, declares, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I’ve found this to be true again and again. 

 

God hasn’t always given me everything I wanted, but He’s always provided everything I needed. And over time I’ve discovered that the desires of my heart have changed to become more aligned with what He desires for me – my Father truly does know best.

My hope and prayer for everyone reading this is that if you haven’t already learned this for yourself, you soon will. We live in a world when it would be easy to cynically conclude, “I don’t trust anybody.” But God is the one exception. As Isaiah 26:4 declares, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.” In that promise we can indeed have rock-solid faith. 

When We Need Someone to Clean Up Our Mess

There’s been a story circulating online, apparently true, about an older woman in a large retail store who stumbled and fell into a product display. The resulting crash could be heard throughout the store. Folks ran toward the noise to see what had happened. 

The embarrassed individual wasn’t hurt, but she was scrambling to clean up the mess. Some of the items on display had been broken or damaged, and the woman was probably trying to calculate how much it would cost for her to make amends.

 

Quickly arriving on the scene, the store manager immediately assured the customer that her worst fears were unwarranted. “Ma’am, we’ll clean this up. We carry insurance to cover things like this.”

 

Can you imagine the woman’s relief upon hearing this? She might still have been red-faced for being involved in such a mishap, but someone else was prepared to pay the price for what she had done. It might have felt like getting the “Get Out of Jail Free” card during a game of Monopoly, except this was a real-life situation. Who knows? She might have been on a fixed income with no means to pay for the damage.

 

What an apt metaphor for what Jesus Christ has done for us. As someone has said, “He died a death He did not deserve to pay a debt He did not owe – to satisfy the debt we could not pay.” Jesus willingly died in our place.

 

This debt is not only measured in dollars and cents; it’s a spiritual debt, the result of breaking every one of God’s laws in thought, word or deed – probably many times over. It would be impossible for us to pay this debt ourselves because the Lord has only one standard – absolute perfection. Anything less than this is unacceptable for an all-righteous God.

 

When confronted with this reality, one Old Testament prophet had the only possible response: “‘Woe to me!’” I cried. “‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty’” (Isaiah 6:5). This is what happens when imperfect humanity encounters perfect deity.

 

As I’ve cited before, the New Testament epistle of Romans has much to say about this dilemma. It declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one seeks God…there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). A bit later we read, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

 

These are hard words to hear. We like to think of ourselves as pretty good folks. “I’m a good person,” we might reason. “Certainly, I’m better than the other guy.” But to be blunt, that’s like comparing cow manure with horse manure. You wouldn’t want either on your living room floor. And yet we expect the holy God to overlook us in all of our unholiness. 

 

Early in his book, the prophet Isaiah wrote of his unworthiness; by the end of the book, he hadn’t changed his mind. He wrote, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Sounds like bad news for modern man, as well as ancient man.

 

But just as the lady who crashed into the store display and in utter disbelief heard words like, “No problem” or “No worries, I’ve got this,” the Bible assures us we can hear the God of the universe and all eternity express similar words, only with infinitely greater importance.

 

Romans 5:8 assures us, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Romans 6:23 asserts, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

 

There might be some of us who fret, “But how could God ever forgive what I’ve done?” But think about it: How many sins had you committed when Christ died for you as a sinner? Actually, none because you hadn’t been born yet. He graciously and mercifully paid our bill long before we started running up the tab.

 

When Jesus spoke His last words on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the Greek word He painfully uttered was “tetelestai.” Meaning “paid in full,” it was a perfect tense word describing a past completed act having a present effect. To put it into jargon of today, Christ paid it forward.

 

The hapless woman must have felt an incredible surge of gratitude upon learning she wouldn’t be held responsible for the cost of the damage she caused. How much more should we feel overwhelmed with gratitude to know Jesus has already paid the price for our selfish, prideful and even rebellious thoughts, actions and words? 

 

Words of the song “My Tribute,” by Andrae Crouch, sum it up: 

“How can I say thanks
For all the things You've done for me?
Things so undeserved
Yet You gave to prove Your love to me
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am
And ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee.”

Putting People on Pedestals That Don’t Belong There

People on pedestals have a
disturbing habit of falling.

Hero worship. It’s a national pastime. Fan magazines are filled with supposed “heroes.” We even like them super-sized – these days you can’t go to a movie theater that doesn’t offer some new “superhero” film. We idolize people – real or fictional – placing them on pedestals so they can more easily bask in our adoration. The problem is, they don’t belong there. 

