Abram gave his nephew the option: Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right… (Genesis 13:9). Lot chose the more densely populated, fertile plain while Abram stayed in the mountainous region.
Abram surrendered his rights in order to make peace. This displays the character of Abram including his quiet confidence that God will keep his promises. It is also a model for us in relations with our neighbors. Those who are near to us may be dear to us or troublesome to us or both. Often we do good for all parties when we are willing to stop demanding our rights and let the other person make the choice. This is not always a solution, but it is one worthy of contemplation when conflict arises.
Lot is arrogant and greedy. He chooses the fertile Jordan River valley. And it is fertile indeed. In a dry and thirsty land the banks of the river are precious to all. Lot sees an opportunity to multiply his riches, and he takes advantage of his gracious uncle.
Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom (Genesis 13:12). These cities in the plain of the Jordan River have a well-deserved reputation. They are uncommonly wicked cities full of rape and murder and ruinous sexual activity.
New Orleans is not Sodom. God could not find 10 righteous people in Sodom. The church of Jesus Christ is alive and thriving in New Orleans with tens of thousands of committed believers. Many obvious differences could be added to this single but very significant distinction between the two cities.
Some cities are plagued with uncommonly high levels of destructive behaviors. We who live in New Orleans wish it were otherwise and are working to change it, but anyone can do the math. Knowing the moral failures of our city, we seek to protect those most vulnerable and at risk, especially the children.
Sometimes well-meaning people target especially wicked places for their witness and Christian work only to fall prey to the very people they were trying to reach. It is dangerous business pitching your tent near Sodom.
The story of the church of Jesus Christ in and around New Orleans includes worldwide ministries that made terrible blunders. This is not unique to our city, but we ought to note it for what it is. Some of the great churches that have been built in the last half century here have suddenly collapsed. Sometimes financial folly has been the culprit. Sometimes sexual sin has crept into the church of Jesus Christ. Pastors who aimed to live holy lives became victims of the aggressive sin around them. Scandals have arisen and been reported in our media on more than one occasion. And mighty men and women of God have fallen and pulled the church into ruin.
Such temptations come to all Christian leaders. My father taught us about Lot when I was a boy. He said that sometimes it is better to be on the mountain with Abram than to be on the plain with Lot. That is, sometimes discretion and prudence demand that we distance ourselves from evil places and people rather than seeking to be involved in changing them. Christian leaders must find their personal place in the tension between being in the world but not of the world, loving the world and not loving the world.
Lot is not deciding himself to be wicked and cruel as he pitches his tent toward Sodom. In fact he will later be characterized as “a righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7). Just because you live in or near a city does not mean that you endorse or participate in its wickedness. In this age of the internet, anyone who lives in any city, or in a rural setting, has easy access to pornography and depravity. Some people revel in the anonymity which the city affords, that people they know are not always looking over their shoulders. They are maskers without masks, taking forays into sin in the delusion that darkness will forever cover their tracks.
Relationships of accountability are of utmost importance for those called to work and witness in the great cities. Families and friendships must be counted dear and held close. Personal devotions should be meticulously maintained. Ethical boundaries should be drawn tighter rather than looser when pitfalls abound.
The cities have always attracted missionaries and pastors. Paul wanted to carry the gospel to Rome. Timothy became pastor in Ephesus, James in Jerusalem. The great cities are moved by our love and our witness, our prophetic word and faithful behavior.
The population of America has moved from majority rural to mostly urban in my lifetime. Most of the people who need our love and witness now live in cities. Put on the full armor of God, take up the sword of the Spirit, and join a team of believers with white-hot passion to reach the cities for Christ.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Choose Life
A woman came to see me recently who was struggling with guilt about an abortion she had many years ago. She was worried that this might be an unforgiveable sin. She also wondered if current events of great difficulty in her life might be punishment from God for the abortion.
Some things are very hard to get out of our heads and hearts. Some things stay there forever.
An abortion is one of those things that is very hard to get over and get past. It is a traumatic, frightening event fraught with moral quandaries. It often occurs during a woman’s youth or young adulthood. Traumatic events in our youth tend to cast long shadows on our lives.
Going through months of pregnancy and giving a child up for adoption is a difficult, life-changing experience as well. Unlike abortion, however, adoption is life-giving rather than life-taking. While abortion provides no laughs or smiles, adoptions are literally full of joy, as our bustling church nursery with adopted, healthy babies can attest. I held a baby in my arms this past Sunday who is the product of a young woman’s choice to go through pregnancy and adoption rather than abortion.
I have experienced two reunions recently where adults who were given up for adoption as babies have searched for and found their biological parents. In both of these cases significant relationships have developed between mother and child mingled with lots of joy and grief. That is not always the outcome of these reunions, but sometimes it is.
