The spiritual danger of inattention

Interstate 40March 4th and 5th of this year will be remembered for the massive winter storm that gripped most of the nation in snow, ice, and record cold temperatures. Yesterday morning, at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time, I began my journey home from North Carolina. Normally, when I have made the trip in the past, it has taken me between ten and eleven hours to make it home. Yesterday’s trip was different. It took me fifteen and a half hours. The first third of the trip was fairly normal. There was no ice or snow – just rain. But as I began to cross the Smoky Mountains, gradually the rain was replaced with a wintry mix, then sleet and freezing rain. Halfway between Nashville and Knoxville everything changed over to snow. The last half of the trip, which normally takes five hours, would be close to ten hours long.

As the weather continued to deteriorate, I began to really become aware of the situation around me. When the rain began to turn to freezing rain and sleet, I decided to slow down, turn off the radio, and to pay attention to what was going on around me. With all the distractions out-of-the-way, I became more aware of how dangerous the situation actually was. Ice and slush covered the interstate, there was low visibility in some places, and already there were many of accidents on both sides of the road. I also became more aware of the actions of the other drivers; many of them were acting as if it were a normal day – they continued to drive at higher than safe speeds, talking on cell phones, and zipping down the highway. They were unaware of the real danger of inattention as they continued on their journey.

There were a few times I watched cars pass by me at high rates of speed, just to be passed by me a little while later. Where I had been slower, more deliberate in my driving, they had become victims of the danger to inattention – a couple had slid off the road into the median and there were a couple that had come upon an accident too fast to avoid becoming part of it. As I watched and continued to make my way slowly across the state of Tennessee, a verse came to mind: And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares (Luke 21:34). As I continued my slow pace through the ice and snow, I began to think that just as these drivers had not even considered the danger of inattention that morning during their trip, there are many people who are unaware of the spiritual danger of inattention.

Spiritual danger of inattention

There are a number of phrases used throughout the Bible that are designed and crafted by the Holy Spirit that reminds us of the importance of paying attention and being aware of what is happening us around us. Take heed, consider, regard, watch, and be vigilant are found throughout the Bible and remind us that we are to be aware of what is going on around us and what we are doing. There are a lot of Christians today who are now experiencing problems, trials, and even temptations because of the spiritual danger of inattention. There are churches who are experiencing hardships because of the danger of inattention. If we just take the one phrase, take heed, there are sixty-four verses where the Holy Spirit instructs us to do just that – to take heed, to be aware, to be cautious, to be observant of what is going on around us. On my trip to and from North Carolina, I listened to a lot of AM Christian radio stations because the CD player in my car no longer works. I was listening to the sermon of a local church broadcasting out of Nashville and heard the pastor say that there were a number of young teenage girls in their congregation had went on a trip and now found themselves pregnant. He was bemoaning that how could this happen at the church – and the answer that the Holy Spirit gives is the danger of inattention.

Using the church broadcasting on the radio as an example, its problems did not begin with a field trip taken by a local group. The problems did not begin when the teenage girls engaged in premarital and unwed sex – this was the result of the problem. The problem is that this church and these families had not been aware of what was going on around the young girls. There is a very real spiritual danger of inattention. I once heard a sermon while living in Louisiana where the pastor said a simple but profound statement: “there are people who are so heavenly minded they do no earthly good!” It is not enough to preach against immorality and sin, it is not enough to ignore the taunting and teasing of the world and somehow expect our young people to go through life unscathed by sin. There is no reward for being inattentive to the things the world offers. Simply believing “not my daughter” or “not my son” is not enough to prevent them from falling into temptation – and it is not just about how they face sex, but alcohol, drugs, and any number of conversations we often choose to ignore because of the sensitivity of the topic. There are real spiritual dangers out there; we compound them when we are not paying attention to what is going on around us, our families, and the members of the congregation.

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Society is changing; the Bible does not

bible-620x508Society is changing; what was once deemed as unacceptable or indecent behavior is no longer seen the way it was even twenty years ago. As many of you know, I have taught at the college/university level for the past eleven years and during this time, I have seen many changes in society. While some of these changes have been good, many of them have been bad – bad for our communities, bad for the current and future generation, and bad for the church. Yes – I said bad for the church; many churches have compromised their stand and no longer hold fast to the foundation laid out in the Bible but have shifted to a more humanistic and inclusive world view to protect their relevancy in society. Unfortunately this does not make them more relevant in the role that the Lord laid out for the New Testament Church.

Society demands tolerance

Right now there are many Christians that are struggling with various social issues. On one hand, they want to honor the Lord but on the other, they do not want to be labeled as being intolerant or hateful. Society is changing and the world is seemingly doubling down on its efforts to get the church and Christians to conform to its world view. Yesterday, as I was listening to the news, there was a human interest story where one of the people being interviewed was bemoaning that Christians are just too judgmental and are violating one of the key teachings of Christ: Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1). The young man then began to say that Christians have no right to cast judgment on anyone because of the lifestyle they choose since God has told us not to judge. It should not surprise Christians that the world and those who are not Christians would mutilate the meaning of scriptures for their purposes and to justify their agenda. Even the apostle Paul had to deal with this very problem in his day and led him to pen this warning to the Christians in Corinth: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Society is changing and so are the norms that go with it. Within sociology and anthropology, the term norm is simply a group or societal belief in the proper way a person should behave within society. Most of the time, norms are informal and are not codified into law but are observed by society because of the belief that the norm is the right or correct thing to do. I am reminded of the verse in Isaiah: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20) as we witness society changing. While demanding tolerance for its world view, the lost world offers no such tolerance for a world view outside of what it has deemed as acceptable behavior. An example of such demands is that of abortion – or the murder of the unborn. The world hails abortion as a responsible and acceptable choice of birth control. Christians and others who oppose it are accused of wanting to deny women basic health care and the right to control their own reproduction. According to those who defend the practice, the debate over abortion was settled with Roe v. Wade and can no longer be tolerated. Society does not consider abortion as a legitimate moral issue but somehow managed to transform it into a social issue. There is now discussion within the Internal Revenue Service questioning if a church can lose their tax-exemption status if the pastor/clergy discuss opposition to abortion from the pulpit since abortion, especially since 2009, has morphed into a social-political issue revived by the Affordable Care Act.

