WISE DECISIONS

BY STEPHEN DUNN 

One of my great challenges as a pastor is to teach people how to make wise decisions. Andy Stanley says the best question ever in terms of decision-making is the question, “Is it wise?” Wisdom comes from God’s Word and Stanley is telling us to ask, “Is my decision consist with what the Word of God tells on how to live?”

I find that people who even know what God says still have trouble embracing wisdom because it is not what they want to do. When I point out that there are moral laws that cannot be violated without consequences, they begin looking for a loophole. Quite often they point to the laws of nature and what we have learned about human nature. There they can sometimes point out to something that does not always work out the way you think. So then they use that as an excuse to go ahead and do what they want.

 “See, Pastor, there are exceptions.” My response, there appear to be exceptions (or variations) to the laws of nature and our knowledge of human nature; but the vast majority of the time it works the way those laws say they will. Jump from a precipice and the law of gravity tells us we will plummet like a rock. And if the fall is far enough, you’ll break something or get killed. The application, “Don’t leap from a precipice. You will injure yourself.’ But because there have been a few people who survived falls without breaking anything, people say there is an exception which will then be their justification for leaping off a cliff.

My response, “Celebrate the exceptions, but live by the rules.”

But God’s moral law gives us no loopholes. No exceptions. For every transgression there is a consequence and unless God intervenes or picks up the pieces, we will suffer the consequences.

The wages of sin is death. And death always collects its due.

 (C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

"LET'S GO FOR A MILKSHAKE"

Reading: Matthew 18:15

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. 

If they listen to you, you have won them over. "

"Am I in trouble?"

This was my wife Dianne's response to an offer to take her out for a milkshake.

She wasn't in trouble. Dianne had come home from a demanding day of assisting a class with kids with multiple disabilities, only to have the day become a burden as she battled the horrendous Friday afternoon traffic.  I was simply trying to offer something as an encouragement, a.k.a., comfort food.

What Dianne was referring to was a little ritual that our family began when our children were young.  When one of them was behaving in a persistently bad way or we needed to have a heart-to-heart talk about something major, I would invite them to McDonalds for a milk shake.  It was generally a sign that they were in trouble.

We developed that method to make more palatible the need to have a confrontation over a problem that was being ignored.  Some day I'll tell you some of the stories.

People hate confrontation and will do almost anything to avoid it. They will suffer in silence while they're anger grows.  They will leave a relationship (or a church) that is precious to them. They will tell 100 other persons about the problem hoping someone else will handle it.  They'll hire a lawyer.

Confrontation and conflict resolution is a vital skill in the Body of Christ.  Avoidance or transference only drive us to be defensive instead of transparent.  The unwillingness to confront and resolve is a sin before God because it destroys the unity of the Body.

That's why Jesus taught that we should be ready to confront in love - and first by going directly one-on-one to the person who has offended you or sinned against you.

(C) 2012 by Stephen Dunn

IT'S NOT MY NAME YOU'RE USING

Reading: Matthew 6.9

"Our Father in heaven, holy be your name ..."

In my first church I had a wonderful friend named Jay.  He was always telling people about his church and eager to introduce them to his young preacher.  Jay was one of the church's deacons. He was also an auto mechanic, working for a shop that serviced and sold cars imported from England and Europe.

One day he invited me to his shop to meet his boss, a man named Bob.  Bob was a tall, cheerful, and garrulous man, ideally suited to sell cars.  When we arrived at the shop, however, Bob was anything by cheery.  His head was stuck deep under the hood of a car along with his arms and hands. We heard banging and grunting and cursing.  Bob was obviously having trouble with a repair.

As we stepped up Jay began, "Bob, I'd like you ..."

Before he could complete the sentence, Bob exploded "God d.....! Jesus, H .....!" (You can fill in the blanks).

Jay, however, was still rolling and completed his sentence as Bob uttered the second, "Damn!" "... my preacher.!"

Bob emerged from under the hood, red-faced and embarrassed.  As he quickly wiped grease from his hands to shake mine, he said sheepily, "I guess I shouldn't have been talking like that in front of a preacher."

My response: "I wouldn't worry about me, it wasn't my name you were using."

At the core of Jesus' instructions to his disciples during that famous prayer lesson, we are taught to say, "Holy is your name."

How we use God's name is an expression of our reverence for Him--our honoring Him, our taking Him seriously.  It is an our expression of our recognition that He is God and His name represents His power and position and purpose.

Does the way we speak to Him or about Him reflect our recognition of His holiness?

If you'd like to learn more about the Lord's Prayer and what is means to reverence God, join us this Sunday at the church of God of Landisville as I begin a new series, "The Prayer of a Holiness-Hungry People." - Steve

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

BREAKFAST DOES NOT EXIST

A few days ago you received a post with this same title.  It had, however, only one sentence. Now if you clicked on it they would say this post does not exist. I took it down.  It was accidentally published when I clicked a wrong button while writing a first draft.  I actually did not discover the error until my Facebook Page informed that I had published a new post on LIFE MATTERS called "Breakfast."

Are you confused yet?

For the record, here is the opening line which WILL reappear when I finally publish that post: "My favorite meal of the day is breakfast.  That's no secret to people who know me very well."

Not all that profound, but that's because I "spoke" (published) before I was ready.

How often have you spoken before you were ready.  I sometimes refer to this as having "your mouth in motion before your mind is in gear."  Very dangerous.  In real life we cannot always "unpublish."  It's out there.  It's attached to you.  People form opinions on what you have said and this is sometimes damning evidence that we spend a long time recovering from.

Jesus has some very disturbing words recorded in Matthew 12:36. "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken."

Ouch!

In an age of email, tweet, sound byte, talk shows, etc. a whole lot of things are said in the heat of the moment.  Too much of it should not have been spoken.  (I tell the kids, "Don't upchuck on Facebook" and we have developed an expression for such unhelpful "shares."  It's called Facechucking.)

Are all of your words worth being spoken?

(c) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

This devotional has been cross-posted on LIFE MATTERS

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn