October 18, 2017 - "The Elephant In The Room"

Chaplain’s Corner

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

The Elephant in the Room

Good Morning, Patriots!

I guess it’s time to address the elephant in the room. As you know, I try to be fair-minded and level-headed in my thinking, but I have to admit that often my passion gets in the way of useful thought and dialogue. When I take the time to write a blog, I generally think it out, write it out, and then spend a lot of time reading and rereading and editing until I feel that I have said something useful. Here is my attempt at useful thought today...

As a Christian, I have a unique point of reference in life that many people do not have. I have studied the Scriptures and history for many years, and have learned a lot from it. The key to my happiness in life centers around my ability to surrender. The surrender I speak of is surrender to God and His will. The more I let go of myself and embrace Him and His ways, I find more and more that I can find joy and happiness in my heart even when surrounded by an evil, wicked world. It has taken me a long time to appreciate what I have, and it seems that years of life and wisdom that comes from age and life lessons have a maturing effect on me. I would like to share a bit of sage wisdom with you, and I would appreciate it if you would just read it all before you pass judgment on me or my intent.

Do you remember a historical figure named Saul of Tarsus? He was a Jew. He was an elite Jew, with credentials of higher learning and a desire to follow the Law to the letter. His zeal for God, though, led him to do things that he ended up really regretting later in life. He was inspired to actively persecute and try to eradicate the irritating sect called “Christians” who seemed to be perverting the Law and drawing people away from what he considered “true worship.” He was openly hostile to them and was known for hunting them down, breaking into their homes and hauling them away to prison. He did mean, horrible things “in the name of God” because he truly thought he was doing the right thing. He was personally responsible for many, many Christians suffering and even dying. He was considered a monster by them, though he personally felt that he was on a mission from God.

What did God think of Saul and what he was doing “in His name?” Well, history shows us that while Saul was on the road to Damascus, he had a life-changing experience. Jesus revealed himself to Saul in the middle of the road, in a light so bright that it literally blinded him. The rest, is, as they say, history. This Saul of Tarsus became the historical figure we know as the Apostle Paul, who wrote over a dozen books of the Bible and was considered to be one of the greatest teachers in the early Church. His missionary trips to the rest of the then-known civilized world were legendary, and the number of people who came to know Christ because of his efforts is innumerable. So, how then, did those early Christians feel about Paul?

They were understandably cautious when he was brought into their midst. Surely, there were those in the early Church who may have even had friends or relatives that suffered at the hands of Paul’s former self.  Can you imagine if you had been there, and maybe lost a husband, or a wife, or a brother or a sister, or best friend due to the man Saul, and now he was standing there in front of you? How would you treat him? How would you talk to him? How much weight would you put into anything he had to say? How could you reconcile the fact that he did all of those horrible things, and now he is standing in your midst, wanting to worship with you, and asking to be treated as a brother in Christ? How do you forgive? How do you put your anger and your hurt behind you? How do you get over the sins of his past?

My opinion is that God’s Holy Spirit is remarkable and able to do things that we as mere mortals cannot do on our own. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and we ask forgiveness from our heart for the sins of our lives and ask Him to forgive us and reconcile us to Him, we go through what we understand to be a new birth, spiritually. We are “Born Again” in the Spirit, and made new. Though we may still exist in the sinful, fallen flesh in this life, we have our spirit renewed and rejuvenated, and made clean in the sight of the Father, Who sees us through the eyes of Jesus as He paid our sin debt on the Cross of Calvary. As we experience life in this new spiritual plane, we find that Holy Spirit takes up living within us, and we find that Holy Spirit starts to “clean house” and starts the long process of changing us for the better, from the inside out.

