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Reports today from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post stated that unidentified sources are saying that disgraced and convicted Wall Street fraud Bernie Madoff, 71, is in the terminal stages of cancer. US prison authorities are denying it. Whether it’s true of false isn’t the topic of this post.
There seemed to had been a lot of hatred directed toward Madoff during his trial last spring, and not just among those who’d been taken by the scam artist. I caught a glimpse or two on CNN with folks lining the streets with posters saying everything from”Bah-Bye Bernie” to “We Hope You Burn In Hell Madoff!”. One blogger wrote, “No one deserves to be tortured in a public place, every day for 6 months, more than Bernard Madoff. If you are not familiar with this [explicative], he masterminded the greatest Ponzi scheme in Wall Street history. $50 billion worth. Read here to find out why he should die a horrible death and then be tortured for all of eternity.” Such passionate remarks and sentiments do make me wonder how we as Christians would treat such a man given the opportunity? Would we stone him, call for his head, or be willing to pull the lever sending him on a sure path to eternal torment? Read the rest of this entry »
I picked up a book last week at the bookstore titled “Luther for Armchair Theologians” by Steven Paulson. Those familiar with my blogs know I have an affection for Luther that dates back some twenty years now. What I like most about the monk turned church reformer was his constant attention on Jesus irregardless of whatever the topic at hand was.
Here’s an excerpt that hit home for me (page 90-91)…
Luther once had a daughter who died in his arms. His grief broke him, since he had no other God to pray to than the one who took his child. He was not interested in nice hair-splitting explanations of this event, such as that God didn’t want his child’s death or had nothing to do with it, or couldn’t change it even if he wanted to. In fact, Luther understood that trusting God only increased the problem of having a God, so that he commonly quoted Psalm 116: ‘I believed, therefore I was greatly afflicted’ (au. trans.). If life’s main goal is temporarily to minimize problems by hoping they go away, then it is better not to believe in Jesus Christ.
Thoughts?
…Indeed if we consider the unblushing promise of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
-C.S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)
There is a tendency I find myself falling prey to on occasion. It is the temptation to succumb to the misguided and hell-derived notion that I have to wait until the sun comes out again to enjoy my life—that I have to be miserable until I somehow miraculously get a set of six-pack-abs by doing a few piddly push-ups a day (too much pasta for that to happen)—that I must settle for mediocre living (at the very best) until I can afford to get my bad tooth fixed—or that I can’t find satisfaction in simply trusting Jesus with all of my worries and tomorrows until I have all the answers lined up in some sort of neat little row.
Waiting until I’m a perfect writer to share my gift with a stranger in need of water who is desperately thirsty is one sure-fire way to guarantee I’ll never begin at all.
Jesus never said he came to bring us a full life when we got it all together—not until we straightened out our sorry living or cleaned up our sloppy act. He never hinted that some of us would be the unlucky ones or fall into the category of those less fortunate. He didn’t spell out a secret code that only a handful of spiritually-minded intellectuals would be so smart to figure out that would simultaneously result in their being the ones to live a fairy-tale life riding off into the sunset with a trailer filled with gold hitched to their buggy—arm and arm with their trophy wife (or Mr. Wonderful for that matter)—while the rest of us were subjected to staying at home as we mopped the floors, changed the diapers, and did the dishes.
No—he didn’t say anything of the sort.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV)
Jesus was referring to those who know him in the context of the conversation he was having when he spoke those powerful words of life—not those who don’t know him. The million dollar question always is—do you? Because if you do know him, he never had anything less in mind for you.
One word to the wise though—you can’t find that life anywhere else but in Jesus.
And don’t fall victim to the seductive temptation that says you can.
I am to cling to Christ alone; he has taught neither too much nor too little. He has taught me to know God the Father, has revealed himself to me, and has also acquainted me with the Holy Spirit. He has also taught me how to live and how to die and has told me what to hope for. What more do I want?
-Martin Luther
What else is there? Who else is there? If you have lived one day as a Jesus-follower and spent a thousand without him you know what Luther is getting at. I have enjoyed many of the niceties this world can offer and yet—Jesus is in a class of his own. Even my own children—as much as I dig them—are no match for Jesus.
I adore Jesus—I am learning to appreciate others. But no one else deserves my worship. How often I pay homage to that which competes with Jesus for my affection and it never suffices.
No one else can satisfy my deepest longings.
Third Day sings:
I’ve heard all the stories
I’ve seen all the signs
Witnessed all the glory. Yeah
Tasted all that’s fine
Nothing compares
to the greatness of knowing You, Lord…
I see all the people
Wasting all their time
Building up their riches
For a life that’s fine
What will it finally take for us to learn that any life we seek outside of Christ is sure to leave us hungry, empty, disillusioned, and wore-out? If we’d only seek him before and above all else how full and overflowing our lives and our hearts would be!
Peter, the rough-edged servant of Jesus, knew full well.
67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ 68 Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69, ESV)
Teach us to cling to you alone Lord Jesus.
Everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations
-Lyrics by Hillsong Australia
People don’t long for religion. They don’t desire rules. They don’t hunger for dogma. And they don’t want to be told who to vote for in the Election this fall.
Jesus isn’t merely the hope of America—he remains the hope of mankind. You can have your preferences or even your convictions—although I’d argue we value much too much that which God doesn’t value and value much too little that which he does. It’s all fine and good if I like green and you like blue. Maybe you like loud music and I like it soft. It’s no matter if you prefer sherbet over ice cream. For all it matters you might like liver, spinach, sushi, and sardines.
It doesn’t matter.
People need a Savior and our culture isn’t about to deliver them one. The world hasn’t delivered on it’s hollow sham promises to provide a quasi savior yet and it’s not about to.
No other savior will do. Do you believe that? The Scriptures couldn’t be any clearer. When we will stop trying to convert people to our way of thinking or our way of doing things? If there is room for James Dobson and Bono within the ranks of our members what makes us think this movement that never ceases—despite man’s best efforts to kill it—is about personalities?
It’s never been about my ideas, your ideas, or Barack Obama’s ideas. Truth be told—we have passed out plenty of opinions to date.
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:22-25, ESV)
It’s all about Jesus—and it’s about time we start acting like it.
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