Empire

Jesus established His kingdom by coming to this earth.

****

It was not going to be a political movement. Israel wanted this so bad. They wanted a government that would dictate a moral law that had to be followed, and on more than one occasion they try to snatch up Jesus and make Him king. They try to grab Him and make Him king. And Jesus will have nothing to do with it.

If you remember one of the traps the Pharisees set for Him, they said, “Hey, Caesar says we’re supposed to pay taxes. What do you say?” And Jesus says, “I don’t know. Who’s got a dollar? Oh, who’s that? Oh, it’s George Washington. Alright, why don’t you give to George what’s George’s and give unto Me that which is Mine?”

Now I’m not trying to make any kind of political statement, but the gospel has historically transformed lives…..therefore transformed cultures…..and not had laws set for it so we would all live morally the same.

You cannot legislate transformed hearts.

And so here’s the thing that frustrates me about the Religious Right. Sometimes I just find this thing in me wanting so desperately for that block to shut up and instead live out the gospel in their neighborhoods, in their workplaces—to live lovingly, and live graciously to a post-Christian, fallen world in such a way that the gospel would take root in peoples lives, so that things would then be transformed, instead of spending an unbelievable amount of money, time and energy trying to get it legislated.

Now I’m not saying that we should not be active politically. We have a responsibility as citizens of this nation to do what is our civic duty. And there’s nothing wrong with electing God-fearing, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing men, but you’re not going to legislate Christianity. You’re not. Jesus wasn’t going to do it. Jesus did not go, “Here’s the answer to a fallen world: I’ll overthrow Rome, set into being a Christian nation, and there we’ll overcome the world. That’s going to happen about 100 years from now in Constantine, and then what happens just a little bit after that? Rome ceases to exist.”

***

Politics is downstream from culture. You cannot legislate morality. You live as Jesus lived, you allow God to change hearts and transform lives, and you watch His kingdom be established in the hearts of man, not in the halls of empire.

Statistics

Came across some of this the other day, and decided to do a bit of looking myself, which I’ve added here as well.

Here are some stats to think about:

To solve the following problems WORLDWIDE, here is what it would take, in dollars, as of a few years ago:

-Basic education for all- $6 billion

-Water and sanitation for all- $9 billion

-Reproductive health for all women- $12 billion
(not speaking of abortions, but healthcare for pregnant women….1 in 3700 women are at risk of fatality during childbirth. In sub-Saharan Africa, that number is 1 in 16)

-Basic health and nutrition for all- $13 billion

TOTAL COST: $40 billion

Cost of the Iraq War, as of 3/1/09 – $600 billion
Cost of the TARP – $700 billion (or more)

TOTAL COST: $1.3 TRILLION

That is a problem.

And for good measure, Americans, on Black Friday 2008, spent $10.6 billion dollars buying “stuff”.

In a “recession”.
When people are jobless.
When we’re complaining about Wall Street fatcats and corporate tycoons on private jets.

THAT is a problem.

That day alone, Americans could have given the WORLD clean water and proper sanitation. Why don’t we think the Church in American couldn’t do that? Why doesn’t the Church do that?

The problem is that, by and large, the Church doesn’t think in those terms. We think in terms of programs, buildings, “bringing in the lost”, and worship services. We don’t need government to step in to solve these issues, WE need to step in to solve these issues.

And please, if you are a believer reading this, PLEASE don’t think of this as finger pointing, the blame game, or some rant about the degredation of the American Church. This should be a wake-up call to all of us, that while we alone can’t solve the problem, together, and with God’s help, we can fulfill the call He’s given all of us to do, which can most definitely make a difference.

A different way of thinking

I’m finding myself being challenged in different areas of my life on a nearly daily basis. There have been numerous times over the last few months where there have been so many things coming at me, challenging my way of thinking, and causing me to take pause and reflect on what I’ve been told over the years. This is one of those times.

I began posting some of these thoughts last week, with my note regarding the letter written by Christian/writer/activist Shane Claiborne. While there were specific reasons for my posting that last week, I have felt the need to expound on it just a bit, from a more personal perspective. I want to have a dialogue, open and honest, but shared in love and respect. And I have to be honest……I don’t have it figured out. Not even close. I’m searching, trying to land where I believe Christ wants me to land, knowing that He is personal and He cares about me, and wants nothing but the best for me.