Views on homosexuality are also changing as society changes. Until the mid-1970s, society opposed homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Christians who oppose homosexuality as a sin are often considered hypocrites; the world cites Christ’s teachings on divorce and remarriage: It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery (Matthew 5:31-32). Taken out of context, this verse seems to show just what the world wants us to believe – into shaming Christians and the church into accepting homosexuality because they have already accepted other deviations in God’s plan for marriage. The problem is that yes, those are the words of Christ but what he was doing was teaching the scribes and Pharisees that there was much more to Judaism than upholding the letter of the Old Testament law. Under the law, everyone is a sinner and worthy of the wages of sin. The law points to the need of God’s saving grace – something that cannot be earned by man observing the law. Marriage was an area where yes, the law did allow for divorce, but Jesus was expounding on what the law was teaching to show the religious leaders of the day there was more to fully observing the law than just what was written.

Another argument presented by the world is how Christians opposed interracial marriages; we often hear that the GLBTQ (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transexual-Queer) movement is the inheritor of the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. There are several problems with this argument that the Christian must stay firm on scripture and understand what the Bible really teaches:

1) God never forbade interracial marriage. The early recorded instance of an interracial marriage is in Exodus 2:21: And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. In Numbers 12:1, the Bible further expounds on who Zipporah was: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Moses was a Hebrew, probably about the same skin tone as a modern-day Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, or Iranian; Zipporah was an Ethiopian –  a black woman. As Miriam began to use Moses’ interracial marriage to question his leadership of Israel. The Lord stated: And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Numbers 12:6-10). Additionally, Song of Solomon is written to King Solomon, a Hebrew, by a black woman who was one of his wives. Again, no condemnation on interracial marriages can be supported by scripture.

Continued on the next page.

White as snow since the blood of Christ

white as snowSince about last Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast snowfall for the tri-state area where I live. To be completely honest, I love snow – I love watching the flakes as they fall to the ground and the look of the fluffy and thick white blanket that hides the ground’s imperfections. This morning I was surprised to actually see about four inches of snow on the ground, but just as I am with every snowfall, my heart turns to my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several things that snow can teach us about the grace that God gives all who will seek genuine forgiveness.

Behind my apartment, in my back yard, so to speak, there are dips and depressions that fill the ground. There are also old cigarette butts from previous occupants and neighbors that still rise to the surface. There are weeds, crab grass, and a few dead leaves – all unsightly things that makes the yard difficult to enjoy. If we are completely honest with ourselves, it is a good analogy to how we must appear to God without the blood of Christ. The prophet Isaiah wrote under the leading of the Holy Spirit, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). Everyone has things in their life – sins – that are unsightly in the eyes of God. The apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). Without the grace of God, we appear just as a neglected yard before a snowstorm. We are filled with imperfections, with flaws, and other unsightly things.

Snow covers imperfections

This morning, by the time I woke up, there was nearly five inches of snow on the ground. No longer visible were the imperfections and unsightly clutter in the yard, but a thick, white blanket of snow. Again, the prophet Isaiah wrote as was led by the Holy Spirit, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord himself invites people to come and reason with the promise that we’ll be made pure from our sins – white as snow! David similarly wrote, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities (Psalms 51:7-9).

Just as the snowfall hides the blemishes of the yard from our eyesight, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses and blots out our sins. The “reasoning together” the Lord invites everyone to take part in is simply the same question He asked of Israel during the exodus from Egypt: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). The apostle Paul shows the importance of this reasoning with the Lord: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9). By choosing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we choose eternal life and he have our sins forgiven; even the Lord Jesus Christ taught, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus’ blood covers our sins

The apostle John wrote, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5) – when we accept Jesus we have become white as snow because of the shed blood of Jesus! There is no other way we can become white as snow without the blood of Christ; Paul wrote to the early Christians living in Jerusalem: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). Even Jesus taught this very idea during his earthly ministry that all paths do not lead to God; there is only one way that man will ever be justified in the eyes of God: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

But this is where the similarity between the blood of Christ and snow ends. The blood of Christ remains pure and able to continue to cleanse us from our sins. After a few days, the snow will begin to melt, it will get dirty, and it will begin to show what is underneath it. David wrote, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). Once we have been forgiven of our sins, the blood and love of Christ forever separates them from us once we have repented. And when we do sin again, all we have to do is to confess our sins, as John wrote: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Paul wrote that when we genuinely seek forgiveness of our sins God will not remember them from the point we seek His forgiveness any more: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more… And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12 & Hebrews 10:17).

As I watch the snow continue to fall I am amazed at God’s grace towards me. There’s nothing special about me that God should show me such unmerited favor in His sight. He has blessed me beyond all measure and explanation. He can and will do the same for you if you will simply call upon the name of Jesus and believe that God raised Him from the dead and that He has made atonement for your sins. You, too, can have a life that appears white as snow to the Lord!