Give the Benefit of the Doubt

When I began my year of service and study as a hospital chaplain resident, our Supervisor gathered us around a conference room table and spelled out his expectations for everyone on the chaplain staff.  One of his rules was that we promise to give each other the benefit of the doubt.  "Moments will come," he said, "when you’ll be tempted to question the actions or even the motives of one of your coworkers.  You’ll be stressed and sleep deprived.  You’ll run short on patience with your colleagues’ annoying ways.  But that is when you must remember your promise that your first thought will be that your fellow chaplain attempted to do the right thing for the right reason.  That gift will make us effective and keep us united."

Right now, I wish I could gather everyone in our nation around a very big conference room table and challenge each one of us to give the rest of us the benefit of the doubt.  We don’t do that, at least not nearly enough. 

We leap to judgment.  We hear a buzzword or two that leads us to identify another person as an enemy.  We thoughtlessly sort people into groups like sorting out the suits of a deck of cards.  You see a color and a shape and you know where you think that person belongs.  We play mind-reader and claim to know the motives behind a person’s actions. 

Imagine how different our national conversation would be if you and I gave every person we encounter the benefit of the doubt.  That doesn’t mean we agree with what they say or condone what they do, but we begin with an attitude that says, “I believe you’re trying to do the right thing for reasons that are important to you.”  What a gift that would be to our nation and what a big step forward toward national healing.  

Peace Comes to Hearts Where God’s Grace Finds a Home

Have you ever sung a song for a long time, only to learn that you had the lyrics wrong?  Writer Deborah Patterson asked people to send her Christmas songs they or their children had badly misunderstood.  Here are a few Christmas songs gone wrong from her collection. 

~       He’s making a list, of chicken and rice.

~       Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse soap and hay…

~       Round John Virgin, mother and child…

~       Later on, we’ll perspire, as we drink by the fire…

~       Get dressed, ye married gentlemen…

~       See the grazing mule before us, fa la la la la la la la la…

~       Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names…

~       Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel …Barney’s the king of Israel…

Most of us have been repeating the song the angels sang to the shepherds since we were very young, but the truth is, most of us don’t have the message quite right.  And in getting this song wrong, we’ve missed the path to peace. 

Most of us quote the angel song in the words of the King James Version,

(Luke 2:14b) And on earth peace, good will toward men.

That’s a perfectly good translation, but it doesn’t clearly express the meaning of the Greek words it translates. 

The way it reads, we often take it to mean, “Let there be peace on earth and all of you good folks practice good will toward other people.”

That’s not a bad message.  I could vote for it, but it misses the life-changing power of the words the angels proclaimed that first Christmas night.  I believe the New International Version comes much closer to this verse's true meaning, 

(Luke 2:14b) And on earth peace to those on whom (God’s) favor rests. 

Peace comes to those who realize God is for them, God loves them, God sent Jesus to save them, and let that truth rest upon them, find a home in their hearts. 

A week ago, we celebrated my Andrew’s 26^th birthday, so he’s been on my mind lately.  I remember when he was only a day or two old, I went to the hospital nursery to bring him to Linda in her room.  You may know the pride you feel when you drive a new car through your neighborhood.  You want to take the long way home and wave at everyone as you drive by.  I felt that and much more as I pushed Andrew’s plexiglas bassinet down the hospital hallway.  I wanted everyone to see my baby boy.  The route from the nursery to Linda’s room passed through a stairwell, a great building design achievement.  Going through the doorway of the stairwell into Linda’s hallway, the bassinet bumped across a metal threshold.  This sudden bump startled little Andrew and he began to cry.  He was, after all, a little tiny nine-pound, twelve-ounce baby. I talked to him as we rolled down the hall, but he wasn’t listening.  He was afraid and letting the world know.  As we came through the doorway of Linda’s hospital room, I was greeted by that new mama look that said, in all caps, “Dee, what have you done to my baby?”  I didn’t answer that glare, because there was no acceptable answer.  But what happened next, I’ll never forget.  I reached down and placed my big old hand on Andrew’s little back and ever so gently rubbed it.  In an instant, he stopped crying and was at peace.  Linda and I looked at each other in amazement, as though I’d fed five thousand with one hospital tray or parted the cars outside to find a parking place.  The moment Andrew felt his father’s hand resting upon him, his distress turned to peace. 