That’s because all of us – even the rich, famous and powerful – are broken, flawed and fallible, anything but perfect. And we have the disconcerting tendency of proving it. When heroes fall, they leave scores of disillusioned admirers in their wake.

 

It’s not hard to find stories on TV, magazines or the Internet about how an A-list celebrity has gotten caught up in some kind of scandal. You can probably think of several examples right now. The media seem to revel in reports of Christian leaders who fall, as if to say, “See, he/she isn’t the godly person they claim to be!” Even if the disgraced persons never actually made that claim.

 

It does hurt to hear about these failures. These folks – whether pastors, entertainers, authors or conference speakers – are supposed to be setting the example for the rest of us, right?

 

We also provide pedestals for people whose names aren’t in the “Who’s Who” of society. It might be a parent, sibling, uncle or aunt, a mentor, Sunday school teacher, co-worker or boss. We give them places of honor in our minds, holding them to the loftiest standards. If and when they fall, their crash seems of seismic proportions.

 

A number of folks have toppled from my own imagined pedestals. That was largely my fault, however, since they never asked to be put up there. Hearkening back to my student journalism days at Ohio State, I covered the football team and had the opportunity to interact face-to-face with the legendary Woody Hayes. Sadly, for many people his name evokes the image of an aging coach, in frustration, throwing a punch at a Clemson football player who sealed the Buckeyes’ defeat in a bowl game. Understandably, that was his last day as a football coach. Talk about dropping from a pedestal!

 

Years ago, soon after accepting a job to work in vocational ministry as a magazine editor, I talked with a pastor friend about his experiences in parachurch ministry. Harry offered some valuable advice. He said not to expect to find any perfect people, walking around in flowing robes and hands always folded in piety. “They’ll be normal human beings, filled with flaws just as we are.” How true those words proved to be. 

 

In the Bible, God minces no words about this reality. Romans 3:23, for example, tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Earlier in the chapter the writer, the apostle Paul, declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one…” (Romans 3:10). 

 

Years after his dramatic conversion from persecutor of Christians to fervent ambassador for Jesus Christ, Paul still confessed, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (7:15-21). Wow! If this was the case for one of Jesus’ foremost apostles, what hope do we have?

 

But that’s the point – apart from the power of Jesus Christ through His indwelling Spirit, we’ll never measure up. As devotional writer Oswald Chambers said, “All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary for the purpose He has given them.”

 

If we’re honest, we won’t want anyone placing us on a pedestal. Even though we may put up a good front, we all struggle inwardly, alternately succeeding and failing to live as we know God wants us to live. The adage, “Do as I say, not as I do,” is a terrible philosophy. It’s better not to point to ourselves at all, but always to Jesus.

 

The apostle might have been addressing this pedestal problem when he rebuked believers in the ancient city of Corinth: “…One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:11-13).

 

Even today, we find it tempting to become disciples of one compelling preacher or another, accepting their particular theological slant as holy writ. There again, that’s placing them on pedestals extremely unstable at best.

 

Instead, we’d be wise to do as Paul humbly declared, “For I resolved to nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified…. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5). We need only one pedestal, one that’s reserved for the Lord alone. 

If ‘Cancel Culture’ Is Right, We All Should Be Canceled

Cancel. It used to be when we canceled things, it was postage stamps, or reservations, or subscriptions, or appointments, or TV shows. But now we can cancel…people. Who knew?

 

I’m not sure when the “cancel culture” mania began, but it stood up, front and center, during the confirmation hearings for then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Adversarial members of the Senate committee kept bringing up allegations from Kavanaugh’s past, hoping those could “cancel” his appointment to the nation’s highest court. But since then, canceling people has turned into a virtual national pastime.

Seems like almost every day we’re hearing about notables becoming discredited for things they have done or said, whether recently or in the past, sometimes distant past.  Entertainers, politicians, business leaders, pro athletes and folks from many other walks of life can suddenly be “canceled” because of some seemingly offensive behaviors in their past.

