I don't want to talk about Roy Moore, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders, or Al Franken.
I want to offer up a possible reason as to why so many times when we go in to vote, we feel like we're having to make rationalizations, or deal in situational ethics, or choosing between the lesser of two evils, or telling ourselves we're not voting "for" someone as much as we're voting ''against" the other candidate.
I have written before about voting. I have written - tongue in cheek - about how I like it when people don't vote, because the fewer people that vote, the more they make my vote count.
And that's true, but I honestly I wish more people would vote.
Here in my home state of Alabama, we have gone through a series of special elections, of which we're not finished. We had a primary to choose Republican and Democratic candidates for Senate. Then we had a run-off to determine a Republican candidate. And soon - as you may have heard - some of us will go to the polls to make a final vote on who we want to represent us in the U.S. Senate.
I say "final,'' although it may not really be final. If Roy Moore wins, there is all kinds of talk about the Senate not seating him (which I don't believe, Constitutionally, they can do; go back and look at the Court ruling when the House tried to not seat Adam Clayton Powell in 1967), or once he's in office begin an immediate process of possibly expelling him (which will take a two-thirds vote, and it is one of those things where everyone in the Senate better take a long, hard look at themselves before they go down the road of expelling someone for what they may or may not have done 30-40 years ago).
Even if Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, wins, this seat will be up for election again in 2020, because this vote is just to finish former Sen. Jeff Sessions' term which was set to expire in 2020. And regardless of who wins, I'll be shocked if there are not a whole bunch of people lined up to run for this office in 2020, and even more shocked if whoever is the incumbent holds on to the seat.
Let me also say, as someone who has made Alabama my home, this election is not a referendum on Donald Trump or anything else of national mood. This has become simply a race where people in Alabama, one of the most red of red states, feel they have had outside influences trying to determine the outcome of this election from the state. To show the state of the Democratic party in this state, if you add up all the votes cast in the Democratic primary, they still wouldn't have beaten the top vote-getter in the Republican primary, Roy Moore. And my guess is that many people who voted for Roy Moore - although he does have a considerable base - did so in the run-off because they didn't like the Washington DC-based campaign that was run on behalf of Luther Strange, who was appointed by former Gov. Robert Bentley to fill Sessions' term before Bentley was forced to resign ... well, it gets complicated.
Needless to say, we've had a rather bizarre run of political intrigue here in Alabama over the last two years, with the Speaker of the House resigning after being indicted, the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court (Moore) being basically forced out of office (suspended, actually, but in reality forced out), the Governor appointing the then- Attorney General to the Senate in a move that many people feel was a quid-pro-quo in an attempt to end the investigation into the Governors' behavior, only to have the Governor forced to resign anyway and the new Governor ordering a special election to fill the Senate seat, which brings us to where we are now.
That was a very short, very edited version of politics in the great state of Alabama over the last few years.
Which brings me to my point:
In the 2017 primary featuring both parties, only 18 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote. In the Republican run-off, only 14 percent of eligible voters showed up to participate in the most basic and most important part of our system of government.
Which means, at least in the Republican run-off, about 8 percent of the voting population decided that Roy Moore would be the candidate representing the Republican party.
That, to me, is an oligarchy.
Not the traditional oligarchy where a small group of military leaders, or business people, or party elites run things.
But the first definition of "oligarchy" that popped up on my google search reads: "a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution."
I'd say 8 percent of the voting population deciding who the candidates are is an oligarchy.
When you don't participate in the process, you get what others decide they want for you.
When only 8 percent of the population makes that decision - or even just 14 percent, or 18 percent - what you get are the truly hardcore and committed who may not reflect the belief and values of the great "silent" majority - determining who our leaders are.
Which is why the tragedy of a democracy, even a democratic republic like we have, is that it usually ends by suicide. People quit participating, and the process dies or becomes a, well, an oligarchy.
I have heard it argued that we really don't want the 'great unwashed' voting, the people who don't follow the intricacies of politics and policy and the repercussions of actions beyond the initial, most immediate result.
(By that, I mean as simple as while you may not have liked Donald Trump as a person, you knew that whoever won the last presidential election was going to nominate at least one Supreme Court justice, but maybe didn't realize there were also roughly 125 Federal judgeships to be appointed. That is a massive influence over the way the judicial branch will operate over the next decade or more. And that is just one example of most of us not being aware of the ripple effect of politics, how there are very few decisions made in a vacuum that don't have repercussions that could be more dramatic than even the initial decision).