That, I believe, is a picture of what must happen to us to find peace.  Life’s bumpy ride frightens us.  We feel helpless to do anything about it.  But then, if we open our hearts to God, His grace, His saving love, His favor rests upon us like a strong loving hand.  And when we feel the touch of grace and know we are His, our distress becomes peace. 

Peace comes when the seed of grace God has sown upon the world takes root and grows within your heart. 

When you believe what the angel said, that the good news is for you. 

When you realize that Jesus came into the world to be your Savior. 

May God's grace, brought to earth and to life through Jesus, find a home in your heart--and give you peace.

God Sends His Message of Hope in Unexpected Ways

Pastor and writer, Dr. Carlyle Marney was in his hospital room awaiting surgery.  He confessed he was uncharacteristically anxious about the entire experience.  A pastor friend had come to see him, talk to him and pray with him, but, he said, that was no help.  The hospital chaplain, also a friend, stopped by to talk to him but, again, Marney felt no peace as he prepared to go to surgery.  Then, the attendant showed up take Marney from his hospital room to the operating room.  He helped Marney slide from his hospital bed onto the gurney he used to transport patients.  This large African-American man sensed that his passenger was frightened.  As he pushed the gurney down the hallway, he grabbed Marney’s big toe, squeezed it tightly and said, “Preacher Marney, you in God’s hand and everything gonna be alright.”  Marney said that, in that moment, those simple words from an unlikely messenger brought peace to his heart and he knew he would be fine. 

The God who sent our Savior from an out-of-the-way small village like
Bethlehem is the same God who still sends messages of hope to you and me in unexpected ways.  Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that God can make you one of those surprising messengers of hope.  Just think; you might be in the position to squeeze the big toe of someone on a frightening journey and bring hope and peace to their hearts.  

Clothe the Little Ones in Your Colors

When this picture of Juliana was made, she was not quite three months old.  You might find it amazing that, at such a young age, she has already chosen the university she will support and for which she will wear team apparel.  The truth is, she hasn’t actually chosen a college yet.  Her parents decided that their love for Clemson is so clear and strong that they will actually dress their child in it.  One day, Juliana will choose a college for herself.  It may be Clemson.  It may be the one you’d pick for her.  But she is going to grow up knowing what team her parents love. 

I’ve heard some parents say, “I’m not going to involve my child in any particular religion. I want them to be free to choose when they’re old enough to understand.” When I hear that, I want to ask parents, “Do you know Jesus?  Do you love Jesus?  If you do, you will want to raise your child, from day one, knowing who you love and live for.  One day, each child will make a choice about following Jesus.  Some will choose to follow Him.  Others will not.  But if you believe Jesus is the Savior of the world, the one way to salvation, the Lord we can follow to an abundant life, then don’t you want your child to come to his or her choice knowing as much as they can about the Christ you love?  Shouldn’t they grow up clothed in your love for Christ?

No, our youngest children don’t understand everything about the Christian faith, but they are having their first and foundational experiences that profoundly shape the way they see life, themselves, other people, and God.  So, we bring the little children to Jesus. We clothe them in our colors to prepare them to make the best choice about Him.  

A Tough Question God Asked Me

I want to tell you about a tough question God has asked me.  I could take you to the very place where I first sensed it.  We wouldn’t have to go very far.  I was sitting at the desk in the pastor’s study of this church.  I hadn’t been here very long.  I’d unpacked all my boxes of books and sermons and files.  I’d hung my pictures on the walls, put my guitars in the closet and my Andy Griffith Show DVDs on the shelf.  I was here.  But as I sat at my desk that day, staring into a computer screen and struggling to focus my heart on the work I’d come here to do, I realized that part of me was far away, about a hundred miles away, to be precise.  As much as I’d wanted to leave them behind, I’d brought with me some deep wounds, nightmarish memories of the most hurtful experience I’d known in more than thirty years of ministry.  I’d talked to friends, colleagues, and mentors in an effort to unpack some of my thoughts and feelings and, hopefully, begin a healing process.  Those steps were good, but still I felt stuck.  Too many thoughts and feelings focused on apologies I was owed, people who needed to be held accountable, and second-guessing every word I said and choice I’d made during that ordeal.  It was like a bad song you hear on the radio and can’t get out of your head.  As I sat there, with one foot in the present and the other stuck in the miry clay of the past, God posed a question to me.  This one didn’t come through a lecture or a friend’s testimony.  I was alone with God when He asked,

What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

I’m not the world’s greatest goal-setter or plan-maker, so my first answer was an honest, “I don’t know.” God, the Wonderful Counselor, pointed me toward a place where I could begin to build an answer.  

