Information . . . or Transformation?

We’ve all benefited from the so-called “Information Age.” Thanks to the digital revolution, our knowledge-based society provides facts about practically everything literally at our fingertips, via desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, even a smart-watch. Nearly everything we want to know, now accessible with a few taps of our fingers thanks to the wonders of cyberspace.

We have unlimited information
from nearly unlimited sources.

In many respects it’s been a good thing. Whether a recipe, home remodeling advice, the latest on our favorite sports team, financial trends, or information about a nagging medical problem, it’s all there. And why wait for tomorrow’s newspaper when we can read online reports of breaking news almost as it happens?

Years ago I cherished rare bits of information I could find about Ohio State sports. Now many websites can tell me the latest. Friends in Columbus say I know more about what’s going on with the Buckeyes than they do. Whatever we need to know is within arms reach. I even did research for this post in the comforts of my home office, gleaning information from my computer monitor. I haven’t visited a real library in years.

But this information, it’s not all good. We’ve stumbled simultaneously upon the “misinformation age.” Postings disguised as fact on biased websites, or disseminated via social media or email, might be anything but true. When I grew up Spam was canned meat – now spam is a means for hoodwinking people from their money or leaving them vulnerable to devious schemes. Have you heard from that rich African prince who wants to share his wealth with you, if only you send him a hefty deposit?

One other danger lurks within this cornucopia of information. Knowledge available to us seems limitless, but knowledge doesn’t equate to wisdom. Because wisdom involves understanding how to properly use the information at our disposal.

International evangelist Luis Palau was asked to compare Third World Christians he had met with Christians in America. He offered the view that many believers in America are “afflicted with the lust of the mind.” Unlike Third World disciples of Jesus, having no other choice but to live out their faith every day, Americans seem more zealous for gathering information about God and the Bible than putting into action what they’ve learned.

I heard about a man who for years was known for his devotion to reading Christian books, attending workshops, seminars and conferences, listening to spiritual messages, attending prayer meetings, and taking various classes on the Bible. Yet he’d never shared his faith with anyone. When asked why, he replied, “Oh, I just don’t know enough yet.”

Sadly, these days we’re more interested in information than in transformation. Some people are like those described by the Bible as “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Reading the Scriptures, memorizing and meditating on various verses, attending worship services and hearing stirring sermons are good. But God’s desire for us is that we “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

In His well-known parable of the sower found in Matthew 13, Jesus spoke about various kinds of “seed” (the Word of God). Some fell on paths where birds consumed them, on shallow soil where plants soon withered, or among thorns where growth was quickly choked off. Only the seeds that fell on good soil bore lasting fruit. Jesus was cautioning us to make sure that when we receive the truth it falls into fertile soil. That consists of receptive hearts eager to put that information into practice. In other words, willingness to become transformed, not just serve as seed holders.

After the apostle Paul declared, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” he explained what it’s useful for: “so the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

When Paul told his readers about the Good News of Jesus Christ, he wasn’t offering just facts and information. He was teaching about its transforming capacity. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). The result, he wrote, is “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). In the process, we become “a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When we read the Scriptures or a book by our favorite Christian author, attend a worship service or conference, or listen to Bible-based radio message, if all we’re looking for is information, we’re shortchanging ourselves. Because with God, it’s not about information – it’s about transformation.

What Is Success, Anyway?

“Success” is a word we use casually, as if everyone has a universal understanding of what it means. We don’t.

We hear about the “American success story.” But what does that mean? What makes the story a “success”? Do we evaluate it according to income and net worth? Status? Fame? Size of house and make of car? Recognition in the community?

We tend to assign success labels to people with names everyone knows. In fact, if you’re known by a single name, such as folks in the music world like Reba or Cher, Bono or Adele, or athletes like Lebron or Kobe, A-Rod or Peyton, that means you’re really successful, right? But what about one-hit musical wonders, like “Earth Angel” in 1955, sung by the Penguins, or “Do You Love Me” by the Contours in 1962? Both made it to the Top Ten, but those artists shone like comets and then disappeared. Does that mean they weren’t successful?

This topic came up recently when someone on a writers’ social media site asked, "Is it possible to be a successful author after age 65?" When I read the question I thought, “Why can’t someone older than 65 be a successful writer?” Then it occurred to me it depends on how we define success.