 

I find this troublesome on several levels, but I’ll look at only two. First of all, the unvarnished truth is that everyone of us deserves to be “canceled.” As Romans 3:10-12 unequivocally declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God…there is no one who does good, not even one.” And just verses later the writer, the apostle Paul, perhaps for emphasis, asserts, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

 

We might not be guilty of the same sins as another person, but each one of us – if we’re honest enough to admit it – has done enough wrong to disqualify us from assessing what others have done or said. In reformed theology, it’s called “total depravity,” meaning even our best efforts are tainted by sin.

 

In his little devotional book, Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen, Charles Ringma observes, “We all have blind spots…we often see quite clearly what others are doing wrong, but fail to acknowledge our own struggles or our own complicity. We talk about ‘them’ failing to do this or wrongly doing ‘that’…. But we fail to acknowledge what lurks in our own hearts and fail to see how we often contribute to the problem…. So much of what is wrong with our world, church, and workplace is what is also wrong with us.”

 

It's like looking in a mirror and accusing others of the flaws we see in ourselves. In fact, the Scriptures offer a similar description: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his fact in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he sees” (James 1:22-24).

 

Would you be willing, as Israel’s King David was, to invite God to “Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High” (Psalm 7:8)? How do you think you’d measure up?

 

Apparently throughout history, humankind has demonstrated a proclivity for passing judgment on others, “canceling” them, we might say. Because many times the Bible warns against appointing ourselves as judge and jury over others. In James 4:12, for instance, we’re told, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, he one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?” 

 

During His “sermon on the mount,” Jesus Christ gave perhaps the clearest reason for avoiding our tendency to quickly pass judgment on others. He said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?... You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).

 

The other day, a college football coach made a derogatory comment about his team in jest, but many who heard it took immediate offense. If it were up to them, this well-known coach would already be “canceled.” But if we’re honest, we can all look back over the course of our lives and remember things we did and things we said that, if they were to come to light today, would make us “cancel culture” targets.

 

One time, recounted in John 8:3-9, self-righteous Jewish leaders – “teachers of the law and Pharisees” – brought to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery. (Curiously, they did not also bring the man.) They demanded that He tell them what should be done with her, since the Old Testament law called for stoning. Jesus’ response was to bend down and write something on the ground with His finger. No one knows what it was. Perhaps He was jotting down some of the sins the leaders had committed. 

 

But when He was done, Jesus stood up and said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Their reaction was priceless – one by one they went away, without saying another word.

 

Perhaps there’s an important lesson here for all of us. While we’re not told to overlook, ignore – or even condone – the wrongdoing of others, neither are we authorized to “cancel” others, especially when we’re probably guilty of similar misdeeds, or even worse. As the adage goes, “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” 

It’s Who You’re With That Really Matters

Have you noticed those giant scoreboards that dominate many athletic stadiums and arenas? Equipped with a multitude of high-tech innovations, they command the spectators’ attention during lulls in the action. And in case folks get distracted from the game, they offer replays of every play. How did the sports world ever do without them?

 

But you might not appreciate how massive the scoreboards really are. Years ago I was in Columbus, Ohio and a friend – a fellow Buckeye fan – asked if I wanted to visit Ohio Stadium, where the Scarlet and Gray play, to see the renovations that were going on at the time. Always game for anything Buckeye, I jumped at the opportunity. My friend knew the man serving as project manager, so we were given firsthand access few others had.

The stadium’s new scoreboard was the centerpiece of the stadium tour. It looked huge from the outside, but then came a surprise: The project manager asked if we’d like to go inside the scoreboard. Inside? Who knew you could do that? Talk about big! I discovered you could not only see its interior, but if you were so inclined, you could actually take up residence there. 

 

There’s a TV show called, “You Live in That?” I fully expect that one day there will be a segment about somebody who has actually set up housekeeping inside one of those gigantic scoreboards. The one at Ohio Stadium could easily have accommodated enough furnishings for living comfortably.

 

Why do I write about this? Simply because that experience was possible only because I knew – through my friend – someone that had access. I couldn’t have walked up to the stadium gates and shouted, “Hey, let me in – I want to tour the scoreboard!” No, I needed to be with someone; that is, I needed someone who was willing to say, “It’s okay. He’s with me.”

 

There’s an important spiritual parallel here. In Mark 3:13-14 it says, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” Then the passage specifies those Jesus personally selected to be “with Him.”

