Growth

Significant Differences

When the dissolution of a marriage is announced, it’s not uncommon for the stated reason to be “irreconcilable differences.” In fact, this has seemed to become a catch phrase for any decision on the couple’s part to abandon the effort to save their marriage. How many of the differences truly are irreconcilable is hard to say. It seems that many could be resolved if each partner was willing to let go of their pride instead of their marriage. Significant differences happen, but it’s probably less often the case than divorce papers would make us believe.

What’s true in marriage, is also true in other relationships. Rarely are we unable to resolve differences with one another if maintaining the relationship instead of our ego is the goal. However, as Christians, we are called to maintain some significant differences from those who haven’t put their faith in Christ. These differences can sometimes serve as the basis for irreconciliation. When we have to choose between relationships and Christ, we must choose Christ every time. However, in order for this decision to mean anything the differences we claim must be tangible and concrete. In other words, our non-Christian friends should be able to tell what these differences are, and understand why our lives must not be lived in parallel with theirs.

Which brings me to the point of this little discourse. Sometimes, the differences we claim are indistinguishable to the world around us. A local Christian radio station has been playing Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving. They position this format change as “Christmas music with a difference.” However, a few dial turns up the radio there is another, secular station playing Christmas music and I would venture to say that if the listeners didn’t know which station the radio was tuned to, they wouldn’t be able to tell from the music. The exact same songs about Santa, reindeers and snowmen are played on each, just as songs about angels, shepherds and the birth of the babe are featured. Whatever the difference is between the two stations, it must not have anything to do with the content and in a format where content is king, it seems that’s the only difference that could truly be significant.

If Christians are going to claim a difference from the world, it would be good if they were clear about what those differences are. If our lives (and our music) are the same as others, what’s the point of calling it Christian? When we are placing Christ’s name on something, let’s hope that we are doing so on that which glorifies Him. And that is always going to create a significant difference.

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Growth Hope Relationships

Lunching with the Enemy

The holidays are a time where spend a great deal of our waking hours with those we love. A lot of these occasions seem to involve eating and maybe rightly so, as it seems that eating together is often associated with a level of intimacy not found between mere associates. Maybe this is why business executives and Hollywood agents are quick to “do lunch”; it’s a tangible sign of inclusiveness.

Inclusiveness, however, doesn’t happen just around the dining room table of our homes. For those of us who are Christians, our Heavenly Father has promised that not only are we part of our own families, we are part of His (Titus 3:7; Ephesians 1:5). Therefore, we get to eat at His banquet table, and share in fellowship with Him (Luke 14:15). This is a common understanding of grace; those of us who were wrong with God get to be made right with Him. However, as in much of Christianity, that which has become common, has perhaps lost its impact. While all the above is true, what is often forgotten is the degree to which we are anathema to God except for Christ’s sacrifice. Getting the privilege to eat at Christ’s table is comparable to the outrage that would occur if President Bush had Osama Bin Laden over for Thanksgiving, except comparably our crimes against a holy God are far worse. (This is not to say that the earthly consequences of our behavior are the same, but the contrast between our sins and God’s holiness is much more pronounced than the same comparison made between sinners.) The shock of such a meal would resound throughout the CNN-world, because we would recognize that a privilege was being given to a man who not only had not earned it, but had earned the exact opposite response. The President would be granting an act of inclusion to somebody whose behavior calls for him to be ostracized. Osama would be accompanying the same seat that the President’s children had sat in, served from the same dishes, and allowed the same access. The fact that we find this absurd, shows us the scandal of God’s grace. For those of us who were enemies of God are now His children (Col. 1:20-21); He has allowed them unprecedented access (Rom. 5:1-3), and shows them favor they can never earn (Eph. 2:8-9). We have become so used to calling ourselves “children of God”, that we forget the affront our adoptions paper must cause in heaven. The enemies have been made kids.

Many of us will gather this holiday season and get together with friends and families out of obligation. Let us not forget that God has no obligation to lunch with us, and yet through faith and repentance, He gives us the privilege anyway.

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