Yes, the great masses get fooled by 'fake news.' The core of the whole "Russian influence" issue is that people allowed themselves to believe "news" posts (and social media posts) that reinforced their own biases and fears. Hey, that's what advertising and bumper stickers and tweets and campaign slogans are all about; what we're really saying is, we don't want our voters fooled by the fake news of other countries, only our own.
But I'd still rather be ruled by the many than by the few.
The more people who participate, the better off we'll ultimately be. You know what? I don't care if you actively participate in one party or another. I'd prefer you did, but more than that, I just wish people would vote. I have found it's amazing to get that ballot, look at all the names on the list of people who may decide my future and the future of my children, and realize I wish I had done a little more research into each of them than I did.
Then I vote anyway. But every time, I have come away determined to do it better next time.
And that's all we can ask.
Maybe it won't improve the quality of candidates we seem to be faced with in every election; maybe it will even get worse.
But at least it will more of us making that decision, and not just the 8 percent.
If you don't vote, my vote counts for more. And I don't really want to be in the oligarchy of American government.
We do have the power to change things - through voting. All of our opinions matter. But if you don't vote, then it may not be long before our individual opinions no longer matter.
And if that happens, we all lose.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Thoughts and prayers
The whole concept of prayer, for me, is a tough one to figure out.
Whenever there is a tragedy, like the recent mass shooting in the church in Texas, we see immediate responses from people who want to express their concern and use the phrase "thoughts and prayers." And the last few times events like this has happened, the response from a large section of the country has been to make fun of or belittle the concept of "thoughts and prayers." As one national Democrat said, "Prayers are for pastors and priests; we need action!" And even some in the faith community like to throw out that prayer is not enough, using the verse in James that says, "Faith without action is worthless" (my translation; the most common translation is "so faith without works is dead also," from James 2:26). They say "Prayer alone isn't doing enough."
I admit the phrase "thoughts and prayers" is a bit of a cliché. It's what you say when you don't know what else to say, like saying "I'm sorry for your loss" at a funeral. You want to say something to express your sympathy and emotional distress over what has happened, while at the same time showing some measure of compassion for the survivors. So we've reduced it to the phrase "thoughts and prayers" (I think the "thoughts" part is simply added in so as not to offend those who might not believe in "prayers.")
Yet what else can most of us do in the face of horror, tragedy, and pure evil?
If you believe there is a God, and you believe that God is in control, then you pray.
If you don't believe in God, then you rely on your own strength, or the collective strength and ideas of those around you, to try to figure out what can be done to stop (or at least reduce the chance) this from happening again.
Those people might even say, "Yes, pray!" but that along with prayers we need more and tougher laws - as if laws ever really stopped evil. Heck, even those of us who believe in God recognize that despite the fact that Moses received the Ten Commandments straight from God, and a whole book of laws was written with some pretty horrible punishments for those who violated those laws, those laws were probably being broken before the next morning's camp fires were put out to start the days' march.
So what do we do in the face of such evil?
Those of us who believe, turn to God.
Those who don't believe point to horrible evil like the shooting in a church in Texas and say, "See? Prayer doesn't work. There is no God to protect the innocent."
But those people don't understand how prayer works. Heck, I'm a Christian who has read the Bible and attempted to follow the teachings of God my whole life, and I can't say I fully understand how prayer works. I mean, if God is unchangeable, how can prayer change things? Yet we're commanded to pray, and told to ask for things that defy the logic of whatever situation we're concerned about. We're told that somehow, someway, our actions and our faith here on earth affect things in Heaven. Even Jesus, at one point, said he was limited in his earthly ministry by a lack of faith (Mark 6:5 - "because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them...")
Prayer is not a magic phrase that gives us what we desire and protects us from all harm. I can pray for things that are, ultimately, bad for me or my community and God in His wisdom won't grant my request. I can pray for things that are outside the will of God and God is under no obligation to even consider my prayer, as heartfelt as it might be. I can pray for what seems perfectly right and reasonable for my own situation, but I don't have knowledge of the bigger picture (think of the first chapter of the story of Job).