 

During Jesus’ early ministry there were many who followed Him, eager to witness His miracles and hear what He had to say. But the Lord hand-picked certain people to be with Him full-time, and He imparted to them special powers do perform work on His behalf. He’s still doing that today, asking to us to serve as “Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

 

But there’s an even more important element to being “with Christ.” One day our days on earth will come to an end. The Bible tells us then “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). What will happen then?

 

We’d like to think that on balance, our good deeds will outweigh the bad, prompting God to declare, “Well, you haven’t been too bad. Come into My heaven.” Unfortunately, that’s not how it works, according to the Scriptures. Romans 3:10-12 bluntly states, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God…there is no one who does good, not even one.” And a bit later we’re told, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

 

We’ve heard about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. But that sounds like bad news. Very bad news. What can we do? The Bible declares that no matter how hard we try, we’re not good enough. We’ll never measure up. God’s standard isn’t good works vs. bad, but rather, absolute perfection. Whoa!

 

This is where the good news comes in, the part about being “with Christ.” We also find it in the New Testament book of Romans. The apostle Paul, after acknowledging his ongoing struggles with not doing the things he knows he should be doing, and doing the things he knows he shouldn’t, offers the solution to his – and our – problem.

 

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!... Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 7:24-8:2).

 

The day will come when each of us stands before the God of all eternity, and perhaps we’ll be asked on what basis we deserve to become part of His eternal kingdom. The reality will be that we don’t deserve it, not at all. But then, because of what Jesus has done for us, we can say something like, “I’m with Him.” Or better yet, Jesus will say, “He (or she) is with Me.” That tops being invited to go inside a fancy football stadium scoreboard any day! 

Who Are You? Our Identity Conundrum

Everyone these days seems concerned about their identity. “Who am I?” How we answer that question can take many directions, ranging from the work we do, to our family history, to the color of our skin, and increasingly, our gender.

 

For people in the working world, careers and jobs have long been a big part of their identity. I’ve lost count of how many times while traveling for business that I was asked, “What kind of work do you do?” I would ask fellow travelers the same thing. It might have been out of curiosity or sincere interest, but this  question functioned as a convenient way to discern where someone fit on the social importance scale. “Oh, you’re a doctor? Interesting!” “You’re a nuclear scientist? Wow!” “A professional athlete. That’s great!” “You’re a best-selling novelist? Well, so glad to meet you!”

 Alas, folks like hotel maids, sanitation engineers, newsstand operators and retail clerks usually don’t get the same kind of eager reception. Because some jobs equate to affluence and status while others don’t, and the more money you make, the more important people think you are. That’s what we’re taught to believe.

 

But jobs are only one of many determinants we use for identity. If you’ve ever taken an online survey, toward the end they often ask questions about marital status, the number and ages of children you have, your own age, education, race and gender. They might ask about your political affiliation. Sometimes they inquire about your income. All are used as means for identifying who you are. Or at least, who you’re supposed to be, based on demographics.

 

Twenty years ago, no one was talking about “gender identity.” It was agreed that gender, or sex, was determined by the equipment a baby had when it was born. These days, however, a whole cadre of people want to “identify” gender according to the impulses racing around their minds. You are who you think you are or perceive yourself to be, we’re now being instructed.

 

Rather than wading into that debate, I have another question: Is it really fair – or right – to define someone’s true identity solely based a single criterion, or even several external criteria? Such as the kind of job they have; how many years they spent in college; the size of their bank account and investment portfolio; whether they’re married, single, or divorced; the color of their skin; or even their lifestyle choices? 

 

For instance, I’m a male, Caucasian (for which I offer no apology), a husband, father, grandfather, writer and journalist (in the traditional sense of the term), college graduate and Buckeye fan. But not one of those descriptions – or all of them together – represent my full “identity.”

 

What if we resolved to determine our identity not based on what we do or have, or how we feel, but rather according to what God says about us?

 

Indeed, what does God say – and think – about us? Answers to that question could fill a book, but I’ll highlight just a handful of passages that have meant a lot to me, ones that have made a huge difference in how I understand my own identity. For instance, Psalm 139:14 says I am, “fearfully and wonderfully made” – a unique and special creation of God. That’s very good news.

 

The Bible also tells me some bad news, that I’m a sinner: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “There is no one righteous, not even one…there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12). I don’t like this part of my identity, but it’s true.