So let me be clear again – I DON’T have it figured out. I’m searching for answers, wading through a myriad of feelings and emotions, and trying my best to come out of the experience wiser as a result. I may get it wrong, but at least I’m searching. I might miss the mark, but it won’t be due to a lack of effort. I see far too many who are far too stagnant and arthritic in their thinking, so bent on a certain ideal or thought that they refuse to acknowledge the existence of another perspective. I refuse to accept that (even thought I am die hard about those things which are the absolutes of Scripture).

So if this comes off too confrontational, or too out-of-left-field, please forgive me. Call it my experiment. I will lay myself bare and expose some of the questions in my mind that are nagging and, dare I say, tormenting my former way of thinking, and if you, me, or anyone else looks back on this 5 years from now and says, “man, THAT was a bunch of crazy-talk”, well, than at least I took the chance of asking the questions, and at least we dialogued intelligently regardless.

My questions have arisen in regards to peace through violent means. More directly, what Shane Claiborne called the “myth of redemptive violence”.

I’ve never considered myself to be a pacifist. In fact, I used to argue quite vehemently with those who walked under that banner, as they waged a war of words on those who embraced conflict for the greater good. I have always been a peaceful person; in fact, the meaning of my name is exactly that: Peaceful. I’ve only been in a handful of fistfights in my life (a few of which probably wouldn’t even technically qualify as such), and I’ve always been one who has, for the most part, supported conflict when its reasoning was for the freedom of a people or the liberation of the oppressed. That’s where I found myself up to about a month ago. No one likes war, but if we needed to go, I was ok with that.

Something went off in my head though.

I found myself, the more I read Jesus’ words, and the more I heard and talked to people about those words, landing in a different spot than before. But this wasn’t overnight, and it wasn’t a black-or-white transformation for me. It was slow, gradual shift in thinking that occurred. It has culminated in the last few days, and it has me at a crossroads. The thought is this:

We speak of being in the world, and not of the world, but yet we will use Scripture to justify and rationalize the actions of secular society.

War and the Bible. The Kingdom of Heaven, and the kingdoms of this world.

These things should be mutually exclusive.

Most who know me, know that my support of this war was waning from the first hours of the invasion of Iraq. I’ve always taken issue with America’s role of “big brother”, dating back decades. That’s no surprise for most. Even now though, I have a hard time saying that dethroning Saddam wasn’t a good idea, unless it is framed within the same context of our President giving up the search for Bin Laden, and instead going after the proverbial “easier target” of Hussein (which I wholeheartedly believe, and still stand by as being one of the biggest mistakes of the last 8 years). Even still, I find myself wondering what Jesus thinks of all this.

I have heard a number of things as of late that eat at me more and more. When Palestine and Israel were dropping missles in each others backyards, I heard someone get asked what their “take” on Israel’s actions of the previous few days was. Without hesitation, the response came, “Bomb ‘em (Palestinians). You don’t mess with God’s people (Israel)”. Only problem is, it was just reported on the news that day about the dozens of innocent men, women, and children who died when Israel lobbed those bombs over their borders, and to be sure, the same thing was happening on Israel’s side of the fence. But a token response like that begs a few crucial questions in my mind, in light of all this.

1) are we just to think of the innocent as “collateral damage”, nothing more?
2) Israel is God’s chosen people, to be sure. The Bible tells us as much. But doesn’t Paul also say in the New Testament that with Christ’s death and resurrection, we (Gentiles, if you’re using Biblespeak) have been “grafted into the vine”, and that as such, we are ALL God’s people?

See, for me, that puts a new twist on it. It tells me that just because Israel is God’s chosen people, that doesn’t give them open justification to bomb another country that they haven’t gotten along with for 6000 years (and vice versa), all because they are “God’s people”. I may be my father’s son, but if I do wrong, I get punished for it. It makes me no less his son, but it also makes my actions no more right. Yet, there’s a thought in fundamental Christendom today that anything Israel does is ok, just because they’re God’s people. That doesn’t jive with me, especially when you read in the Old Testament about their disobedience, and the exile, slavery, and despair they endured as a result.

But enough about Israel, let’s bring it closer to home.