My prayer is to be aligned with God's will. Can I change God's will? There is certainly evidence in the Bible that suggest when people pray, God can decide to not do something He was thinking of doing, or put off doing something to give the people time to repent and get it right.
At the very least, my faith commands that I pick up my figurative cross and keep moving forward, and prayer is a way to both focus on God in the midst of everything that happens and, yes, to ask for supernatural courage and strength and wisdom to do the right thing when it seems impossible.
And the crazy thing is, sometimes we see the impossible accomplished, we see logic defied.
Other times the outcome doesn't change to reflect the way we wanted it to be, but we come to accept it because we do believe in a sovereign God who has the whole world in His hands, whose Will will be accomplished, and we believe that His Will is perfect, beyond our understanding. We've seen over and over that horror quite often gives way to salvation, that suffering has led to improving the lives of thousands, if not millions. As the Bible says in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
The simple truth is that neither those of us who pray and those of us who demand more laws really have a human answer for stopping evil. It has existed since just after the world began. For all of our knowledge and advancements and enlightenment, we still haven't figured out how to stop famous actors from sexually assaulting young men, or teachers from taking advantage of students, or angry people from killing those who make them angry, or dictators from eliminating millions who oppose them, or people engaging in activities associated with expressions of love that result in disease and death, or someone from simply walking into a Dollar General and taking something without paying for just to see if they can, or ... you can fill in the seemingly endless blanks of evil actions, big and small, that we witness every day.
More and more, I realize that while not everyone believes in God, if we lived the way we're told to live in the Bible - care for one another, encourage the timid and weak, be careful how we eat, work, have sex with only one person for your entire life, care for the environment, don't tell lies, don't build monuments to people or things that are man-made, be content - we could eliminate almost all the problems and many of the diseases that have the potential to make our lives so tragic. It really does sound like the way man was meant to live.
Of course, we don't do those things because we want what we want and believe its "not fair" that I should deny myself those things I desire.
Teaching people "right" and "wrong" and writing laws to prohibit behavior we find unacceptable, while at the same time encouraging people to "be who you are" and "do what you want" and to not let society define you, is a contradiction. It just doesn't work. How can society tell you to "be who you are" and then turn around and condemn you and demand you change because it now deems your behavior to be offensive? I'm not saying we shouldn't teach and talk and write laws and hold people to standards, but its clear that those actions are basically bandaids on a bigger problem.
Then you get into prayer. God changes lives by changing hearts. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I've experienced it. And you can explain it however you want, but those explanations are usually after the fact. To the person who has been changed, they know - they know - something miraculous took place, something unexplainable, something beyond the norm.
So in the face of evil like we're witnessing every day - we pray. We pray for forgiveness, for humility, for love, and for change; real change that must start with me, but powered by God's grace and mercy and power and love because, quite frankly, it's hard for me to change. Sometimes it's hard for me to fully understand why I even need to change.
So we pray for wisdom, and guidance, and courage.
How else can we know what action we are called to take?
Whenever there is a tragedy, like the recent mass shooting in the church in Texas, we see immediate responses from people who want to express their concern and use the phrase "thoughts and prayers." And the last few times events like this has happened, the response from a large section of the country has been to make fun of or belittle the concept of "thoughts and prayers." As one national Democrat said, "Prayers are for pastors and priests; we need action!" And even some in the faith community like to throw out that prayer is not enough, using the verse in James that says, "Faith without action is worthless" (my translation; the most common translation is "so faith without works is dead also," from James 2:26). They say "Prayer alone isn't doing enough."
I admit the phrase "thoughts and prayers" is a bit of a cliché. It's what you say when you don't know what else to say, like saying "I'm sorry for your loss" at a funeral. You want to say something to express your sympathy and emotional distress over what has happened, while at the same time showing some measure of compassion for the survivors. So we've reduced it to the phrase "thoughts and prayers" (I think the "thoughts" part is simply added in so as not to offend those who might not believe in "prayers.")
Yet what else can most of us do in the face of horror, tragedy, and pure evil?
If you believe there is a God, and you believe that God is in control, then you pray.
If you don't believe in God, then you rely on your own strength, or the collective strength and ideas of those around you, to try to figure out what can be done to stop (or at least reduce the chance) this from happening again.