 

But as the Scriptures so often do, when they give us bad news, they also provide good news to offset it. In response to this sin problem we all have, which separates us from a perfect, holy, righteous God, we’re told, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This ties in with the passage most of us know well, John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is, to borrow the phrase from an old rock song, a whole lotta love!

 

Getting back to my identity, the answer to the question, “Who am I?” The Bible declares that as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I have received a brand new identity. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Abiding in Christ, as the Scriptures term it, I’m a new person, fully forgiven for my sins and empowered by His Holy Spirit to live this new life.

 

A few verses down in the same passage, we’re informed that as His followers, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (Romans 5:20-21).

 

We could consider many more portions of Scripture, but I think one verse sums up what our focus should be, the way we address the matter of our “identity,” the answer to “who am I?” If we have trusted in Christ, have committed our lives to Him in faith and are seeking to know and serve Him more and more each day, then we all can rest in this promise: “See how great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

 

It matters not whether we’re male or female, married or single, with or without children; whatever kind of work we do, what our skin color or ethnicity might be, how much education we have, or how much money we have in the bank. Those are facets of our lives, mere fractions of who we are in totality. But they don’t define us. Am I a child of the living God, promised life both now and forever as a member of His eternal family? That is who I am. 

Looking to See Who’s Been Naughty and Who’s Been Nice?

This is the time of year when we’ll be hearing, probably dozens of times, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” I’ve always worried about its ominous admonition: “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why – Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.”

As children, at one time or another we probably all sat on Santa’s lap and heard him ask, “Have you been a good boy (or girl) this year?” Funny: If we really believed the message of this familiar Christmas song, we should have responded, “Who are you trying to kid? You already know that, Santa!”

 

Entering adulthood, the grim specter of Santa spying on our activities and evaluating our respective niceness and naughtiness ceases to be a threat. But we still seem to cling to the naughty or nice notion, that we’re good people just as long as the things we do right somehow outnumber or outweigh the stuff we do wrong. 

 

That was my belief for my first 30 years. If you had asked me back then, I would have told you with great confidence that all things considered, I was a pretty good guy, convinced I was spending more time being nice than not. Then I encountered some unsettling Bible passages. They informed me that God and Santa don’t see eye to eye. No matter how much we do, no matter how nice we try to be, that’s not good enough in the Lord’s sight.

 

For instance, Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Kind of like trying to leap the Empire State Building. No matter how hard you try, even with lots of practice, you’ll never come close. Another verse in the same chapter uses even stronger words: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

 

Whoa! That’s a revelation! But it’s not just a New Testament idea. In the Old Testament we’re told, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Compared to God’s holy, all-righteous requirements, Santa’s nice/naughty guidelines are a piece of cake – or milk and cookies, if you prefer.

 

However, the gospel literally means “good news.” So if it’s true that absolutely no one is righteous – good enough – in God’s sight, where’s the good news? I’m glad you asked.

 

In a season when gift giving is on our minds, Romans 6:23 offers fitting assurance: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The gospel of John confirms this declaration: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

 

That’s encouraging. However, if even our very best efforts aren’t good enough, why is God willing to offer this gift to each of us? It goes back to the reason we celebrate Christmas. The familiar verse, John 3:16, tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

 

This speaks of a limitless, unconditional love we can scarcely comprehend. But the Scriptures are clear: If it weren’t for the sacrificial, atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross – and His resurrection – there would be no reason to celebrate His birth.

 

Romans 5:8 expands on this: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And yet another passage underscores the gift aspect: “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

There’s no escaping this truth. Titus 3:4-6 also affirms we can have a genuine, eternal relationship with God only through His gracious gift. ”But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

 

This goes far beyond the story about a young couple in an obscure village 2,000 years ago given the incredible responsibility of serving as earthly parents for the Son of God. Trusting in the whole counsel of God’s Word, we discover why we care about Christmas at all. 

 

While youngsters around the world fret about whether Santa Claus will find them nice or naughty, that’s not God’s concern. Humanly speaking, we can never be good enough. But according to the Bible, to use today’s language, “not to worry!” 

 

He’s already done everything necessary to make us right with Him – if only we’re willing to receive His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. We’ll never receive a greater gift than that!

Gloom and Doom Need Not Dominate This Holiday

Another annual celebration of ghosts and goblins and witches and Jack-o-lanterns is upon us. I’m not among them, but there are some people for whom Halloween ranks as a favorite holiday, surpassing even Christmas and Thanksgiving. Interesting.