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life doing this; trying to fix the past, waiting for others to repent of their ways, beating your head against an emotional brick wall, or do you want something better?” 

“I really do want something better,” I answered.

“What pieces of that better life can you see?” 

“I want you serve You here with my whole heart.

I want to do the best preaching I’ve ever done.

I want to enjoy my family, my children, my grandchildren.

I’ve never written a book.  I think I have something to say.

I’ve never been on a foreign mission trip.  I can do that here.”

That day, that question, those first steps toward an answer, were a turning point in my life.  

I don’t take your hurts lightly.  I understand your desire to make bad times make sense, to somehow feel a great wrong has been made right, to finally feel closure of an opened wound. 

I’m not God, but God is here.  And I believe, with all my heart, that He wants your life to be about today’s joys and tomorrow’s dreams much more than yesterday’s hurts.  And, as He sees you stuck in the past with time slipping away like water through your fingers, He may be here to ask you what He asked me, to turn your heart away from a past stained by others’ sins toward a future waiting to be created by His love.  Hurting friend, “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

Stopping Violence Before It Starts

(Matthew 5:21-22)"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, 'is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

A medical student told me that he had spent most of his day in the cadaver lab, dissecting a human body.  I asked him if that work, as important as it was to his studies and future service, was difficult.  He replied that he had learned a trick that made his assignment easier.  He said the first step in working with a cadaver is to cut off the face, making the body look less like an actual human being.  Once that's done, he observed, cutting that body to pieces is much easier.  

In times of conflict, we come up with demeaning names to describe our enemies.  Fighting is much easier when we make our enemies seem a little less than human. We use our words to cut off their faces, to categorize them as something less than human.  

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes three dehumanizing steps we take in our hearts: 

The first is anger, not a moment of frustration as we have with any person, but a ever-simmering anger that focuses on and broods over another person’s faults and failures. 

The second step, says Jesus, is to say Raca!  This is a name of contempt, a word that says that I see nothing to value, nothing to respect, nothing worth living in you. 

Jesus says that the third step in dehumanizing others is to call someone a fool.  This is a special kind of fool.  This is the fool who says in his heart that there is no God.  Calling someone this kind of fool means that you look at that person as being separated from God, even opposed to God.   That kind of person is a little easier to destroy. 

Resentment, contempt, condemnation—these are not just private thoughts and feelings.  Jesus says that these are steps toward murder.  Murder begins when I dehumanize another person, when I make him or her seem not quite like a real person to me.  When I cut off his face, I find it much easier to cut him to pieces. 

I must stop this violence in my heart if I am going to play a part in stopping it in my world.  I must ask Christ to touch my eyes and allow me to see others as He sees them.  My view of every person must be this:

This person is a miracle of God, created in His image, a person for whom Christ died. 

Becoming World Citizens

Linda and I were standing on a subway platform in New York.  We were holding a subway map, turning it this way and that, trying to decipher its meaning and discern which train, going in which direction, we needed to board.  A helpful New Yorker saw our struggle, took pity on our plight, interpreted the map for us and gave us the directions we needed.  Then, before we parted, having heard the distinctly non-New Yorkian pattern of our speech, our new friend asked us, “Are you from Australia?” 

Where is your citizenship?

If you were asked that question, especially during this week of the 4^th of July, you would probably answer, “I’m a citizen of the United States of America.”  If most anyone here gave that answer, you’d be correct.  You are blessed to live in this nation, to enjoy its rights and privileges and to give it your allegiance, your loyalty and support.  We’d do well, as we’ve celebrated our nation’s 243^rd birthday to stop and remember that, in spite of all our problems, our political divisions, the shortcomings of many of our leaders, we live in a nation people will do most anything to enter, while many people live in nations they’d do anything to escape. 