Those people might even say, "Yes, pray!" but that along with prayers we need more and tougher laws - as if laws ever really stopped evil. Heck, even those of us who believe in God recognize that despite the fact that Moses received the Ten Commandments straight from God, and a whole book of laws was written with some pretty horrible punishments for those who violated those laws, those laws were probably being broken before the next morning's camp fires were put out to start the days' march.
So what do we do in the face of such evil?
Those of us who believe, turn to God.
Those who don't believe point to horrible evil like the shooting in a church in Texas and say, "See? Prayer doesn't work. There is no God to protect the innocent."
But those people don't understand how prayer works. Heck, I'm a Christian who has read the Bible and attempted to follow the teachings of God my whole life, and I can't say I fully understand how prayer works. I mean, if God is unchangeable, how can prayer change things? Yet we're commanded to pray, and told to ask for things that defy the logic of whatever situation we're concerned about. We're told that somehow, someway, our actions and our faith here on earth affect things in Heaven. Even Jesus, at one point, said he was limited in his earthly ministry by a lack of faith (Mark 6:5 - "because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them...")
Prayer is not a magic phrase that gives us what we desire and protects us from all harm. I can pray for things that are, ultimately, bad for me or my community and God in His wisdom won't grant my request. I can pray for things that are outside the will of God and God is under no obligation to even consider my prayer, as heartfelt as it might be. I can pray for what seems perfectly right and reasonable for my own situation, but I don't have knowledge of the bigger picture (think of the first chapter of the story of Job).
My prayer is to be aligned with God's will. Can I change God's will? There is certainly evidence in the Bible that suggest when people pray, God can decide to not do something He was thinking of doing, or put off doing something to give the people time to repent and get it right.
At the very least, my faith commands that I pick up my figurative cross and keep moving forward, and prayer is a way to both focus on God in the midst of everything that happens and, yes, to ask for supernatural courage and strength and wisdom to do the right thing when it seems impossible.
And the crazy thing is, sometimes we see the impossible accomplished, we see logic defied.
Other times the outcome doesn't change to reflect the way we wanted it to be, but we come to accept it because we do believe in a sovereign God who has the whole world in His hands, whose Will will be accomplished, and we believe that His Will is perfect, beyond our understanding. We've seen over and over that horror quite often gives way to salvation, that suffering has led to improving the lives of thousands, if not millions. As the Bible says in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
The simple truth is that neither those of us who pray and those of us who demand more laws really have a human answer for stopping evil. It has existed since just after the world began. For all of our knowledge and advancements and enlightenment, we still haven't figured out how to stop famous actors from sexually assaulting young men, or teachers from taking advantage of students, or angry people from killing those who make them angry, or dictators from eliminating millions who oppose them, or people engaging in activities associated with expressions of love that result in disease and death, or someone from simply walking into a Dollar General and taking something without paying for just to see if they can, or ... you can fill in the seemingly endless blanks of evil actions, big and small, that we witness every day.
More and more, I realize that while not everyone believes in God, if we lived the way we're told to live in the Bible - care for one another, encourage the timid and weak, be careful how we eat, work, have sex with only one person for your entire life, care for the environment, don't tell lies, don't build monuments to people or things that are man-made, be content - we could eliminate almost all the problems and many of the diseases that have the potential to make our lives so tragic. It really does sound like the way man was meant to live.
Of course, we don't do those things because we want what we want and believe its "not fair" that I should deny myself those things I desire.
Teaching people "right" and "wrong" and writing laws to prohibit behavior we find unacceptable, while at the same time encouraging people to "be who you are" and "do what you want" and to not let society define you, is a contradiction. It just doesn't work. How can society tell you to "be who you are" and then turn around and condemn you and demand you change because it now deems your behavior to be offensive? I'm not saying we shouldn't teach and talk and write laws and hold people to standards, but its clear that those actions are basically bandaids on a bigger problem.
Then you get into prayer. God changes lives by changing hearts. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I've experienced it. And you can explain it however you want, but those explanations are usually after the fact. To the person who has been changed, they know - they know - something miraculous took place, something unexplainable, something beyond the norm.
So in the face of evil like we're witnessing every day - we pray. We pray for forgiveness, for humility, for love, and for change; real change that must start with me, but powered by God's grace and mercy and power and love because, quite frankly, it's hard for me to change. Sometimes it's hard for me to fully understand why I even need to change.