I’ve heard argument after argument, time after time, of Christians using Scripture to justify the current occupation of Iraq, and the wars we wage in general. Every verse you’ve probably already thought of while reading this has come up in the discussions, from rationale through the wars waged by God on Israel’s enemies in the Old Testament, to Matthew 10:34-36, where Jesus Himself says,

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

But was Jesus even talking about the natural, or was He speaking in spritual terms? Thing is, I never remember reading Jesus talking about the Kingdom of Heaven in natural terms, unless He was using a parable to get a point across. Yet I’ve heard this very passage quoted as justification for violence. The same justification that ignores when Jesus said,

Blessed are the peacemakers.
Turn the other cheek.
All who live by the sword will die by the sword.

Things like this are what started stirring in my spirit, causing me to question where my allegiance really lies. We can talk about loving America all we want, and that’s fine. We can celebrate our independance, and salute the American flag as the Star Spangled Banner is sung. But if all of that……ALL of it, is not trumped by us preceding our love for country with our love for Christ, then it is in vain. If we cannot seperate what we think is right because our president “claims” to be a Christian, with the words of our Heavenly Father, what good are we?

Why is it we equate loving country with standing behind what it does in going to war (justified or not), or supporting the troops who do so, but we cannot seperate ourselves from that and realize that, as Christians, as followers of Christ, we have a much greater call? It’s as if we feel like we HAVE to support our country’s actions, because 200+ years ago a group of Christians and Dieists decided to insert the words “Under God” into the manuscripts of a nation, and we decided to label ourselves as “Christian”.

I fear what we have done is blurred the seperation between following God, and loyalty to country, when the two aren’t necessarily synonomous. Our primary concern, if you will forgive the near-cliche’, should be, “What Would Jesus Think?” Would Jesus give justifications for innocent people dying, who had nothing to do with an evil regime, and say that it was one of the unfortunate “aspects of war”? Would Jesus condone pre-emptive strikes on a nation, because of an evil dictator? Turn the tables……what if those bombs dropped in your backyard? Would you still think war was ok? Would it still be acceptable? Or would you think, hope, and pray that there was a better way….a different way?

We should remind ourselves that when Jesus walked this earth, in the very land He walked, ministered, healed, and preached in, there was another evil regime, the Roman Empire, who was oppressing people and mindlessly killing on a daily basis. Yet, Jesus, living in that time, under that same oppressive rule, never condoned action against people by violent means. Never, not once. Why? Because His kingdom, His ways, were not of this world. And that is the same thing He calls us to, is it not??

And even beyond that, would it matter if we hoped for a secular nation, and people of our nation, as well as others, who prescribed to our way of thinking? Or should we live as Christ lived, act as Christ acted, and prescribe to another way that says, “he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword, so I am not going to live by that sword, or support those who do”? I mean, we say we want to live like Christ, that we want to be Christ-like, and we’re even commanded to do as much in the Bible, but are we stopping short on issues like this, because it would just be way too uncomfortable to have that drastic a paradigm shift in our way of thinking?

I hope not. I hope none of us are so stuck in our thinking, as to refuse to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, there is a better way, that doesn’t attach itself to a flag, an anthem, or a government instituted by man. I hope we can all acknowledge that while change is difficult, sometimes change is good, even if the process is painful. I don’t know exactly where I’m going to land in all of this, but I do know that the way of thinking I’ve known for so long is something I can never go back to.

To Iraq

This was written by Shane Claiborne. He wrote this in 2003, just before he traveled to Iraq, and just after the US invaded. I pray that, even if we disagree, and even this doesn’t change our minds, we at least consider the words said in hopes of seeing a different perspective of our role as Christians, and being “in the world, but not of the world”.

********************************************************
TO IRAQ
I am going to Iraq because I believe in a God of scandalous grace. If I believed terrorists were beyond redemption, I would need to rip out half of my New Testament Scriptures, for they were written by a converted terrorist. I have pledged Allegiance to a King that loved evildoers so much He died for them (and of course the people of Iraq are no more evil or more holy than the people of the US), teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for. While the terrorists were nailing Him to the cross, my Jesus pleaded that they be shown mercy for they know not what they were doing. We are all wretched, and we are all beautiful. No one is beyond redemption and no one is beyond repute. May we see in the hands of the oppressors our own hands, and in the faces of the oppressed our own faces. We are made of the same dust, and we cry the same salty tears.