As a matter of moral conviction, I urge young women in crisis pregnancies to choose life. Death is the solitary human experience from which there is no recovery. The law of reciprocity dates from the beginning of human social order. Death brings death.
Does God forgive the sin of abortion? Absolutely and completely. For any penitent sinner, God’s grace is greater than all of our sin.
We think we are boxed in, ruined by bad choices. We think we are walking dead-end streets, that our failures are final and there is no way out. We are full of despair, imagining that our lives are already over. We are walking in the darkness, and we imagine death to be our only choice.
The truth is something else. As long as we have the breath of life, we have new possibilities before us. There are no dead ends in grace. Every breath is a divine gift.
Will the woman be able to forgive herself? That’s another story. Can she get past her abortion? I am not sure she can. We do not really ever get past the impact of great loss. We integrate that loss into our minds and hearts. We work to do this in a healthy way. Sometimes we mature emotionally and spiritually in the wake of sin and death. Sometimes our grief becomes a ball and chain from which we seek liberation but without success.
I have been bouncing babies on my knees for many years, my own children and grandchildren and hundreds of others. I have walked the path beside those dealing with crisis pregnancies and witnessed nearly every imaginable outcome. No path is painless.
I prefer to deal with the mess that life always creates rather than the darkness and sterility of death. In my mind, abortion is another kind of violence that rips up life and leaves deep scars. Life is never easy, but it always deserves our respect and protection and in the end is the best choice.
Some things are very hard to get out of our heads and hearts. Some things stay there forever.
An abortion is one of those things that is very hard to get over and get past. It is a traumatic, frightening event fraught with moral quandaries. It often occurs during a woman’s youth or young adulthood. Traumatic events in our youth tend to cast long shadows on our lives.
Going through months of pregnancy and giving a child up for adoption is a difficult, life-changing experience as well. Unlike abortion, however, adoption is life-giving rather than life-taking. While abortion provides no laughs or smiles, adoptions are literally full of joy, as our bustling church nursery with adopted, healthy babies can attest. I held a baby in my arms this past Sunday who is the product of a young woman’s choice to go through pregnancy and adoption rather than abortion.
I have experienced two reunions recently where adults who were given up for adoption as babies have searched for and found their biological parents. In both of these cases significant relationships have developed between mother and child mingled with lots of joy and grief. That is not always the outcome of these reunions, but sometimes it is.
As a matter of moral conviction, I urge young women in crisis pregnancies to choose life. Death is the solitary human experience from which there is no recovery. The law of reciprocity dates from the beginning of human social order. Death brings death.
Does God forgive the sin of abortion? Absolutely and completely. For any penitent sinner, God’s grace is greater than all of our sin.
We think we are boxed in, ruined by bad choices. We think we are walking dead-end streets, that our failures are final and there is no way out. We are full of despair, imagining that our lives are already over. We are walking in the darkness, and we imagine death to be our only choice.
The truth is something else. As long as we have the breath of life, we have new possibilities before us. There are no dead ends in grace. Every breath is a divine gift.
Will the woman be able to forgive herself? That’s another story. Can she get past her abortion? I am not sure she can. We do not really ever get past the impact of great loss. We integrate that loss into our minds and hearts. We work to do this in a healthy way. Sometimes we mature emotionally and spiritually in the wake of sin and death. Sometimes our grief becomes a ball and chain from which we seek liberation but without success.
I have been bouncing babies on my knees for many years, my own children and grandchildren and hundreds of others. I have walked the path beside those dealing with crisis pregnancies and witnessed nearly every imaginable outcome. No path is painless.
I prefer to deal with the mess that life always creates rather than the darkness and sterility of death. In my mind, abortion is another kind of violence that rips up life and leaves deep scars. Life is never easy, but it always deserves our respect and protection and in the end is the best choice.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Keep Those Resolutions!
Small considerations frequently prevent people from making very important changes.
This truth has been circling in my mind since the New Year began four days ago. Annually, people resolve to do some very important things—the top five or so changes that they want to make in their lives—and almost always abandon them during the course of the year. Statistically, New Year’s resolutions have a short life span.
A study completed recently affirms the truth we all sense. Our bad habits are woven into patterns of behavior. The bad habits give us instant gratification while doing the right thing pays off only in the long run.
Take for instance all those who have resolved to lose weight this year by implementing new exercise regimens and new eating habits. For some, these lifestyle changes have become life-and-death matters. Yet they are likely to abandon these practices in the short term.
Health issues often prompt our new resolutions, but spiritual issues are also at the top of our lists. We resolve to attend worship each Sunday. We resolve to read our Bibles and pray daily. We resolve to give regularly and generously to our church. We resolve to get involved in helping the less fortunate.