Once we’ve counted our blessings as citizens of this good land, as we should, we need to recognize that the nation to which we belong is only one part of our citizenship and, for the Christian, not the most binding part.  For those who follow Jesus Christ, the first and best answer to the question, “Where is your citizenship?” is…

We are Citizens of God’s Kingdom

Paul is writing to the Philippians about people whose hearts and minds belong to this world.  He grieves how some of them live for nothing more than their next meal and their next chance to gain the praise of others.  But, he says, Christians are different.  Believers have higher aims.  Followers of Jesus travel a different road.  He sums up the difference between the loves and loyalties of Christians and non-Christians by saying,

(Philippians 3:20) But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you recognize that your eternal citizenship is in God’s kingdom, then that awareness will change your life. 

·        Jesus is your leader—not president or party or policy.

·        You won’t live by a bumper sticker slogan, but by a prayer—Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

·        You’ll guide your choices by the question, “What would Jesus do?” 

·        And you’ll support His campaign to redeem the world with your time and hard work and money. 

And of all the ways of belonging that make us who we are, the most defining and the most cherished, is your place in God’s kingdom.  As Paul writes,

(Ephesians 2:19-20) Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Our citizenship begins with Christ. Our love for Him and our loyalty to Him define every other kind of belonging.  And, as we’ve said, one of those sources of belonging, another part of our citizenship, is this: 

We are Citizens of our Nation

The Apostle Peter tells us that our citizenship in God’s kingdom makes us good citizens of our country as well.  He writes,

(1 Pet. 2:13-17) Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

 ¹⁵ For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.  ¹⁶ Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. ¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

We could spend the morning unpacking these few verses, but let me name a few of the qualities of Christian citizens of any nation. 

·        We submit to the authority of good government as long as it does good for people. 

·        We live exemplary lives that give a critical world no reason to look down on those who name the name of Christ. 

·        We use our freedom as an opportunity to do God’s work in our nation and our world. 

·        We treat all people with respect, knowing each person is created in God’s image and is a person for whom Christ died. 

·        We make our love for God’s family clear, in word and deed. 

·        We fear God alone, keeping God our highest authority and deepest loyalty in all we do.

·        And, we give due honor to the positions of leadership that shape our nation. 

I doubt I’ve told you anything you didn’t already know, other than the fact that Linda and I sound Australian, but I want to talk to you about a third dimension of our citizenship I’ve seldom heard discussed in church.  This third dimension of our citizenship is so important that our very lives may depend upon the love and loyalty we give it. 

We are Citizens of our Father’s World

You and I are connected to this planet in innumerable ways.  Every time you take a breath, take a drink of water, eat a meal, even step outside into the sun, you are taking some part of this earth into yourself.  A healthy planet supports healthy people.  A poisoned planet will poison people.   How we care for this earth, our home, is a critical part of our citizenship. 

But is care for our planet a spiritual issue?  Is this something Christians need to take seriously?  Does our highest calling to be citizens of God’s kingdom include caring for the earth?  I believe it does.  I want to name three spiritual truths that can guide us in being faithful citizens of the earth.  As you’ll see, I believe that many of the environmental problems we face have happened because we aren’t living by the truth of God’s Word and the spirit of Christ. 

God Owns the Earth

A friend was driving me around the large city in which he lives and works.  As guys are prone to do, our conversation landed on the topic of his car, a big SUV that, I imagined, didn’t get very good gas mileage.  When I asked him what kind of mileage he was getting, I unknowingly touched a raw nerve.  He burst into a tirade, saying, “You know, Dee, the government has no business putting mileage requirements or emission standards on cars.  If I can pay for the car and buy the gas, I should be able to drive anything I want.  Who are they to tell me what’s best for me?” Had we been in court, I would’ve answered, “I’m sorry, your honor.  I withdraw the question.”

I’ve thought about my friend’s angry response to my question and have decided it’s based in the belief that if I own something, I can do whatever I please with it.

You know what?  That argument doesn’t stand up to scripture.  The Bible says you can’t do whatever you please with any part of this world because you don’t own it. 

(Psalm 24:1) The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 

This is my Father’s world and everything I do with my little part of His world should honor His desires and fulfill His purposes for it. 