I am going to Iraq in the footsteps of an executed and risen God. I follow a Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey at Passover, knowing full well what He was walking into. This Jesus of the margins suffered an imperial execution by an oppressive regime of wealthy and pious elites. And now He dares me and woos me, come and follow, take my cross, lose my life to find it…with a promise that life is more powerful than health, and that it is more courageous to love our enemies than to kill them.

I am going to Iraq to stop terrorism. There are Muslim extremists and Christian extremists who kill in the name of their gods. Their leaders are millionaires who live in comfort while their citizens die neglected in the streets. I believe in another Kingdom that belongs to the poor and to the peacemakers. I believe in a safe world, and I know this world will never be safe as long as the masses live in poverty so that handful of people can live as they wish. Nor will the world be safe as long as we try to use violence to drive out violence. Violence only begets the very thing it seeks to destroy. My King warned His followers, “If we pick up the sword we will die by the sword.” How true this has proved to be throughout history. We armed Saddam in the conflict against Iran, and we armed Bin Ladin in the struggle against the Soviet Union. Timothy McVeigh, the most terrifying domestic terrorist in US history, was trained in the Gulf Was where he said he turned into “an animal.”

I am going to Iraq to stand in the way of war. Thousands of soldiers have gone to Iraq, willing to kill people they do not know because of a political allegiance. I go willing to die for people I do not know because of a spiritual allegiance. The soldiers have incredible courage, courage enough to die for something they believe in. I pray that Christians would have that same courage. The command of the soldiers is handed down, rank after rank, from a human commander in chief clinging to the myth of redemptive violence. My mandate is straight from the mouth of my heavenly King, through the lips of the Prince of Peace – to love my enemy, and yet I still falter. May we cling to the Truth that every human is created in the image of God. Do we believe the children of Iraq are just as precious as the children of New York? A love for our own people is not a bad thing, but why should love stop at the border? We, the people of Rebirth, have an allegiance that runs much deeper than nationalism.

I am going to Iraq as a missionary. In an age of omnipresent war, it is my hope that Christian Peacemaking becomes the new face of global missions. May we stand by those who face the impending wrath of Empire and whisper: “God loves you, I love you, and if my country bombs your country, I will be right here with you.” Otherwise, our gospel has little integrity. As one of the saints said, “If they come for the innocent and do not pass over our bodies , then cursed be our religion.” May our lives interrupt terrorism and war, in small ways, in large ways, in moments of crisis and in everyday rhythms. These are extreme times. And I go to Iraq as an extremist for Love.

A FINAL STORY…
The other day I was on an airline flight where I settled in next to 2 strangers. They began talking to each other, only to discover that they had much in common, namely political affiliation. They cracked some jokes against the liberals, and boasted of the military presence in Iraq. I tried to read, tried to sleep, tried to resist the temptation of starting an intense debate which would make for a long plane ride. Finally, I got out some homemade cookies and randomly offered them to my neighbors. They continued talking about how much they traveled, all the places they’ve been, and then they turned to me. “Where’s your next trip to?” on of them asked me curiously. I got a lump in my throat (since the correct answer was “Iraq”). I paused. “Well, next week I plan to go to Baghdad.” Their jaws dropped. Puzzled, one man asked, “With the military?” I giggled (for those who don’t know me, I don’t exactly fit the military prototype, with my dreadlocks and all). “No,” I replied, “I will be going as a Christian Peacemaker to be with the families there and voice opposition to the war.”

I was amazed to see that they did NOT start arguing with me. They were intrigued that I believed in something so much that I would risk my life for it. We actually had a nice talk. And I will never forget what they said as we parted. These 2 people whom I had just met told me with great drama how “glued” they would be to the TV as they worried about me, wondering if would make it back safely. I stood in awe, knowing that this is the great tragedy – we see no face in war. Degrees of separation allow us to destroy human beings we do not know except as “enemy”, as if Iraq was filled with millions of Saddams or Osamas, and no children. So in one hour, the walls came down a little. I thought of how powerful it was to have a face in Iraq, albeit a face these two had only met for a couple of hours on a plane. But now they hesitate as they hear the drums of war. And in the moment of hesitation, Truth is birthed. Granted, I would like for my two new friends to oppose the war because of the families in Iraq but if they oppose the war because of some goofball they met for an hour on a plane, that’ll work for now.