Now, we find ourselves better able to deal with the problems and let-downs in life. We are better able to focus on what is important, and let go of the trivial. We are better able to pursue holiness and a desire to reflect the love of Christ in our lives. Do we still sin in this fallen flesh? Yes, we do. But we find that as we allow Holy Spirit to direct our lives, and make needed changes in our thinking, our actions, our speech, our motivations... we find that our lives get better and better, and we find ourselves better reflecting the love of Christ in our everyday lives and dealings with others. As we look at others in the world who do not yet know Jesus as their own personal Lord and Savior, we have compassion on them, love them as our Lord loves them, and seek to share the Good News of the Gospel with them. We want to share love and brotherhood in a fallen, dark, and wicked world that is under the evil influence of the original wicked one. As a new creation in Christ, we have a new perspective on life and the people who surround us. Old hates and prejudices fall by the wayside as we mature in Christ. Old habits leave us. New habits are formed. A bond of REAL love exists in our hearts for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we, together, reach out to the rest of our fellow men and women in this fallen world to lead them to the light. Holy Spirit is no respecter of skin tones or national heritage. Holy Spirit incites us to love and fine works, and we embrace one another as true brothers and sisters in Christ. We don’t hold the sins of the past against our brothers and sisters. We thank our God that He has forgiven us all, and is doing a good work in all of us. Though we openly acknowledge that we were sinners, and are saved by grace, we do not dwell on our sinful past. We do not throw the sins of our brothers’ past up in their faces. We do not continually try to shame them for things that are behind them, and that God has brought them out of. We accept them for who they are, here and now, in Christ, and we seek to grow with them in the Word as we constantly strive to become more and more like our Savior.

I must say that for quite a while, I have been getting closer and closer to my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I believe that we have successfully crossed the color barrier. As we mature in Christ, we see the harm in trying to retain our old identities prior to knowing Him. Where we may have had prejudice or hatred, or pride in race, we have been washed clean from that. Though racism is not specifically mentioned here in this scripture, the sin of racism is certainly just as serious as any and all of these others mentioned here and would preclude us from entering the kingdom. And yet see what verse 11 says:

 1 Corinthians 6:9-11  New International Version (NIV)

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The point I am striving to make here is that as followers of Christ Jesus were are obligated to turn away from the sins of our past, and look forward as we seek to serve Him in truth. Our brotherhood is what marks us and identifies us in this old world. We will be known by the love we have among ourselves. Joining in with the world in pointing fingers and looking for issues to divide over is NOT OF CHRIST! Yes, we openly acknowledge the sins of our past, to give credit to our God for saving us from THAT PAST. God removes our sins and separates us from them as far as the East is from the West. He does not keep reminding us of how we screwed up in our previous lives. We have history books to help us remember what we did wrong, so we can learn from them and not make the same mistakes again. But we should celebrate our progress so far, and earnestly work toward doing better and better every day! Instead of being slaves of our past, we should be educated by it and learn life lessons from it. Instead of wallowing in self-pity about our checkered past, we should be giving thanks for the position we are in today, as we know Christ, having a solid faith and hope for our eternal future, and are being tasked with the job of sharing Him with the world in love.

I am seeing brothers and sisters in Christ that I love dearly being sidetracked by racial division right now, and that is a very sad state of affairs. My dear brother in Christ, Timothy Trammer, has a favorite saying. He says, “There is only one race: the Human Race.” Can we all please just stop being divided over the sins of our past and find a way to get along in the name of Jesus? Can we put old hurts and prejudices aside and get over ourselves so as to be a united family in Christ? Can we all admit that none of us is good, not even one? That we are all in need of a Savior? That we have been bought at a price because He loved ALL of us enough to take our sin debt away? Is there any way we can remember the sins of our past and learn from them without having to relive them every day and feel guilt over things that we have no power over? Can any of us change the fact that America had a slave problem at one time? Do we have to sit and point fingers all day and find ways to be divisive, or can we trust that God is in control, and everything works out according to His will and purposes? Remember when Joseph’s brothers faked his death and sold him into slavery? Remember all of the hard times he suffered? Remember when it was all said and done, and they were begging for his forgiveness? Remember what he said to them?

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” - Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

Let’s work together to embrace the GOOD that has come out of the horrors and sins of the past. Let’s celebrate our brotherhood in Christ, and resolve to work together as one big family to show the world that people CAN get along and show Christ-like love. Let’s show the world that there is a difference in the Christian community. That our God has changed us for the better. That we can and do overcome our personal faults and differences. That LOVE is the hallmark of our existence now that we have a relationship with our Savior. In the words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?” I love you all and want to work side-by-side with you as we honor our King and do His work. Please, work with me as we seek His Kingdom and not our own righteousness...

God bless you, every one, and:
God Bless America!
Stephen King
Chaplain@3upi.com