These resolutions, too, are at high risk. The new toys we think we need compete with our charitable contributions. The rush of our morning schedule, promoted by hitting the snooze button repeatedly, interrupts new devotional regimens. Those extra minutes in bed on Sunday morning loom large when the alarm goes off.
Someone celebrated yesterday that they had made it through three days of daily Bible readings. I think we must do this. We must celebrate the small victories of our new intentions because the small considerations are the things that stall us, thwart us, and stop us.
My understanding of a holy life comes into play here. I am wondering if you and I can really overcome the desires of the flesh—more sleep, unhealthy food, higher tech toys—by just willing to do so. Is our will strong enough? We all consistently underestimate the power of temptation. We walk into a situation that compromises our good intentions expecting that we shall have the will power to say no. And we stumble and fall.
Holiness begins with a focus on God, not laws or rules. If faithfulness to God prompts us to make lifestyle changes, then we have a good beginning for true transformation. Our faith is powerful and will give us strength to maintain our commitments.
We need to help one another in making these changes. Friends and family members who respect and support our good intentions are less likely to parade the chocolate and ice cream through the den when NCIS comes on TV. If our friends are always dragging us back into destructive behaviors we may need to find some new ones. We are much more likely to secure the new life we hope for when our support group is cheering us on, not ridiculing and undermining us.
And we need to make the little changes that support our new directions. Discipline and will power must be at work from the moment we start our day, not just at the breaking point. Place new items on your nightstand. Change the sound of your alarm. Purge your refrigerator and stop purchasing “for friends” the food you should not eat. Set up automatic drafts for the charities you want to support. Leave the credit cards at home. Pack a lunch.
We establish new goals—or new commitments to old goals—at the beginning of each New Year. We are more likely to achieve these lifestyle changes if our goals are faith-based, supported by friends and family, and facilitated by a full array of small tweaks in our busy lives.
This truth has been circling in my mind since the New Year began four days ago. Annually, people resolve to do some very important things—the top five or so changes that they want to make in their lives—and almost always abandon them during the course of the year. Statistically, New Year’s resolutions have a short life span.
A study completed recently affirms the truth we all sense. Our bad habits are woven into patterns of behavior. The bad habits give us instant gratification while doing the right thing pays off only in the long run.
Take for instance all those who have resolved to lose weight this year by implementing new exercise regimens and new eating habits. For some, these lifestyle changes have become life-and-death matters. Yet they are likely to abandon these practices in the short term.
Health issues often prompt our new resolutions, but spiritual issues are also at the top of our lists. We resolve to attend worship each Sunday. We resolve to read our Bibles and pray daily. We resolve to give regularly and generously to our church. We resolve to get involved in helping the less fortunate.
These resolutions, too, are at high risk. The new toys we think we need compete with our charitable contributions. The rush of our morning schedule, promoted by hitting the snooze button repeatedly, interrupts new devotional regimens. Those extra minutes in bed on Sunday morning loom large when the alarm goes off.
Someone celebrated yesterday that they had made it through three days of daily Bible readings. I think we must do this. We must celebrate the small victories of our new intentions because the small considerations are the things that stall us, thwart us, and stop us.
My understanding of a holy life comes into play here. I am wondering if you and I can really overcome the desires of the flesh—more sleep, unhealthy food, higher tech toys—by just willing to do so. Is our will strong enough? We all consistently underestimate the power of temptation. We walk into a situation that compromises our good intentions expecting that we shall have the will power to say no. And we stumble and fall.
Holiness begins with a focus on God, not laws or rules. If faithfulness to God prompts us to make lifestyle changes, then we have a good beginning for true transformation. Our faith is powerful and will give us strength to maintain our commitments.
We need to help one another in making these changes. Friends and family members who respect and support our good intentions are less likely to parade the chocolate and ice cream through the den when NCIS comes on TV. If our friends are always dragging us back into destructive behaviors we may need to find some new ones. We are much more likely to secure the new life we hope for when our support group is cheering us on, not ridiculing and undermining us.
And we need to make the little changes that support our new directions. Discipline and will power must be at work from the moment we start our day, not just at the breaking point. Place new items on your nightstand. Change the sound of your alarm. Purge your refrigerator and stop purchasing “for friends” the food you should not eat. Set up automatic drafts for the charities you want to support. Leave the credit cards at home. Pack a lunch.
We establish new goals—or new commitments to old goals—at the beginning of each New Year. We are more likely to achieve these lifestyle changes if our goals are faith-based, supported by friends and family, and facilitated by a full array of small tweaks in our busy lives.
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