DOING GOOD TOGETHER

I have a growing conviction that God's intended domain for the accomplishment of good works is the Body of Christ just as much as the lives of individual believers. I would go so far as to say the Body is the primary domain for good works to happen.

Individual missionaries and parachurch organizations which sidestep the local body of Christ will always be limited in their effectiveness. 

The truly big work that needs to be done in this lost world requires entire networks of believers - with each individual exercising his or her unique God-given gifts in sync with each other and the Spirit's guidance. 

As an American, I have always read Ephesians 2:10 as applying individually, but is that the only way to read it?

"For WE are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for US to do."

SPARKNOTES

Some people approach the Bible as if it consists primarily of a set of doctrines to be learned. So they turn to the "experts" to hear their explanations of the various propositions it contains. 

But this is like "reading" a classic novel by studying the SparkNotes summary.

Sure, you might be able to spout back some plot details and describe a major theme or two and it will save you a whole bunch of time, but you will miss out on the joy of reading a masterpiece and the wonder of firsthand discovery.

And one thing is guaranteed: if you stick to the SparkNotes, that book will never have the chance to become your all-time favorite. 

Obviously, if you thought the book had something important to say, you would have read every word of it for yourself. 

And then you would draw your own conclusions about which characters are major and which minor and what symbolism spoke to you. 

Don't do SparkNotes for Bible. 

There IS a test coming. 

WILD CARD

Over the past couple of years I have heard many Christians express a critical view of American culture (deservedly so!) and a gloomy forecast for our country's future. 

Most recently, I heard it this morning in Sunday school. A man there said that he told his adult children - (I am paraphrasing) - "I know things are bad, but prepare yourself because they are going to get worse. In fact, as bad as things are right now, just remember that these are the best days you are likely to see in this country."

I can empathize. At times, I can get pessimistic about the future myself. 

It feels like the foundations are being kicked out from under us. Institutions aren't what they used to be, the media can't be trusted to tell us the truth, and so many people aren't even sure about what gender they are anymore. 

Certainty is vanishing. Confusion prevails.

But then ... God!

Did you hear what has been happening this past week on the campus of Asbury University in Kentucky? 

Revival has broken out: Students, professors, and townsfolk have been crowding into the school's chapel to worship God and to hear from Him. 

The most encouraging part of the story is the report of so many college students from other campuses, both Christian and secular, roadtripping to Wilmore, Kentucky to be a part of it. Some of these schools are 5 and 6 hours away.

There is a hunger! 

As our young people are groping around in this present cultural darkness, they are looking for something solid to grab hold of.

We should get our churches prepared. Let's not allow ourselves to get pessimistic about the future. 

The Holy Spirit is a wild card!

Act 17:26-27 - "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us."

OPEN AND SHUT

It seems to me that in recent years American culture has made its goal to become as open minded as possible. And there are aspects of that goal which are commendable. 

But perhaps we have overshot the target. 

Here are a couple of quotes - from decades past - yet wise words of warning for present times:

"Cursed is he that does not know when to shut his mind. An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it. It should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes, or it may be found a little draughty." Novelist Samuel Butler

“The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. Otherwise it is more akin to a sewer, taking in all things equally.” G.K. Chesterton

NO SHINGLES NEEDED

Here are more ponderings from the mind of Mark Twain, this time from "What is Man?" in 1906:

"We are always hearing of people who are around seeking after Truth. I have never seen a (permanent) specimen. I think he has never lived. But I have seen several entirely sincere people who thought they were (permanent) Seekers after Truth. They sought diligently, persistently, carefully, cautiously, profoundly, with perfect honesty and nicely adjusted judgment—until they believed that without doubt or question they had found the Truth. That was the end of the search. The man spent the rest of his life hunting up shingles wherewith to protect his Truth from the weather."

So in the end, how do you know if you have laid hold of real Truth or just another persuasive falsehood?

Twain implies an answer: authentic Truth doesn't need you to build it a shelter for protection from the weather.

THE LIFESPAN OF A LIE

In a similar vein to "People don't have ideas - Ideas have people" is this quote:

"It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled." 

Over the past decade or so, these words have often been attributed to Mark Twain, but the factchecking websites cannot find this quote in any of his written material. 

(If it matters, the false attribution was the work of Twitter.)

Still, the factcheckers did find a similar idea expressed in Twain's autobiography:

"How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!" 

The curious thing about this quote is that in speaking of "how hard it is to undo a lie", Twain was thinking of two distinct difficulties: 1) Mustering up the courage to confess a lie and then 2) Convincing those who believed it that NOW you are telling the truth.

The difficulty of undoing a lie was a lesson Twain learned from one of his first experiences of "yarn-spinning" before a live audience. 

As a young boy, Twain had overheard a family visitor, one Dr. Peake, describe a horrific mansion fire he had once witnessed. The good doctor recounted the experience with drama and great detail. Young Twain was mesmerized.

During a return visit by Dr. Peake three or four years later, Twain - now an adolescent - rehearsed all the details of that great fire to an enraptured audience ... but under the pretense of seeing the whole thing in a hypnotic vision. Having overlooked the fact that Twain had heard the story from Peake himself, Peake and the others present were astonished.

Thirty five years later, Twain wrestled with a desire to come clean to his mother. To "undo" the lie. 

To Twain's amazement, when he confessed, his mother would have none of it. "She refused to believe that I had invented my visions myself; she said it was folly: that I was only a child at the time and could not have done it."

He could not convince her otherwise. She died wholeheartedly believing his original lie while, with equal firmness and determination, discounting his later confession as a lie. 

Twain concludes this episode with a poignant observation on the lifespan of a lie: "If I had taken out a life policy on this [lie] the premiums would have bankrupted me ages ago."

In other words ... some lies never die.

ONE WAY TO DISCERN GOD'S WILL

This world is headed in one direction. God in the other. 

Any action based upon the will of God, therefore, WILL create friction, for both the point person and bystanders. And friction is, at the very least, uncomfortable. 

More often it is downright frightening. 

It makes us question our mission. 

It tempts us to retreat to more familiar ground. 

If we're not careful, a pattern of behavior develops where we shrink back each time we should be moving forward. 

What happens when we recognize that fear as a signal that we are resisting God's will?

So here's a question worth pondering today:

What is the thing you know you ought to do, but it frightens you?

THAT just might be God's will. 

Do it.