February 9, 1999
Lana (not her real name) is dying. The medication prescribed to treat a serious disorder has destroyed parts of her throat and esophagus. Soon she will be unable to eat. A tube will help for a time but the damage will eventually eat away her ability to breathe.
Lana gets angry at anyone who offers to pray for her. She is not interested in God or the gospel of hope for eternal life. Fiercely independent, her faith is in herself. Further, she wants to die as she has lived — her way, not anyone’s, not even God’s.
Her friends feel helpless. Whether or not she made choices that brought her to this, Lana’s own way is not working. Everyone sees it so clearly, except Lana. They want to help her but she doesn’t want any help. Those who know how to pray, pray anyway, without her permission. What else can they do?
Some say if prayer is against her wishes, it should not be offered. If Lana wants to turn her back on God, it is her choice. Do not interfere. Let her make her own decisions, even if they are not what we want. Others say the problem is not her stubbornness but that she just doesn’t understand how anyone can die with hope and in peace.
Regardless of our personal experiences with God, the Bible makes it clear that He does not give up easily. Lana may not be interested in God but God is interested in her. Even as she resists Him, He will not turn his back on her. God is like that. He even shows mercy on the least likely. In one example, Jesus stopped at a well during the heat of the day, long after the villagers had been there to draw water. A lone woman appeared on the path and when she got to the well, Jesus asked her to draw enough for Him to have a drink too.
This was an unusual encounter. In those days Jewish men did not talk with women, especially a woman by herself. Strike One. Second, she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were a half-Jew, half-pagan race hated by the Jews and banned from worshiping God with them. Strike Two. As Jesus talked with her, it came out that she had been ‘with many men and now lived with one who was not her husband.’ Strike Three. Why did Jesus break at least three social norms of His day and bother with her?
He had His reasons. Throughout the Gospels accounts of His life, He gave his attention to both men and women. He never once indicated any contempt or discriminated against a woman. He reflects the attitude of His heavenly Father who created both in His image and loves both without prejudice.
In the same vein, He had no prejudice against Samaritans. He knew the plan of God did not exclude anyone, regardless of their race or background and how or what they worshiped.
Third, Jesus was interested in sinners. In Matthew 9:13, He challenged people to learn what God meant by saying He wanted ‘mercy, and not sacrifice.’ He then said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
By this lone incident, the Lord reveals His merciful heart. The woman was surprised that He talked to her. She knew the norms. She was late coming to the well because she knew others looked down on her, yet Jesus did not. He persisted in the conversation until she understood who He was and that He could give her ‘living water,’ a euphemism for eternal life.
Lana’s friends who know God will persist in praying for her. They do it, not to push something on her, but because they have Christ in their lives. His merciful persistence is showing up in theirs. They also hope God will touch her life despite her resistance and the many strikes against her. They know as God does, that her thirst for life is greater than her thirst for independence. She needs that living water.
Showing posts with label answers to human need. Show all posts
Showing posts with label answers to human need. Show all posts
Friday, August 18, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Why use drugs? ................ Parables 574
November 11, 1997
In 1991, 52,406 minors were arrested in the United States for drug abuse, particularly marijuana. In 1995, that number rose to 124,467. More recent statistics show little change from in teen marijuana use, but the use of hallucinogens nearly doubled in two years and the rate of heroin initiation for the 12-17 age group has reached historic levels.
A frog will sit in tepid water that is heated to a boil and die rather than jump out because it is oblivious to the danger. Could this be what is happening to young people? Some statistics indicated that less and less young people see a risk in taking heroin. Perhaps using a milder drug numbs discernment and prepares the way for stronger addictions.
How can it be explained that people will try something harmful hoping for some benefit but not finding it, then instead of abandoning that behavior, try something even more harmful?
In the beginning chapters of the Bible, there is one explanation. It tells the story of sin beginning with the first two people eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. While it seems a good idea to know the difference, they did not realize until it was too late that evil has an alluring and addictive power. They would seek it but not be satisfied by it.
Since then, the human soul seems to seek experiential knowledge of evil. It isn’t enough to know about it but to taste it, to find out for ourselves what it is like. But sin, like salted peanuts, suggests that just one more will satisfy that inner craving. By the time the bowl is empty, we are far more thirsty than we were to begin with.
Drugs do that too. There is a sense of the cravings relieved as long as the drug is available but when it dries up, the craving rages and abusers find themselves enslaved.
