poison

This week I came across a poison as vile and corrupt as any I’ve ever known. Worse yet I know this poison exists in the homes of many Americans. It may be in your home rite now and you have no idea. The poison I’m referring to can cripple you. It can make you do crazy things. It has literally lead some to murder.

In 2001 my wife and I adopted our first son, Jacob from south Florida. Jacob was a beautiful, healthy, African American boy. In 2004 my wife and I adopted our second son, Tristan. Tristan is from Ethiopia. He has lighter skin color than his brother but it is unmistakable he is not our natural born son.

For several years now we have loved and nurtured our children. Tristan is a special needs kid. He is a handful and a joy. Jacob is just a little ball of energy. He is the actor in the family and will go out of the way to bring drama into everyday life. We don’t see the boys as our adopted kids. They are just, “Our,” kids and we love them to the core.

This week I heard a racial comment made by one adult to another aimed at black children.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. According to Paul the nature of mankind is self serving. Indulging in sexual immorality, having a lust for more and more things of this world, and being filled with all kinds of greed is the nature of mankind in this world. We know it’s true. We’ve been bombarded with the advertisements that tell us, “It’s all about YOU!”

The problem is this worldly attitude leads to pride. We begin to believe the filthy lies that say, “You deserve it!” “You are the most important person in the world.” The unspoken message is, “No one else matters!” “Others are not as important as YOU!” Well guess what. That is a lie! The Apostle John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” (1 Jn. 1:8 NIV). The Apostle Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death,” (Rom. 6:23 NIV). So get over yourself. You are no better than me! I’m no better than you! This pride you hold on to is POISON, and it quite frankly leads to Hell.

We’ve all heard the story. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the savior. Jesus didn’t die a brutal death because He wanted to. He needed to. Because the creation He passionately loved was steeped in self-serving sin.

It is hard for me to conceive of a delusion so powerful that one would believe himself better than an individual because he was born of one family and not another. It is hard for me to imagine being so filled with hate that you would attack someone different than you. But, that’s the sinful nature, and we’re all capable of it.

The conclusion is twofold. If you have never dealt appropriately with you sin problem than deal with it. Jesus did give Himself for you. “For the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Jn. 6:23 NIV). He paid the price of death so we wouldn’t have to. Accept the free gift. John said in his gospel, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (Jn. 1:12 NIV). So receive Him today, become an adopted child of God.

What about those of us who have accepted the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf?

As I said earlier, Paul encouraged us to “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.” Examine your heart. Do you think of yourself more highly than you should? Put that sin to death! Has the poison of pride begun to cripple your life? Has it corrupted your thinking in such a way that you act on your prideful thoughts? Put it to death. Do you make racial jokes? “Hey, did you hear the one about the Mexican and the Jew? Do you know what I say? “I honestly don’t want to hear it.” Or, “I don’t like jokes like that.” Do you have a special gift or talent, something you do better than others? You think you’re really something? Put that pride to death. Do you not give glory to God who gave you that gift?

God’s program on earth is very simple. Jesus said all of the law could be summed up in this one command. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Luke 10:27 NIV). Love God, and love people. It’s that simple.

If we want to be the godly men and women God wants us to be we need to put to death this kind of pride. It is poison. It does lead to death. God’s program is simple yet radical. Love God, and love the people he created. Love all the people He created.

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world,” (1 Jn. 2:16 KJV).

Road Rage

The other day I was driving through Valpo, when I came upon a yield sign. A car was coming so I, well, yielded. This made the guy behind me none to happy. He let me know this by blowing his horn. Later as he passed me I noticed he was driving a silver Audi TT. Sweet ride. So what was my reaction to Mr. fancy car? Nothing, I just drove on.
See I’ve been thinking about anger a lot lately. I think to many of us have anger boiling in us just below the surface. That’s why we can go from fine to furious in a matter of seconds. I want to be the man God wants me to be. So why do I want to get out and teach a lesson to Mr. Fancy car? It is because just like that guy, I’ve go rage. Pent up somewhere I’ve got anger waiting to be unleashed on some unwitting victim.
Here is the thing. When Jesus was hanging on the cross. People were laughing at Him. They mocked Him. They had beaten Him. Now they were taunting Him and saying, “Save yourself!” Do you remember how He responded? Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34 NIV).
My counseling book tells me that anger is caused when a goal is blocked. That makes sense. How I chose to deal with the things in life that block my goals is up to me. I’m going to try to handle it the way Christ did. Hey, we live in a world full of selfish people. How do you expect them to act?