If “success” means becoming the next John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or Kathy Reichs, the answer’s probably no. But then a better question would be, “Is it possible to be a successful author at any age?” Because of all the millions of people who view themselves as writers, only a tiny percentage will ever make the New York Times bestsellers list.

However, if being successful means finishing a manuscript and having it published, by whatever means, then having it read by people in the intended audience large or small (besides one’s mother), then writers can be considered successful, whether they’re 25, 65, or 105. If they’ve enjoyed the process of writing, have done so to the best of their ability, and someone has benefited from what they’ve written, that’s a measure of success.

What about parenting? Does “success” mean raising a child smart enough to attend and graduate from a prestigious (and expensive) university, earn advanced degrees, and then settle into a career that brings prominence and great financial rewards? Or does it mean having a child that upholds and lives according to high moral standards, grows into a loving and compassionate individual, recognizes his or her innate abilities and gifts, and uses them to serve others in meaningful ways?

The same perspectives could be applied to any field of endeavor. We celebrate captains of industry. One of them, Donald Trump, gets a lot of attention these days, but is he really more “successful” than the single mom who leverages her craft skills into a cottage industry to meet the everyday needs of her family? Or the schoolteacher who pursues his role as a calling, not a job, and in the course of his career becomes a positive role model for hundreds of children? Or law enforcement officers that regard their work as opportunities to serve and protect the public, regardless of color, ethnicity, age or gender?

The Bible doesn’t say much about success specifically. The word appears only once in the original translations, but that single use is revealing: “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).

In other words, God sees success as learning and implementing His truth in our everyday lives, following His principles for experiencing a fruitful, rewarding life.

Ephesians 2:10 declares, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Success, from His perspective, is figuring out what those “good works” are and striving to carry them faithfully.

We find a similar statement in the apostle Paul’s second letter to his young protégé, Timothy. After stating, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” the apostle adds, “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Earlier Paul had written to Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

When we buy a new high-tech device, whether it’s a wide-screen, high-definition TV or the newest generation PC, one measure of success in owning them is whether we set them up and use them as directed to the operating manual. In a similar – yet far more profound – way, in God’s view success for us is striving to discern His truth and living according to it.

We might never merit any edition of “Who’s Who,” but if the Lord knows who we are and we’re recipients of His unconditional love, that’s a formula for ultimate success.

Somebody Needs to Do Something

Have you ever seen or heard of something happening that made you think, ”Somebody really needs to do something about that”? Maybe it was a situation in your child’s school, or a problem in your neighborhood. Perhaps it was a broader issue in your community.

Then there are the many, sometimes insidious dilemmas confronting our world today: Poverty. Terrorism. World hunger. Disease. Violence. Neglected children. Political corruption. Disasters. Unethical business leaders. Educational inequities. Domestic abuse. People with disabilities.

No doubt you could add to this list. Many mornings I get out of bed thinking things are going fairly well, but then I listen to the news and realize the world is even worse than the day before. It seems overwhelming. What are we to do?

Wikipedia's image of "The Scream,"
by artist Edvard Munch, shows one
common response to society's ills.

Well, there’s always hand-wringing. There’s a lot of that going on – wring, wring, wring. And gnashing of teeth. Dentists really like it when we do that. We could all hold our hands to our faces and shriek, like the image in “The Scream,” a series of paintings by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch from the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. Shrieking helps, doesn’t it?

Or, and here’s a novel thought, we could try to do something about the problems that concern us most. How about writing a letter to the editor? That might have some value, or a post on Facebook or Twitter could alert some folks. And we can send financial contributions to support organizations and causes dear to our hearts. But those are hands-off, detached approaches – no rolling up our sleeves, getting our hands dirty, or becoming personally involved.

What if we actually made an effort to become directly engaged in addressing some of these troubles?

Recently I was reminded of a declaration that should inspire each of us: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Or as some observers have suggested, we’re either part of the solution, or we’re part of the problem.

But as we’ve already noted, the problems – local, national and global – are ubiquitous. There’s no escaping them. What can one person do? Here’s a simple truth: Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. Since each of us is a somebody, we all can and should do something.

Okay, but what? Look at the statement again: Be the change you wish to see in the world. What change would you like to see? If you’re concerned about children growing up in disadvantaged homes, lacking sufficient parental guidance, you could become a mentor investing in some of their lives one on one. You could become a tutor, helping young people with a subject you enjoy, whether it’s math, science, or even English as a second language.