So we pray for wisdom, and guidance, and courage.
How else can we know what action we are called to take?
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Little things might keep you from a big fail
There is an old saying that has been attributed to any number of coaches and athletes, and quite frankly I'm not sure who said it first.
It goes, "Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect."
The internet credits former NFL coach Vince Lombardi with that statement, which could be correct. Because what good is practice if you aren't practicing the right things? What good is learning to defend an option team if the team you're facing is a four wide-receiver, empty backfield passing team? What good is it to practice to beat a zone defense if all you're going to face is man-to-man?
What good is it to practice the piano if you're getting ready to be tested on car repair? Or to become perfect at changing light bulbs when its' the toilet that needs fixing?
In other words, Practice makes perfect - but what you practice needs to be perfect as well, because we're very good at practicing things that ultimately don't matter, since practicing the things that make us better is usually more difficult.
Then there is the rejoinder that goes, "Practice makes perfect. Nobody is perfect. So why practice?" I'm not sure who said that, but it could have been the legendary NBA star Allen Iverson, in an epic rant that went like this:
"Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play - you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got? - but we're talking about practice right now. ... Hey I hear you, it's funny to me too, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice ... How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?"
Iverson has nothing to do with the topic I want to address. But sometimes I get caught up in stream of consciousness.
The point is, you've heard all those phrases: practice makes perfect. It's the little things that matter most. It's what you do when no one is looking that defines who you really are.
Sure, it's what I like to refer to as "wall poster philosophy,'' but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
As a kid, I had one of those old "Bible Story Books,'' that I used to read religiously ("religiously" - get it?). There were several stories that I loved more than the others: Samson, David, Solomon, and the one about Elijah backing down the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
And if you were looking for a sports blog, I'm going to disappoint you.
The part about Solomon I was fascinated by was when God offered Solomon anything in the world, and Solomon asked for wisdom. That really stuck with me over the years, and I have regularly prayed for wisdom - for me, for my wife, for my children. I'm not saying I'm particularly wise, but I hate to think how much more stupid I might be if I hadn't prayed for wisdom all those years.
But there are two aspects of the stories of both Solomon and Samson that apply to the "practice makes perfect" or "it's the little things that matter most" quotes.
Both were given three very specific guidelines to follow, in return for which God promised favor.
Both violated all three, at different times, and found their lives taking a very disappointing turn.
For Solomon, it was what I call "big picture" stuff. He was told, quite simply, that as king he "must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.(Dueteronomy 17:16,17). You've probably heard sermons on this, how horses, wives, and wealth equate to the three "P's": power, pleasure, and possessions.
And we know what Solomon, credited with being the wisest man who ever lived, did.
He collected horses: "Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 1:14 - and other references).
He collected wives: "And he (Solomon) had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." 1 Kings 11:3
He collected possessions: "Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold." 2 Chronicles 9:13.
And the end result, as it says in I Kings, "his wives turned away his heart." I don't blame it all on his wives; his power and possessions had something to do with Solomon ending his life sounding bitter and disappointed.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2 ... "Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Ecclesiastes 2:17
Samson's life is far simpler. He was, after all, more muscle than brain. He wasn't a leader, he was a fighter. He was apparently the only child of doting parents who were older and saw Samson as an answer to prayer; Judges 13 says a messenger from God visited Samson's parents and said, "You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
What did it mean to be a Nazirite? According to Numbers 6: "They must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long. Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body. ..."
But before you know it, young Samson gets smitten by a woman who is not of his faith and insists his parents arrange his marriage. On his way to see her, Samson takes a shortcut through a vineyard (which is where wine and vinegar comes from; some traditions say a Nazirite was not to even touch grapes or raisins). He is attacked by a lion, which he kills, and on his return trip through the same vineyard he goes to mess with the dead body of the lion, reaches inside to get some honey and eats - apparently taking very lightly the command not to go near a dead body and certainly eats something that would be considered unclean. So is it any wonder that, eventually, he gives up the secret of his hair and allows Delilah to cut it all off, completing his disregard for his vows?
