What do you really want?

Christmas - more than birthdays, anniversaries or graduations - is a time for giving gifts.   So much so that our culture celebrates the giving of gifts above the giver of life itself.  That’s hardly a revelation.  It’s also hardly a revelation that almost everything you get for Christmas will be either forgotten or discarded in just a few years, and nothing wrapped under the Christmas tree is forever.

But you could ask for a gift that does last.  Salvation is a free gift for those who are not yet ready to enter eternity, and to those who already have salvation Jesus said,  “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” ^[1]

You might think that is unfair.  Certainly from a social point of view, those who have should share with those who do not yet have.  But that is looking at it from a financial perspective, and God is not concerned with financial equality (obviously).  That’s because money is a man-made thing, and is therefore (like all wrapped presents) a temporary thing.  When the eternal comes, the temporary is forgotten!   

Oh, you can ask for expensive things from family and loved ones this Christmas - and you might even get them if they can afford it.  But even the most expensive gift money can buy is not valuable in eternity, where even gold is so abundant it is used as paving material.  No, to get what is truly valuable and truly worthwhile, you have to ask God for it.  What God gives truly lasts.  What God takes away is truly gone.  He gives His Kingdom (like His wisdom) in abundance to those who seek for it.  He gives an absence of both to those who don’t. 

This Christmas, ask Him for more.  He is far more generous than Santa, and His gifts are far more valuable than anything you could ever get from rich people. 

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Mt 13:11–12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

What lacks?

A paper today noted that over a quarter of city employees feel like they’ve been pressured into compromising their ethics and values.  Further, 50% feel they cannot report misconduct without fear of retaliation!  That’s a staggering statistic, because it speaks to huge degree of fear and points to a significant problem with corruption.  Not surprisingly, the city has been rocked with scandals of fraud, harassment, slothful work habits and massive rates of absenteeism.  In fact, recently they’ve rehired a number or employees who were caught red-handed (some clocking a full day for literally minutes of work, others stealing city goods).

The regional government over this same city has finally admitted (after a year of denials) that they relocated a massive infrastructure project strictly for political reasons, costing their citizens of over a billion dollars needlessly.  A spokesperson for the government was quoted last week, saying that it’s really not that big a deal. A neighboring city’s mayor freely cavorts with known drug dealers, admits to a significant binge drinking habit and smoking crack cocaine while on the job – and he keeps his job! 

You might think I’m talking about a city in a developing country, or some banana republic that is barely off the ground in the third world.   Actually, I’m talking about Hamilton and Toronto, two of Ontario’s largest cities!  A province over, the heads of twenty-seven (27) cities were named in a corruption scandal this year.  

You would think that with such pathetic mismanagement of citizen resources the various governments would be focused on stemming corruption and shoring up public trust.  Instead, yesterday the Ontario government called for a massive tax increase to fuel even more spending.

Is the problem really a lack of money, or is the problem a lack of ethics?  

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4270008-dreschel-sobering-staff-survey-lands-hard-on-top-bosses-at-city-hall/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/28/hamilton-fires-29-city-road-workers-who-allegedly-ran-personal-errands-when-they-should-have-been-patching-potholes/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_power_plant_scandal

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/06/chiarelli-opens-mouth-and-inserts-foot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Ford

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/09/20130923-112947.html

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/12/13/chris-selley-ontarios-50-billion-transit-problem/

Choosing Wisely

The other day someone asked about how they could know the very best (in their context, God’s will] for their lives – as it related to making a career choice.  This young person would soon face a choice – pursue higher education (in which case they needed to know which university and which program they should embark on) – or make a different choice - perhaps begin work immediately, or join the army, etc.

Such a clearly marked out life choice is not a daily decision.  But every day we do make decisions, and the essence of the matter is always the same.  How do we make GOOD decisions?  As I answered this young man’s question, it occurred to me that what he was really asking is how to gain the skill of discernment. 

Discernment isn’t a word you hear too often anymore. My dictionary defines discernment as, “noun: the ability to judge well: an astonishing lack of discernment.”   Unfortunately it’s the example my dictionary gives that is so often modeled for us.  Headlines are made when people do not use discernment, and headlines are made every day.  Rare is the case when the headline is because of a well-made decision! 

The problem is best seen in the context of something a man named Paul said to a group of friends many years ago.  In talking about seeking God (the best possible decision) he said, “For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse.”^[1]  That’s absolutely true – even the smallest amount of discernment will result in understanding that all we see around us mandates a creator.  The core of the problem is that so many fallen people LACK discernment at all.

 

You would think that such a gaping need would be quickly filled.  Yet there are no classes (or at least, I’ve never seen them, neither in high school or college or university) that are there specifically to teach you discernment.   As a skill, it is left for the individual to pick up themselves along the way entirely through their own faculty.  What that looks like is a degree in the school of hard knocks and expensive mistakes. 

But learning that way costs much.  There are many painful errors, and the consequences of those errors do not fade so easily.  What then of the church?  Will it teach discernment? 

When I google, ‘sermons on love’, I get 21.8M hits.  When I google ‘sermons on grace’, I get 10.5M hits. When I search for ‘sermons on salvation’ I get 6.6M hits.  But if you search for sermons on discernment, you get only 0.58M hits.  In a way that’s expected, yet how can one even CHOOSE love, or grace, or the Kingdom of God, without either exercising discernment (making a wise choice) or being prompted by another?  One could make a case that ALL discernment must be prompted by another, and that God in His grace and love for us has deliberately put us in community SO THAT we might have others to go to.

But such a case would require that every decision be discerned through community, and there are clearly many (most) decisions that we must make on our own (for lack of time if no other reason).  Further, many times the majority of people we are in community with are not making wise choices themselves.  If they were, we wouldn’t have so many headlines, and ‘common sense’ would actually be common. 

There is however, a way to get what you lack without earning it.  It can be given to you by someone who has it to give.  Most fortunately, the Lord has all discernment, and He is willing to give us a gift of discernment if we ask for it!  And asking for it is always the first step in exercising it.

Ultimately, my young friend must do exactly that.

END.

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^[1] Barry, J. D., & Kruyswijk, R. (2012). Connect the Testaments: A Daily Devotional. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.