You could volunteer in a myriad other ways, ranging from participating in a local soup kitchen or food bank to working at a crisis counseling center to visiting with shut-ins, people in hospitals or nursing homes. You could give time to one of the local schools; there are many ways to do so.

Are you fed up with politics, as many of us are, convinced we’re suffering from a vacuum of dedicated, selfless leaders? Maybe you could run for office and become one of those striving to fill this void. Or you can identify a candidate you really believe in and give time and energy to helping him or her get into office. Ideas like these are just scratching the surface.

Then there are spiritual needs. If you believe, as I do, that solving life’s greatest problems ultimately is the result of lives transformed by Jesus Christ, you can start investing in others to help them grow spiritually – and find yourself growing as well. As 2 Timothy 3:17 tells us, the purpose of the Scriptures is “so that the man (and woman) of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The bottom line is simple: If it were up to you, what changes would you like to help bring about in the world? What problems or issues weigh heavily on your heart? Once you’ve figured that out, all you have to do is consider what you could do personally to engage in being part of the change you wish to see.

This is our privilege. But it’s also our obligation, a responsibility we’re given by God. James 4:17 teaches, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.” A sobering admonition.

Failing to Follow Instructions

What would you think if you entrusted your home to the care of someone
while you were away, only to return and find it looking like this?

Imagine you’re going away for a couple of weeks and have found a family recommended to house-sit while you’re gone. Being very particular about how things are done, you compile a notebook with guidelines about what to do in your absence.

You provide instructions about bringing in the morning paper; what day the trash is collected; how often to water the plants, feed the fish and walk the dog; where you store the vacuum cleaner; how to shut off your quirky kitchen faucet so it doesn’t leak continually, and other details.

On the day of your departure, the family arrives and you start going over the notes with them page by page. Then the husband, Jason, says, “Hey, don’t worry. We’ve got this. I’m sure your notes tell us everything we need to know. Just relax and enjoy your cruise. Have a great time. We’ll see you when you get back.”

Confident of leaving your home in good hands, you embark on the trip, which exceeds your expectations. Two weeks later, filled with happy memories, you return home and find…the biggest mess you’ve ever seen.

Newspapers, still in protective plastic wrappers, lie strewn across your front yard, yellowing under the sun’s relentless glare. The garbage can remains standing by your back door, but now it’s overflowing with the accumulation of two weeks’ trash.

Warily you enter the house and the first thing you see is fish, floating upside-down, all dead. Then you notice the smell – deposits left by your dog because the house sitters had failed to take her out more than once a day. The plants are all wilted beyond recovery, and the kitchen faucet isn’t just leaking – there’s a steady stream of water into the sink that, because the stopper wasn’t removed, now overflows onto your hardwood floor.

Aghast at the scene, you want to scream, “What the…!” just as your guests enter the room. “Welcome back! Did you have a nice time?” they ask with broad smiles, oblivious to the chaos surrounding them.

“We did – until we got home!” is all you can manage, flustered beyond words. You gather yourself and then ask, “Didn’t you read the notebook? We told you exactly what you needed to do, and you assured us it would tell you everything you needed to know. What happened?”

“Yes, the notebook did tell us everything we need to know,” replies the wife, Ashley. “We read it every night. In fact, you did such a good job – very well written, by the way – we even studied it several mornings as well. You were extremely thorough. You thought of everything. We even told our friends about it!”

How would you respond to that? Besides trying to avoid assault and battery charges?

As strange as that scenario seems, it’s being replicated every day in homes across America and around the world. The best-selling book in the world, the Bible, is read by millions of people daily but, like the away-from-home notebook described above, it’s often either ignored, or used only for information, not for application.

The Scriptures clearly were not intended merely for storing in our intellectual filing cabinets. In Psalm 119:9,11 King David declared, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” From the Middle Eastern mindset, in which this was written, to believe also requires to act accordingly. There wasn’t room for the believe-but-don’t-do kind of attitude that characterizes much of Western thinking.

And in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the apostle Paul insisted the teachings of the Bible are more than a compilation of suggestions, or even recommendations: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Are we like the couple that received instructions on how to be proper caretakers of the home where they were staying, appreciating what is read but failing to act upon it? Or are we following the directive of James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”?