Little things. A short cut through a vineyard; eating honey that happens to be caught in the carcass of a dead animal; revealing the secret of his strength to a woman who has already tried to trap him before. A king who accumulates horses, possibly even horses that were gifts; a king who accumulates wives, possibly even when those wives were just about political alliances and a way to show respect for his peers; a king who accumulates wealth, even when he may not have asked for that wealth but it was offered as tribute, recognition for his great wisdom and power.
I can make excuses for all of both Samson and Solomon's errors in judgment.
But how much better would it have been for both men if, when faced with their biggest challenges, they'd laid the foundation of practicing the little things all along? Would it have been that much further for Samson to go around the vineyard (and avoid the attack by the lion)? For Solomon to say, "Thank you for your offer of a horse, woman, or gold, but I have all I need?"
I can look at my own life and see all kinds of compromises I have made, excuses for actions that I knew weren't exactly right, but not really wrong. And yet because I was willing to compromise in the so-called little things, it made it that much easier for the compromises to get bigger and bigger as time - and life - went on.
Of course, the world would have us believe it's no big deal. The world would have us believe sometimes its OK to lie - until, as a recent scandal proved, a whole bunch of men get exposed for joining a website that suggested it was OK to have an affair.
Isaiah 30 says, "this is a rebel generation, a people who lie, a people unwilling to listen to anything God tells them. They tell their spiritual leaders, “Don’t bother us with irrelevancies.” They tell their preachers, “Don’t waste our time on impracticalities. Tell us what makes us feel better. Don’t bore us with obsolete religion. That stuff means nothing to us ..." (from The Message).
The end of Romans 1 warns, "Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (italics added by me).
Too many people don't want to hear the truth. Many of them not only don't want to hear the truth, they want to celebrate and approve those who tell the best lies, who live without an restraint.
But I think most of us, deep down, know there is truth, and that continually seeking out our own pleasure leads to an inability to find happiness, because it takes more and more to achieve that increasingly fleeting sense of satisfaction.
It's almost a cliche, but so many people end up like Solomon, who at the end of his life wrote, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
So let's try to "keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25).
It may seem like a little thing, in the big scheme of life.
But sometimes the little things are the hardest to do consistently, because its so easy to start taking them for granted. "Of course I won't do that,'' we say. "I've got that one; I'm going to go work on the big things."
Oswald Chambers said, "An unguarded strength is a double weakness."
Never take a strength for granted. Never fail to work on the little things.
It just might keep you from a big fail.
It goes, "Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect."
The internet credits former NFL coach Vince Lombardi with that statement, which could be correct. Because what good is practice if you aren't practicing the right things? What good is learning to defend an option team if the team you're facing is a four wide-receiver, empty backfield passing team? What good is it to practice to beat a zone defense if all you're going to face is man-to-man?
What good is it to practice the piano if you're getting ready to be tested on car repair? Or to become perfect at changing light bulbs when its' the toilet that needs fixing?
In other words, Practice makes perfect - but what you practice needs to be perfect as well, because we're very good at practicing things that ultimately don't matter, since practicing the things that make us better is usually more difficult.
Then there is the rejoinder that goes, "Practice makes perfect. Nobody is perfect. So why practice?" I'm not sure who said that, but it could have been the legendary NBA star Allen Iverson, in an epic rant that went like this:
"Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play - you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got? - but we're talking about practice right now. ... Hey I hear you, it's funny to me too, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice ... How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?"
Iverson has nothing to do with the topic I want to address. But sometimes I get caught up in stream of consciousness.
The point is, you've heard all those phrases: practice makes perfect. It's the little things that matter most. It's what you do when no one is looking that defines who you really are.
Sure, it's what I like to refer to as "wall poster philosophy,'' but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
As a kid, I had one of those old "Bible Story Books,'' that I used to read religiously ("religiously" - get it?). There were several stories that I loved more than the others: Samson, David, Solomon, and the one about Elijah backing down the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
And if you were looking for a sports blog, I'm going to disappoint you.
The part about Solomon I was fascinated by was when God offered Solomon anything in the world, and Solomon asked for wisdom. That really stuck with me over the years, and I have regularly prayed for wisdom - for me, for my wife, for my children. I'm not saying I'm particularly wise, but I hate to think how much more stupid I might be if I hadn't prayed for wisdom all those years.
But there are two aspects of the stories of both Solomon and Samson that apply to the "practice makes perfect" or "it's the little things that matter most" quotes.
