The Price of Sin

Monday is my favorite day of the week.  I realize that I am not a normal person for saying this, but I do love Mondays.  The reason being is that Monday is my day off; I do not go to either job, not to mention, I usually hang out with Elizabeth after she gets off of work.
    All that to say, my Monday was going splendidly: I did some work at home, read a book for a while, and watched my TV show.  I was ready to go fishing with Elizabeth and her brothers.
   I was cruising along US 30 towards her house, on the phone with the aforementioned pretty girl when I saw a parked brown squad car that caused my mood to change.  Soon, I was on the side of the road having a friendly conversation with the officer about the rate of speed of my motor vehicle.
   Shocked, and slightly embarrassed at the sight of the ticket in my front seat, I continued my journey to Elizabeth's house.  While the idea of $154 down the drain made my heart sink [no pun intended]*, I began to think about all the other times I had broken the speed limit, or committed any other traffic violation for that matter. I realized that in no way could I ever foot the bill, had I been caught for every single, minor infraction.  If every rolled stop sign or forgotten turn signal had been penalized, I would be in a world of hurt.
   The thought of an insurmountable debt caused me to think of the sin in my life.  Much like the traffic violations, it is positively impossible for me to pay the price of my sin.  No amount of money could ever clean that slate.  But somehow, that price has been paid.  God saw fit to forgive me my sins and redeem me into His kingdom, absolutely freely.  The biggest difference between these two ideas is this: in one case, the offenses were not caught, therefore, not punished.  (I didn't have to pay for speeding last week for example)
In the other, all the offenses were caught and punished. (Jesus' blood was poured out on the cross as a punishment for my wrongdoing and the wrongdoing of the whole world).
   I thank God, Who through His Son, Jesus, paid the price of my sin that I could never afford.

*No seriously, that was on accident.

YOLO

Yes, I did.  I just used an intensely pop culture reference as a blog post title. But there is some truth in that little phrase "You Only Live Once."

   Today, I was reminded of the small impacts that people can have in other's lives.  For me, there is a person that I don't get to speak to regularly, but he consistently brightens my day.  Dave Stafford is our UPS driver at the factory.  He brightens my day with a smile and wave like clockwork.  We can't talk because he is behind the glass, but it is still encouraging.  Granted, I am good friends with his son, and we see each other at church and I go to his house on occasion, so we do have a relationship outside of this daily greeting.  Dave's role in my life is small, especially in regards to my job, but his impact in greater than he realizes.  

   I was contemplating the brevity of life today.  This year, I have been to three unexpected funerals.  Three lives that were ended before I deemed that they should've.  These three men impacted many different people, based on their ages and spheres of influence.  Less than two years ago, my 21-year-old cousin Thor was killed in a car accident.  The list could go on.  None of these people knew that their time here was up. 

  Allow me to meld these two ideas of Dave's UPS stops at the factory and untimely deaths.  There are two things that you don't know: 

1. The Impact you can have on people via the little things.

2.  The Time you have to live on this planet.  

  This is my challenge to myself: live like it is the last day I have and show love to everyone.  Ideally, it means sharing the Gospel with my actions and words.  Am I always good at that? Not at all, but it's the goal.  

 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 

making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:16-17

You Only Live Once (at least in this life).

Cooperation of the Old and New Testaments, Exhibit A

  This weekend I was encouraged to spend some time in Romans 12.  The speaker wanted us to look at the first several verses.  The big themes of the message were living sacrifices and everyone doing their part in the body of Christ.  

Having that in mind, I was reading Psalm 51 this morning and ran into an interesting pair of verses (16 & 17). 

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; 

A broken and a 

contrite heart 

O God, You will not despise.

I reread Romans 12:1 

 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Paul has just demonstrated the kind of sacrifice that God is pleased by: Our Bodies!  This goes hand-in-hand with David's idea in Psalm 51, it is the heart that matters, not the bull on the altar.  (No pun intended)  

  The message of the Bible hasn't changed.  God still looks at the heart.  He longs for man's devotion not his pompous show.  That was a key element to Jesus' message: The Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup, but not the inside.  Sound familiar? 

   In conclusion, our worship is about doing a church service rightly or a sacrifice.  Our worship is presenting ourselves to the Lord, with a broken heart. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrY1-gPM0KY

Perspectives of Cleanliness

  These days, I am studying a lot about cultural differences, and how they affect morality and evangelism.   Each people group has a certain way to look at the world, and that molds the things that they do.  Jim Storti would say that a person's behaviors are direct results of their values, beliefs, and assumptions about the universe.*
   Naturally, since everyone has differing values, beliefs, and assumptions, everyone's behaviors diverge from everyone else's.  So, two cultures coming together can lead to interesting interactions as quick condemnations can come flying from both sides, especially when morality and religion are mixed in.

   I found an illustration of this today while cleaning a mirror.  I was using Windex to clean my parents bathroom mirror.  I was about done when a thought crossed my mind, "I wonder if Mom and Dad will think that this is clean?"  In my opinion, it was a clean mirror.  But, I figured that I need to see it how my folks would see it.  But, how could I gain their point of view? I can't enter their minds to determine how they interpret the cleanness of a looking glass.  So, I did the best that I could to see through their eyes: I flexed my knees a little, bringing my eye level to about 6 feet above the ground.  Aha! Now, I was seeing the mirror like my Dad does.  I bent my knees a little more, and Tada! I had Mom's perspective too!  As a result, I could see streaks that I could've never seen at my normal height.  The ultimate consequence was that the mirror got cleaner.

  The application to communication is simple (simple not easy): look at the world through the other person's eyes.  Granted, when crossing cultures is involved, the difficulty is exponentially increased, but the principle remains the same.  Keep on bending your knees, and that will lead to a posture of prayer, which is the most important ingredient.  Prayer is closely followed by education. (I knew to make myself shorter to see the the world like my parents, but recognizing the distinctions between cultures can take a lot of bookwork and talking to experts).

   Once your perspective has been changed, then accurate evaluations can be made.*  Only then can effective ministry happen.




Resources:
*Figuring Foreigners Out by Jim Storti
ICS 365 Intercultural Ministry taught by Dr. Tom Stalter
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