Suggested solutions include stricter laws, more education and increased public programs that offer youth other worthwhile things to do. Oddly, these correspond to some solutions people in the Bible attempt in their efforts to conquer all forms of sin.
The Jews thought the answer was in the Law. They lived with rigid rules but were never satisfied and had no assurance that God was pleased with them. No wonder. Jesus told them they didn’t fulfill the Law because it was humanly impossible. In fact, they became slaves to a legalism that held them in bondage.
Education has more promise. Jesus even said, “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” However, educators tend to think of truth as being mere information. When Jesus talked about the truth, He was talking about Himself. If people wanted to escape the revolving door of sin and death, they needed to know Him and He would set them free.
Doing good also has merit. The biggest drawback is that the standard of good that lifts us above sin is not possible to us. Again, Jesus said, “There is none good but God.” The Bible completely affirms that everyone falls short.
What we really need for escaping sin, whether it be bondage to drugs or any other enslaving habits, is a radical change inside our hearts, one that causes us to think differently about the temptations of evil. We need the God of the Universe to not only clean up our soul’s sinful cravings but satisfy it with the only thing that can fill that inner void — Himself.
How is that possible? Humanly, we cannot make it happen. All we can do is humble ourselves before God, admit we need help, and ask for His mercy. It is up to Him to move into our lives bringing grace and truth to set us free from the sins that enslave us.
Will we do it? Without Him, even humility escapes us. We tend to easily swallow the lie that drugs or some other allurement will lift us out of our personal pits, but reject the truth that only Christ can give us abundant life.
In 1991, 52,406 minors were arrested in the United States for drug abuse, particularly marijuana. In 1995, that number rose to 124,467. More recent statistics show little change from in teen marijuana use, but the use of hallucinogens nearly doubled in two years and the rate of heroin initiation for the 12-17 age group has reached historic levels.
A frog will sit in tepid water that is heated to a boil and die rather than jump out because it is oblivious to the danger. Could this be what is happening to young people? Some statistics indicated that less and less young people see a risk in taking heroin. Perhaps using a milder drug numbs discernment and prepares the way for stronger addictions.
How can it be explained that people will try something harmful hoping for some benefit but not finding it, then instead of abandoning that behavior, try something even more harmful?
In the beginning chapters of the Bible, there is one explanation. It tells the story of sin beginning with the first two people eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. While it seems a good idea to know the difference, they did not realize until it was too late that evil has an alluring and addictive power. They would seek it but not be satisfied by it.
Since then, the human soul seems to seek experiential knowledge of evil. It isn’t enough to know about it but to taste it, to find out for ourselves what it is like. But sin, like salted peanuts, suggests that just one more will satisfy that inner craving. By the time the bowl is empty, we are far more thirsty than we were to begin with.
Drugs do that too. There is a sense of the cravings relieved as long as the drug is available but when it dries up, the craving rages and abusers find themselves enslaved.
Suggested solutions include stricter laws, more education and increased public programs that offer youth other worthwhile things to do. Oddly, these correspond to some solutions people in the Bible attempt in their efforts to conquer all forms of sin.
The Jews thought the answer was in the Law. They lived with rigid rules but were never satisfied and had no assurance that God was pleased with them. No wonder. Jesus told them they didn’t fulfill the Law because it was humanly impossible. In fact, they became slaves to a legalism that held them in bondage.
Education has more promise. Jesus even said, “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” However, educators tend to think of truth as being mere information. When Jesus talked about the truth, He was talking about Himself. If people wanted to escape the revolving door of sin and death, they needed to know Him and He would set them free.
Doing good also has merit. The biggest drawback is that the standard of good that lifts us above sin is not possible to us. Again, Jesus said, “There is none good but God.” The Bible completely affirms that everyone falls short.
What we really need for escaping sin, whether it be bondage to drugs or any other enslaving habits, is a radical change inside our hearts, one that causes us to think differently about the temptations of evil. We need the God of the Universe to not only clean up our soul’s sinful cravings but satisfy it with the only thing that can fill that inner void — Himself.
How is that possible? Humanly, we cannot make it happen. All we can do is humble ourselves before God, admit we need help, and ask for His mercy. It is up to Him to move into our lives bringing grace and truth to set us free from the sins that enslave us.
Will we do it? Without Him, even humility escapes us. We tend to easily swallow the lie that drugs or some other allurement will lift us out of our personal pits, but reject the truth that only Christ can give us abundant life.
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