Both were given three very specific guidelines to follow, in return for which God promised favor.
Both violated all three, at different times, and found their lives taking a very disappointing turn.
For Solomon, it was what I call "big picture" stuff. He was told, quite simply, that as king he "must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.(Dueteronomy 17:16,17). You've probably heard sermons on this, how horses, wives, and wealth equate to the three "P's": power, pleasure, and possessions.
And we know what Solomon, credited with being the wisest man who ever lived, did.
He collected horses: "Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 1:14 - and other references).
He collected wives: "And he (Solomon) had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." 1 Kings 11:3
He collected possessions: "Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold." 2 Chronicles 9:13.
And the end result, as it says in I Kings, "his wives turned away his heart." I don't blame it all on his wives; his power and possessions had something to do with Solomon ending his life sounding bitter and disappointed.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2 ... "Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Ecclesiastes 2:17
Samson's life is far simpler. He was, after all, more muscle than brain. He wasn't a leader, he was a fighter. He was apparently the only child of doting parents who were older and saw Samson as an answer to prayer; Judges 13 says a messenger from God visited Samson's parents and said, "You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
What did it mean to be a Nazirite? According to Numbers 6: "They must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long. Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body. ..."
But before you know it, young Samson gets smitten by a woman who is not of his faith and insists his parents arrange his marriage. On his way to see her, Samson takes a shortcut through a vineyard (which is where wine and vinegar comes from; some traditions say a Nazirite was not to even touch grapes or raisins). He is attacked by a lion, which he kills, and on his return trip through the same vineyard he goes to mess with the dead body of the lion, reaches inside to get some honey and eats - apparently taking very lightly the command not to go near a dead body and certainly eats something that would be considered unclean. So is it any wonder that, eventually, he gives up the secret of his hair and allows Delilah to cut it all off, completing his disregard for his vows?
Little things. A short cut through a vineyard; eating honey that happens to be caught in the carcass of a dead animal; revealing the secret of his strength to a woman who has already tried to trap him before. A king who accumulates horses, possibly even horses that were gifts; a king who accumulates wives, possibly even when those wives were just about political alliances and a way to show respect for his peers; a king who accumulates wealth, even when he may not have asked for that wealth but it was offered as tribute, recognition for his great wisdom and power.
I can make excuses for all of both Samson and Solomon's errors in judgment.
But how much better would it have been for both men if, when faced with their biggest challenges, they'd laid the foundation of practicing the little things all along? Would it have been that much further for Samson to go around the vineyard (and avoid the attack by the lion)? For Solomon to say, "Thank you for your offer of a horse, woman, or gold, but I have all I need?"
I can look at my own life and see all kinds of compromises I have made, excuses for actions that I knew weren't exactly right, but not really wrong. And yet because I was willing to compromise in the so-called little things, it made it that much easier for the compromises to get bigger and bigger as time - and life - went on.
Of course, the world would have us believe it's no big deal. The world would have us believe sometimes its OK to lie - until, as a recent scandal proved, a whole bunch of men get exposed for joining a website that suggested it was OK to have an affair.
Isaiah 30 says, "this is a rebel generation, a people who lie, a people unwilling to listen to anything God tells them. They tell their spiritual leaders, “Don’t bother us with irrelevancies.” They tell their preachers, “Don’t waste our time on impracticalities. Tell us what makes us feel better. Don’t bore us with obsolete religion. That stuff means nothing to us ..." (from The Message).
The end of Romans 1 warns, "Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (italics added by me).
Too many people don't want to hear the truth. Many of them not only don't want to hear the truth, they want to celebrate and approve those who tell the best lies, who live without an restraint.
But I think most of us, deep down, know there is truth, and that continually seeking out our own pleasure leads to an inability to find happiness, because it takes more and more to achieve that increasingly fleeting sense of satisfaction.
It's almost a cliche, but so many people end up like Solomon, who at the end of his life wrote, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
So let's try to "keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25).
It may seem like a little thing, in the big scheme of life.
But sometimes the little things are the hardest to do consistently, because its so easy to start taking them for granted. "Of course I won't do that,'' we say. "I've got that one; I'm going to go work on the big things."
Oswald Chambers said, "An unguarded strength is a double weakness."
Never take a strength for granted. Never fail to work on the little things.
It just might keep you from a big fail.
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