Green Pastures and Still Waters
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I am a gun-owner though I am a little embarrassed by some of my fellow gun-owners and their rhetoric of fear. To listen to some of the advocates of the second amendment, you’d think we’re one step away from a home invasion and firearm confiscation. I have wondered from time to time what would happen if we treated our Bibles like we treat our guns. Do we carry? Do we inspect them often? Do we practice to improve our skills in dangerous situations? Do we care for them? Do we have more than one? Are they stashed in appropriate places? What if we learned “they” were coming for our Bibles? Would people buy more of them? Would we stockpile? Would we read them to find out why “they” were coming for them? Would someone have a bumper sticker that said, “You can have my Bible—when can you pry it from my cold dead hands?” These are probably silly questions produced in an over-active imagination but I wonder sometimes how much we actually value the “Word of God.” Was David speaking in hyperbolic metaphor when he wrote that the Word is more precious than gold and sweeter than honey? I wonder if we know what we have in our hands. A 2017 Barna Survey revealed that 87% of American homes have at least one Bible. They also reported that only 20% use it more than 4 times per week. As you think about what you would like to do in 2018, is the Bible a part of that vision? We should never worship the Bible itself but it is the Bible that reveals how to live in an interactive fellowship with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It seems prudent to pursue that kind of life.
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When I think of an invasion, I think about D-Day. Thousands of troops, ships, vehicles,
paratroopers, machine guns and tanks. I don’t usually think about babies. Obviously, some
invasions are less invasive. Some invasions start small and grow. Think of the non-native plants
that started small but spread out across this country. The baby of Christmas started an invasion
like that. Few people noticed the woman having a baby in the stable. No one made room for
her in the local hotel. There were no announcements, no fireworks and no celebrations.
However, the Incarnate Lord came to accomplish something truly spectacular. He came to
redeem mankind and see them restored to God’s image. His coming was subversive. It was
“under the radar.” It wasn’t flashy then and it is not flashy now. It didn’t require celebrity
endorsements or a flyover by the Blue Angels then and doesn’t require glitter and glitz now. In
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis reminds that we are living in “enemy-occupied territory” and that
Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say, landed in disguise,
and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” He taught us to pray,
“Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Think of the implications of
that on our country, our culture, our families and our church. The results of the invasion are
on-going, are you in? “Merry Christmas” (—wink, wink)