My neighborhood friends and I had entered a phase of pretending to sword fight.  I don’t know if we were Robin Hood and his merry men or knights in armor or the Three Musketeers, but we enjoyed the adventure.  One day, I decided that the stick I was using for a make-believe sword wasn’t up to my knightly standards, so I decided to make a better one.  My dad had a lumber rack in the basement of our home.  I found a piece of wood I believed would make a trusty sword, cut it to the correct length, sharpened one end, and nailed a small piece crossways to make a crossguard.  I took it outside and shared a few hours of fun with my friends.  When my dad returned home from work, I showed him my new creation.  He didn’t look totally pleased.  He then explained to me that I had chosen to make my sword out of a piece of costly molding he had set apart for a construction project in our home.  I should have asked him for a piece of wood I could use to defend the honor of the neighborhood.  Rather than live by the sword, I thought I might die by the sword that day.  I’d used that wood for a purpose at odds with my father’s plans. 

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.  He has a purpose for His creation.  And we place ourselves at odds with God’s plans when we selfishly claim ownership of His world and destroy it.  We must know this is our Father’s world.  Then we’re ready to learn that…

God Has Made Us Stewards of the Earth

In the creation story, God gives humankind a special authority and responsibility for the world He has made. 

(Genesis 2:15) The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

It’s our job to manage our Father’s world, to make good use of it and use it for good.  If God were to call humanity before Him today for a job review, for Him to judge how well we’re managing His beautiful world, what kind of job do you think we’re doing? 

Rising temperatures, rising sea levels, polluted air, unsafe drinking water, melting ice caps, islands of plastic trash in the oceans, dying coral reefs, bigger storms, monstrous hurricanes, droughts in some places, flooding in others.  I don’t think we’re doing a very good job. 

Why not?  I believe, at the root of our poor stewardship of the earth, is a spiritual problem: greed.  Again and again, mankind has chosen personal profit over proper care for our Father’s world.  Paul tells Timothy and us,

(1 Timothy 6:10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

I recently watched a documentary about a man who was sentenced to prison for repeated safety violations in the mining industry.  The corners he cut led to the deaths of a number of miners and damage to the environment.  When one of this executive’s subordinates was interviewed by law enforcement, he told the officers of a day when he had called his boss, worried about the risks their company was taking with the lives of their workers and the health of the community.  His boss answered his concerns with these words, “If you want to make it in this company and this industry, you need to get this straight in your mind right now: you are here to make dollars, not worry about people.”

If I could make a birthday wish for my nation, it well might be this; that we would learn and live by the truth that, in God’s eyes, profit is not the bottom line.  Treating human beings with love and respect and helping them have a good life and make a decent living is a far greater good.  Caring for our Father’s world is a greater good.  And greater still is living in such a way that we will hear our Father say to us one day, as we give account for how we treated His children and His world, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Why is our citizenship so urgent?

Future Generations Will Live in the World Our Choices Create

Many passages of scripture give us a beautiful dream of what life can be when we love God and live for God.  But, loving us enough to tell us the whole truth, some other passages reveal the nightmare of what will happen when we stray from God’s heart and are unfaithful to our calling to live as His people.  One of those horror passages is found in Deuteronomy 29.  Listen to what it says,

(Deuteronomy 29:22-25) Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.  ²³ The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur-- nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.  ²⁴ All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?"  ²⁵ And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

Some people might read this passage and write it off as symbolic prophetic language.  But I challenge you to hear the simple truth it proclaims about God’s people, then and now. They disobeyed God, they weren’t faithful to the covenant, and they destroyed the earth for themselves and future generations. Are we doing that?  Are we? 

CONCLUSION

On July 4, our family gathered at our home to grill, eat and enjoy some time together.  In the gathering were all four of my grandchildren: Liam, Creighton, Josiah, and little Juliana.  Those little ones stir up such deep feelings in me and sometimes leave me feeling overwhelmed by the truth that the life I live, the beliefs I hold, the choices I make are creating the world in which they will live.    

As the African proverb says, so prophetically,

We have not inherited the earth from our fathers; we have borrowed it from our children. 

I want them to live in a beautiful world, as the God who created it and owns it intends. 

I want them to live in a world that gives them the good things they need to be fully alive, not struggling to survive in a poisoned world that makes them sick. 

I want them to think of you and me and say, “They laid aside selfishness and greed and loved us by caring for God’s creation.”  

This is our Father’s world.

He’s called us to take care of it.

The future of those we love depends upon how we answer that calling.