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing that will happened to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Acts 20:22-24

So, do you trust Me?

I’ve had multiple conversations with different (and consequently, unrelated) people as of late, and it’s all been regarding the exact. same. topic.

Trust.

Not trust between two people, but rather, how much we trust God.

As Christians, it’s easy for us to “say” we trust God, but it seems more and more these days that there is a line between really trusting God for things, and just giving it lip-service.

Don’t get me wrong, I know what it means to be in the valley. I also know what it means to be on the mountaintop. I’ve had my share of both experiences over the last few years, and anyone who’s being honest with themselves will tell you that it’s always easier to have this kind of trust on top of the mountain. But having been in both spots, I can tell you that while it’s easier to trust on the mountaintop, it’s more important to trust in the valley.

I’ve heard so many people who say they trust God, but don’t show it by their actions, and the words they say that differ from the canned responses they give to the Sunday morning crew (for clarification, the Sunday morning crew are most of the people you encounter on a Sunday morning while sporting your best clothes and your Denteen-gleem smile). Their giveaway is in the everyday talk. It’s on the “reality” of the sickness they’re going through, or in the “counsel” they get from a secular psychologist, who is supposed to have the “answers” to their “problems”.

It seems that the line between truly trusting in God and just saying we are trusting in God is in the everyday life. Now, I’m not taking anything away from the person who gets discouraged from dealing with the day to day grind of an ongoing infirmity, and I’m certainly not knocking anyone who has issues of any nature that, in most circumstances, require the advice or guidance of a professional in that field. But what I am saying is that we have what the doctors and hospitals don’t have…….a faith in the Great Physician. And we have a resource with all the answers that no man can ever give us…..the Bible. But when the going gets tough, where do we turn? We turn to man. And no less, men trained in the secular fields that do not acknowledge or comprehend the Hope that lies within.

But does that Hope REALLY lie within? Or do we just say it does? I said earlier that I’ve had times in the valley. Truth be told, my times in the valley over the last 7-8 years have been so desperate, that at times I sincerely felt like giving up….giving up on God, giving up on the faith of my youth (which yes, is child-like at times), and giving up on the program of God and what He’s called me to. At those times, through the tears and the pain, I’ve rested my problems, my insecurities, and my issues at His feet. Sometimes willingly, sometimes begrudgingly. Thing is, He saw me through….and He saw my family through.

EVERY.
TIME.

So what’s the difference between me, my wife and kids, and others around us who do not look at their faith and their life the same way? We don’t have the answers, but we know Who does. We don’t discredit or deny what the “professionals” say, but we also don’t accept it as truth just because they said it was truth. Because truth and reality are two different things. “Truth” might say that I am unsuccessful because I don’t have a college degree; “Reality” says that my God supplies all my needs. “Truth” says that my son had a partially-collapses lung; “Reality” said that it was fully restored, with no sign of a tear, less than 8 hours after diagnosis.

“As for me and my house….”, we live in reality. Reality is not the world you see, it is in the Unseen. Because the Unseen can walk into the hospital room and touch an infirmity with His hand. The Unseen can touch a mind warped by issues and traumas, and restore wholeness. That’s the reality I choose to live in.

I want to live in the reality He gives, not the “reality” we see.

poem

hands reach out but fall short of your grace skin tears from bone scratching at this dirt that stains with sins i cannot utter in the quiet of this madness screams sound like whispers escaping this cracked vessel longing to be heard crying to be acknowledged but falling on the deafness of those who pretend to know you i’ve been this way before and i’ve seen what these motives bring i cannot remember the last time i felt this weak i will claw my way up through tears and blood none the wiser but fashioned over time i keep circling around this mountain i know i was made to climb.

Not too important

I try to be as unbiased as the next guy, but this stuff’s getting ridiculous. McCain used to have integrity, but somewhere between his 2000 primary run at the Presidency, and his photo-op with George Bush after clinching the Republican nomination….something happened.

