Wednesday; November 29

I am sure there has always been an natural uneasiness between those who enforce the law and the citizens of a community.  Often, even generally law-abiding citizens have an uneasiness around officers and deputies. (Have you noticed all the brake lights light up even when an unoccupied police car is in the area?)  While there has been a history of conflict between law enforcement and the community, it seems like things are getting more intense these days?  My question is “Why?”.  Is it because the criminal justice system is corrupt or is it because people just don’t like the laws on the books and the face of those laws are people who enforcement them?  Often, those who write legislation are perceived to exist in some faceless isolated environment, so we take out our dislike of the law on those who enforce it?
I realize that I am opening a can of worms with this discussion, but this seems to be a natural bridge to a parallel issue involving the perception of Christians and the church in today’s world.  There are people who condemn Christians and churches for their beliefs when they are really upset at the teachings themselves.  In other words, they don’t like what God’s law, so they take it out on the messengers.  They can’t (or won’t) direct their anger at the Author, so they become upset at well-meaning people who are just trying to be true to their Lord and Master.
If people are upset with something in the Bible, it should be taken up with God and not taken out on those teaching His message.  If we, as Christians, are feeling the wrath of a society that seems to be opposed to our spiritual mission, let’s ask, “Have we done something to offend them or are they just mad at God?”.  If their issue is with us, let’s do what we can to fix it; but if they are at odds with God, let’s try to not take their attacks personally.  If they want to tangle with God – that’s their choice.
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more