 

Driving around – yes, you can still do that even in these COVID days – I’ve noticed several yards when the homeowners have devoted a lot of time making their yards look as scary as possible. Several TV cable networks have scheduled Halloween-themed movies all month. And civic leaders are deciding what social-distancing guidelines are best for trick-or-treating.

The Bible says nothing directly about Halloween, unless you accept the little girl’s misinterpretation when she was asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, Halloween Thy name….” For many folks, Halloween is nothing more than a fun day for wearing silly costumes and passing out candy. However, it does have its dark side, as depicted by gory horror movies that make it a focal point. Death is a recurring theme, and throughout history there have been those for whom All Hallow’s Eve has been a sacred rite.

 

Much is said in the Scriptures about the inescapable reality and specter of death. For instance, the book of Romans tells us about the problem,“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), as well as its consequence and its remedy, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

 

Referring to Christ’s atoning death for our sins, another passage offers these words of assurance: 

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin…. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:5-11).

 

James Ward, who for many years served as music director and worship leader at New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, composed a wonderful song affirming that for the follower of Christ, death need not conjure the grim images we often see at Halloween. Instead, one’s passing from this life can indeed be a time for joyous celebration.

 

This upbeat, inspiring tune, called “Death Is Ended,” is based on 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, which declares:

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed…then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

 

If you’re observing Halloween this year – in some respects, it seems all of 2020 has been one continuous enactment of Halloween at its worst – I hope for you it’s funny costumes and tasty candy treats. But if you find yourself dwelling on the sobering, gloomy aspects of the day, please take to heart this glorious promise:

 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). 

Failure is Not an Option – Or Is it?

Midway through the 20^thcentury, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) captured the fascination of Americans. It was during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and the so-called “space race” was well underway. The Russians had scored the first major victory, successfully launching cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space, and the United States was scrambling to catch up and surpass their international rivals.

During that time NASA adopted the motto, “Failure is not an option.” It served NASA well: success of Apollo 11’s first manned lunar landing; the safe return of three astronauts when, prior to the third moon landing attempt, multiple issues arose that ultimately aborted Apollo 13; and numerous other missions.

Of course, option or not, failures did mar NASA’s march toward success. Some launches had to be scrubbed, even shortly before lift-off. Others fell short of their objectives. The most horrific failure was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, in which seven crew members perished, including five astronauts, a civilian school teacher, and a payload specialist.

Despite the failures, success for the space program was more the norm. And today we’re all benefiting not only from scientific knowledge but also from technological advances that brought devices we so casually use today, from computers and smartphones to digital TVs and GPS navigational tools.

Tracing progress by anyone of noteworthy achievement, we will find pathways to success littered with potholes of failure, whether they’re scientists, inventors, musicians, artists or statesmen. For them, failure was not just an option, it was a necessary stepping stone toward success.

The same is true spiritually. In fact, Ecclesiastes 11:6 offers this advice: “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” In other words, don’t put all your eggs – or seeds – all into one basket. Some things will work out as expected, but others won’t. Failures will be mixed with successes.

In a real sense, it’s failure in attempting to live out this complicated pursuit we call everyday life that points us to ultimate success – a life-changing, eternal relationship with God.

The book of Romans makes this abundantly clear. For instance, we read, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12), and “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 

To state it in other terms, we’ve all failed miserably in trying to live up to God’s perfect standard of holiness and righteousness. That’s the bad news. But the good news – the really Good News – is that the Lord has more than compensated for each and every one of our failures through His sacrifice on the cross. In fact, it’s usually recognition of our failure that leads us to Christ.

The apostle Paul expressed this so well when he wrote, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!... Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 7:24-8:2).

Success in the spiritual life requires seeing and understanding things from an upside-down perspective. To win we must lose; to succeed we first must fail; to live we must die. Galatians 2:20 states it well: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

This verse assures us that what we could not do – no matter how hard we try, how desperately we want to – Jesus did on our behalf. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). As devotional writer Oswald Chambers expresses it, “Out of the wreck I rise.”

In the Christian life, failure can sometimes be our greatest teacher. So if we desire to grow, to consistently become more conformed to the likeness of Jesus, failure must be an option. It serves to remind us, as John the Baptist declared,“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).