Part One:

Part Two:

Vent

So many people try to have an idea of who God is, but they relegate their search to perception instead of reality, societal pull rather than inward reflection, and a skewed viewpoint engulfed in comfort-based, watered down, “what can this do for me” theology rather than a true desire to be like Jesus. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

I’ve watched time after time over the years, both recently and in the past, people who either got burned by another person who “claimed” to be a Christian, who found out that the way to live a Christian life isn’t wrapped up in a neat package the way they were told in Sunday School, or who just flat out gave up on the whole idea of God. It’s saddening, and it’s sickening. Not in a “self-righteous way” sickening, but sickening that today, believing in God means going to a church that makes us feel cozy, rather than making us uncomfortable and challenged to ’step it up’ a bit. Sickening that church has been relegated to a commercialized event, full of Starbucks and social gatherings, rather than a place to feed your soul.

Here’s the news……we’ve all been burned at one time or another. We’ve all experienced pain because of someone else who claimed to be speaking in God’s stead, or who flat out claimed to be something they were not, and made us the recipient of their shortcoming. No one is exempt; we are all susceptible.

When will we (any of us, because we ALL have these feelings from time to time) realize that just because someone does us wrong, that does not mean the whole Church has done us wrong. When will we realize that when we don’t have it figured out, it’s ok to admit it, rather than put on a front behind our nice clothes and our perfect smiles. When will we realize that in our weakness, there is Someone who is far stronger, and that all the answers to the questions we have will always eventually lead back to Him, if we are TRULY searching. Searching doesn’t mean giving up and turning our backs because of something we heard, or because someone on the television asks for money. “Seek and you will find”. Most people I’ve seen who fall into the category listed above get jaded, walk away, and use their experience as a justification for quitting. Then they use that brush to paint their perception of anyone and everyone they come in contact with that might even remotely fit that mold.

They complain rather than search.
They argue semantics rather than inwardly reflect.
They refuse to hear another viewpoint that contradicts their own.

So ask yourself….did God really do you wrong? Or did you just give up? Here’s the thing…….God does not do wrong. It’s impossible for Him because of His nature. That only leaves one other response. Problem is, pride has kept the untold masses from looking in that mirror, because who wants to openly admit they are wrong? I mean, REALLY admit they are wrong? Not many. And that pride is the killer.

Pride that can be hidden.
Pride that can go on for years without acknowledgement from another human being.
Pride that eats away at the heart, that skews perception and clouds the mind.

Drugs and alcohol aren’t killing us. Promiscuity isn’t killing us. Pride is killing us, in slow, small increments.

“Seek and you will find” – Matthew 7

SEEK. and you will find.

Thankful

I posted this elsewhere, but thought it fitting to put it here as well.

-I’m thankful for my wife, who in every sense is the completion of everything and anything I am, and who supports, loves, and helps me be the person I should be.

-I’m thankful for my 3 sons, all of whom put a smile on my face at least once a day.

-I’m thankful that in His loving grace, God saw past who I was, who I am, and instead sees who I am becoming. His mercy on me is felt on a daily basis.

-I’m thankful for every person I’ve ever come across or come in contact with, good or bad. You can glean something off every single person you cross paths with, no matter how brief.

-I’m thankful that even though there was a time during this year that things really sucked (for lack of a better way of defining it), God in His infinite wisdom helped us look to Him, helped us learn how to REALLY trust Him, and saw us through it all.

Holidays suck.

Ok, so they don’t suck, but approaching Christmas time, I’m again reminded of how consumer-driven we’ve become. Midnight sales, 5am sales, 2 day sales, 4 day sales, ad nauseum. It all gets a little tired. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those “Buy Nothing Friday” types, or totally anti-consumer, but I think this time of year reminds us more of our drive to get “stuff”, and less about things that should be important to us, like loving others, giving, and the gentle reminder of who Jesus is in our lives. There’s a balance in all of it, though. Honestly, we shouldn’t have to use a holiday to remind us of the One who came to earth to redeem mankind. We shouldn’t have to use a holiday as a reason to give unto others. But instead of this being engrafted as part of who we are, we wait for a man-ordained holiday to help spur us to have “goodwill towards man”. And it always makes me wonder, why do we have to do that? Because we are self-absorbed, self-centered, and only concerned with the here and now, rather than the future.

I’m becoming more self-aware of how I’m enabling my kids by ravaging them with “things”, rather than teaching them the importance of giving, or of even doing without some of those things that aren’t necessary. It’s sad that before every holiday, and before every birthday, we have to do a purge of the kids closets and toy chests, in an attempt to make room for the next surge of things. But it is becoming an all-too-familiar event. It’s a hard lesson learned, a hard change to make, and a hard truth to swallow.