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Fine Prints: December,
2009
When the Blessing Is Also the
Curse--1
December 5 When the Blessing Is
Also the Curse--2
December 12 Getting Our Just
Deserts
December 19 The Road to Nowhere
December 26
When the Blessing Is Also
the Curse--1
I’m sure I’ve addressed this theme already. Maybe
even hammered it. And I know with absolute certainty that I’ve used the
illustration I’m about to reuse. But it’s biblical to be a little
repetitive. Reminders are legitimate. Crucial, in fact.
Jesus said that "the Counselor, the
Holy Spirit, . . . will teach you all things and will remind you
of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26). The Apostle Paul said,
"I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind
you of them again . . ." (Romans 15:15). Paul also said: "I want to
remind you of the gospel I preached to you . . ." (1 Corinthians
15:1).
In 2 Peter 1:12 we read: "So I will
always remind you of these things, even though you know them and
are firmly established in the truth . . . ." In fact, both biblical
books bearing Peter’s name are said to be "reminders to stimulate
you to wholesome thinking" (2 Peter 3:1, all foregoing emphases mine).
And I could cite quite a few more biblical "reminders."
So I’m not repeating myself because
of mere forgetfulness.
Anyway, the point I wish to highlight
here is that many times in life our greatest blessing can also be our
greatest curse. And, ironically, our (seemingly) greatest curse can at
times be our greatest blessing.
In my case, I have a form of
attention-deficit disorder. While I’m glad the pilots of that plane that
missed Minneapolis a few weeks ago lost their right to fly commercial
passenger aircraft, I really can relate to them. Their behavior is right
down my alley. I get so engrossed in what I’m doing that I shut out the
world.
A couple of years ago––give or take,
because I don’t pay close attention––I was sitting at my computer
typing. I was getting hungry. Seeing a half-empty bag of potato chips
(probably open for a week) sitting on the floor, I reached down and
absent-mindedly began to munch and crunch, all the while keeping my eyes
fixed on the riveting words I was putting onto the screen in front of
me.
As the minutes ticked by, way off the
in recesses of my mind I noted that the potato chips seemed a little
"woody"––as if there were extremely small flecks of wood mixed in with
the chips. But the realization wasn’t sufficiently at the forefront of
my mind to grab my attention. What I was writing was, as I said,
riveting! (To me, at least.)
After a few more minutes, I suddenly
had the sensation that my lips were stinging. When my focus was
eventually wrested from the screen, I realized that my lips not only
stung, they were swollen. So was my tongue. At which point I looked at
the potato chips in my hand and saw that they were swarming with little
red ants! Close relatives, no doubt, of the ones I’d just eaten––and
who’d tried to eat me on their way down!
Had I been a little more focused
right now on the immutable word limit of a Fine Print instead of on my
story,
I might have made my point already.
Since I wasn’t so focused, please tune in again next week for the
conclusion.
Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor
 
When the Blessing Is Also the Curse--2
Last week I described a blessing and/or curse with
which I’m shackled. It’s a form of Attention Deficit Disorder in which I
become so totally focused on one thing that I basically zone out
everything else.
I told how one evening while sitting
at my desk in my office at the church, I absent-mindedly picked up a bag
of already-opened potato chips that had been sitting on the floor for a
few days. Because I was so engrossed in what I was writing, and so
focused on my computer screen, I failed to realize that the potato chips
I was munching on were swarming with little red ants. Only when
my mouth and lips began to sting and swell from the ant bites did I tune
in!
I mentioned last week that, as
humans, our greatest blessing can often be our greatest curse. And the
reverse can be equally true.
My ability to zone out the whole
world is wonderful. It means I can sleep when others are kept awake. It
means I can study when others are climbing the wall from all the
commotion in the room. It means I used to be able to enjoy watching TV
while my kids were engaged in life-threatening battles.
(Lest the parents of the youth and
children of Markham Woods Church become overly concerned, let me assure
you that when I’m responsible for your children or youth, they’re
my single focus. When I’m in charge of your kids, my other
malady––Obsessive Compulsive Disorder––kicks in, and my Attention
Deficit Disorder takes a back seat! I just wanted you to know that so
you could breathe easier!)
Anyway, back to the blessing/curse
paradox. There are few good things in life that don’t potentially have a
flip side. Children who grow up in affluence have many more
opportunities than children of poverty. But the affluent child may be
disadvantaged by not developing self-reliance and industry.
Superior brain power means that
grades may come easily––so easily that when the challenges increase, the
person thus originally advantaged may become disadvantaged for never
having learned good study habits. The person with good looks when young
may be disadvantaged later in life because of never having developed a
pleasing personality, not really understanding early on that good looks
may someday fade.
The person who has lived a sheltered
life may not appreciate the grace of God as much as someone who has
spent years walking the wrong path and then has been rescued. On the
other hand, the person who has walked the wrong path for years may have
"scars" that forever impose limitations.
The person who’s born in a
technologically advanced country has the advantage of an array of
devices that make life easier and communication faster. But all that
gadgetry may produce a totally artificial life that’s incapable of
appreciating life’s simpler things.
And the list goes on.
