Wednesday; August 19

Can you imagine what it was like to have been on the streets of Jerusalem when Jesus was condemned and killed?  Setting aside the spiritual side for a moment, how many of us would have gone along with the crowd who lined the streets of the city that day?  Which of us would have been a part of the group described as, “Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, ‘Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!’” (Mark 15:29-30) … and how many of us would have been wrong!  We would have been deriding an innocent man.

As I thought about this, I got to thinking about how easy it is to rejoice when someone we think is wrong gets what they deserve?  Isn’t it easy to feel smug – or even justified – when we are glad that bad things happen to people we think are wrong?  Yet, is that the right way to be?  Even if people deserve the punishment they get, should we feel joy when it happens?  I know that Jesus didn’t deserve what He got – and eventually a lot of people felt bad about what they did to Him – so maybe we can learn that we should not rejoice when bad things happen to good or bad people.  Punishment should not bring joy, rather it should be a somber moment of reflection.  We should hope that justice is served; but in those cases when it isn’t, we wouldn’t have to feel bad about being mistaken.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; October 14

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”?  I think a lot of us grew up with this adage and were taught the value of work and community involvement.  If we were doing something productive, we would get into less trouble.  Interestingly, this wasn’t something that just came from the previous generation, it has its roots in a thought process years ago.  In fact, when the early Christian writers considered how to help widows of their day, they cautioned against just letting them grow old and bored.  The Apostle Paul warned, “At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.” (I Timothy 5:13).  While this particular warning comes from a specific era and situation, I think the overall caution is valid.  I have learned that when I don’t have much going on, I become less d...
Read more

Friday; October 31

This is big weekend for many of us.   First, tonight many people will be participating in Halloween activities.   If this is something you do, please be careful and wise.   Watch out for yourselves as well as for your children.   Yet, there is something else happening this weekend – we get to turn our clocks back an hour tomorrow night (or I guess you could get up at 2:00 a.m. and change your clocks if you don’t have anything better to do).   There has been a lot of debate about why we change time – and if we should do it anymore – but, at least for most of us, we’ll do it at least one more time.   The questions about gaining and losing an hour have been increasing over the years and I don’t know how much longer we’ll find value in it; however, there is another question that I think is more pressing.   What are we doing with the days we have been given?   Eventually, the hour we “lose” in the spring, we will regain in the autumn, but the days we...
Read more

Friday; September 12

Through the years I have preached a lot of “bear one another burdens”.   This phrase from Galatians 6:2 has been a launching pad for a lot of my sermons and lessons.   Now, before I move on, let me make it plain that I am still a big believer in this admonition; however, I have learned something along the way.   Often, to be able to help people we need to communicate with them.   When we see people struggling, we have to be willing to ask them what’s going on – and then listen to them.   If we wonder why people have changed, we need to ask them and patiently await their honest response.   Often, helping comes by beginning an investigation and often requires listening to commentary.   There have been times in my life when I have shied away from this pursuit of truth, but I am trying to learn that with genuine care for others difficult discussions don’t have to be that tough. The other day I found another passage about helping others, “Now we who are s...
Read more