The challenge for each of us is to
seek to learn from all circumstances. Whether he had much or little, the
Apostle Paul said, he’d learned how to be content. He’d learned that
even the seemingly negative things in life have their positive side.
Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor
Getting Our Just Deserts
As far back as I can remember, I’ve heard statements
such as: "All that human beings deserve is to be slaughtered." The
purpose of such flamboyant language is no doubt to remind us of our
great sinfulness and God’s amazing grace in not giving us what we may
feel we deserve. But I think such statements fall short when analyzed
carefully.
When we use the term "deserve," it
must be tied to some reference point, some standard. So by what standard
have we determined that all humans "deserve" to be slaughtered?
In a universe that was spoken into
existence by an amazingly powerful God, it would seem that God Himself
should be the Ultimate Reference Point on which to base our
understandings of "should" and "ought" and "deserve."
Granted that God hasn’t wiped
out all sinners—remember, God is the Ultimate Reference Point—it
would seem that in God’s system of values, not all humans "deserve"
slaughter. From His perspective, some "deserve" salvation—not because of
inherent goodness and perfect behavior but because of having
appropriately availed themselves of the divinely provided antidote for
the sin problem.
When God says that if I believe on
the One He has sent, and if I confess my sins and acknowledge my need, I
will be forgiven. Guaranteed. That’s how it works in God’s
system. When the conditions are met, I "deserve" salvation—not because
I’m perfect but because I’ve met the criteria that God Himself has
established.
To portray it otherwise would mean
that no person deserves salvation—not those ultimately lost, and not
those ultimately saved. To suggest that all any human "deserves" is to
be slaughtered implies that God isn’t playing by the rules—because He
doesn’t slaughter everyone.
The problem in the Garden of Eden was
that Adam and Eve made their thoughts and perceptions the
reference point, rather then allowing God to be the Ultimate Reference
Point. Similarly, if I make my own thoughts and perceptions the
reference point when talking about what is and isn’t "deserved," my
pronouncements will no doubt become strident.
But if I use God and His expressed
thoughts and actions as the Ultimate Reference Point, then the very fact
that He does or doesn’t do something means that by His standard
it’s the right thing to do. In other words, it’s "deserved" according to
His value system and His modus operandi, however foreign it might
seem to my way of thinking.
Some may feel that I’m playing word
games. I feel quite the opposite. I feel those who so adamantly declare
that "all that human beings deserve is to be slaughtered" are, in fact,
the ones playing word games. Not being capable of earning the
right to heaven is by no means the same as not "deserving"—according to
God’s standard—the salvation that God gives.
Clearly, God’s prerequisites for
salvation are a lot more gracious than what you or I might call for were
we in charge. But should we really be surprised? I mean, after all,
doesn’t the Bible says that God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s
thoughts are not our thoughts? The Christmas story seems to say just
that.
Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor
The Road to Nowhere
If memory serves me right, a bridge was proposed up
in Alaska a few years ago that generated a lot of political fallout. It
was dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere." As I understand it, the label wasn’t
quite correct. It did go somewhere. It’s just that mighty few people
actually went to that destination. So however beautiful a piece of
engineering it would have been, it wouldn’t have gotten much usage.
The other day as I was driving down
State Road 434 headed toward Interstate 4, the words suddenly popped
into my mind: "Road to Nowhere." Again, the label isn’t quite
correct. Because the cars on SR 434 do go somewhere––usually to I-4,
which isn’t the easiest highway to get on to. As I pondered "Road to
Nowhere" thoughts, I was struck by the possible before and after
pictures that could be taken of the SR 434 project.
The "before" picture would show two
lanes of traffic stretching well past Montgomery Road, with cars inching
along, bumper to bumper, as they try to get through the bottleneck onto
I-4. The "after" picture would show a beautiful, wide, new road with
cars six abreast, backed up less than half as far, inching along, bumper
to bumper, as they try to get through the bottleneck onto I-4.
Long and narrow will have been
exchanged for short and wide. But I haven’t figured out how we’re going
to get through the bottleneck onto I-4 any faster! From my limited
perspective, something seems to have been overlooked!
But don’t misunderstand, I’m not
knocking our local government. (Maybe the project is being made possible
by federal funds that would have gone to build some "Bridge to Nowhere"
if we hadn’t gotten our bid in first!) My real concern is of a more
spiritual nature.
You see, a lot of times we invest
time and energy, money and talent, in things that don’t yield the
spiritual result we want. Take buildings, for instance. Buildings
definitely help in carrying on a good church program. But buildings, in
and of themselves, don’t make a good church. Buildings merely make
certain activities possible. Buildings provide an ambiance. Buildings
make a first impression.
And programs don’t make a good
church, either. They bring people together, certainly. But if people are
cold and aloof and cantankerous, getting them together isn’t going to
build a spiritual community. Something else has to be present or any
newcomer isn’t likely to come back.
So what’s the ingredient that must be
present if buildings and programs are going to be effective? The Apostle
Paul says: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, . . . if I
have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, . . . if I have a faith that can move mountains, . . . if I
give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but
have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Or, to put it another way: If love
isn’t the driving force in my life, no matter how many good things I may
think I’m doing, I still may simply be headed down another Road to
Nowhere.
Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor
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