Sometimes We Need Brainwashing

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Ephesians 4:23

Sometimes we need brainwashing. I’m not talking about the religious cult type of brainwashing, but a mind cleansing.

We live in a world where course talk, negativity, atheism and agnosticism seem to permeate the very air we breathe. The old days when Christian ethics was the solid background music of America is long gone. All those God friendly television shows,  and all the packed churches every sunday are a thing of the past. God was once welcome in America, but the door has been increasingly closing on Him.

I would like to say that we Christians are changing the culture around us, as once was the case. But too often we are drowned out, or worse, affected by the ungodly noise surrounding us.

I find myself at times with an ugly thought in my mind or garbage coming out of my mouth and wonder where that nonsense came from. Then I’ll remember a show I let in under my radar where they said something ugly and realize I shouldn’t be surprised. Garbage In–Garbage Out.

Even if you are trying to watch a decent show on television a commercial will pop up that is at best borderline soft porn or ugly sexual innuendo. Things once not tolerated by American culture are now celebrated. I said about ten years or so ago The day will come in five to ten years when Christians will no longer be able to watch TV. We have been there for a while now. It is a struggle to find anything fit to watch and still you may get unpleasant surprises from the commercials. Back in the early 1980s we used to smile and sort of laugh to ourselves about the funny Christians who would not even allow a TV in their home. I’m not laughing now.

It is not just video and television that is a problem though. Thanks to the Internet and the anonymity it can offer people seem to have lost all civility. And that has washed over into the general culture. Online people are not treated as human beings but faceless nothings. Off line unless you fully agree with the crowd you are in you may find yourself scorned and “canceled”. Politics is the new religion and it is a team sport that can get you into family feuds and broken relationships quickly.  All this junk is in the air our minds drink in on a daily basis.

But as Christians we can cleanse our minds with prayer and the Word of God.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

We need a steady stream of good things pouring into our brains. Good music, good books, those old shows that actually had Christian Virtues in them. And of course the Word of God. Along with these things we can spend time with people who are positive and not dropping F-Bombs every other word they speak. And we need to monitor our own attitudes and language. For we also struggle with letting our lights shine rather than just reflecting the poor image of the worst things in this world.

Each day is an opportunity to reflect God’s goodness and love to a dark world. Let’s just be sure that we are so filled with God that the filth of this world cannot cling to us.

Prayer: Dear Lord, You told us the world would not get better, and we should not be surprised when we see that coming to pass. But you also said we are light and salt on this earth. Help us to keep our flavor and our light shining as You are reflected in our lives. Amen.

Only Immortal For A Limited Time

 We Are Only Immortal For A Limited Time

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. Luke 12:8

The band Rush has a song called “Dreamline” with lyrics that have become stuck in my mind: 

Learning that we’re only immortal for a limited time.

When we were kids we thought we were unbreakable. That we would live forever. We all wanted to be like the daredevil Evel Knievel. He would use a motorcycle to jump over increasingly more dangerous obstacles. Long rows of cars, buses, even Snake River Canyon, though the latter in a rocket ship. He broke numerous bones, put his life in danger over and over again. It seemed that he was immortal. And we thought the same about ourselves. Flying at full speed on our bikes up homemade ramps, going airborne, and by some miracle not breaking our necks.

When we became teenagers we were no wiser, still thinking we were immortal. I remember my friend driving us in a Chevy van at ninety miles per hour off of the top of Children’s Home Road and doing a “Dukes of Hazzard” with wheels off the ground as if the van had wings and could fly. And again, as I was just shy of twenty years old I remember my friend Bob and I racing side by side at top speed as if we were drag racers flying down County Road 25A at breakneck speed. We were young and stupid and considered ourselves immortal.

Not everyone is so “young and dumb” as my friends and I. Yet I think many people live their lives thinking they will somehow cheat death, or that it is so far removed as to leave them alone. I remember once walking through a local cemetery looking at the gravestones in shock at the age of so many who had died in their youth.

At sixty years old I know for a fact that Rush was right, at least as far as this life is concerned. We are only “immortal” for a limited time here. If you have had dangerous bouts with your health, or have had many loved ones die, your mortality quickly becomes real.

I truly believe we are to live and enjoy our lives without fear and dread of death. Yet we are also to be wise and understand that tomorrow is not promised to us. For the Christian we truly have no need to fear death because we know we have a better home and better things ahead in a very real immortality with Jesus.

Nevertheless, even Christians, including myself, can get caught up in this life and absorbed by the minutia of it. We can let things, experiences, and events, people, places, accomplishments make us blind. We can begin to think like those young foolish stunt devils that we have many years to go and death so far removed as to be not worth considering. It is ironic to me at sixty, realizing it will be a miracle if I make it another decade or two, to meet people in their late seventies and eighties acting as if they have all the time in the world. We must remember that we are only immortal for a limited time, and the clock is running down fast.

My hope in what I share here is not to fix your mind on grim death, but to consider, keep in mind that time is short, how we live and behave matters. And most importantly, where you will live out your true immortality is the greatest and most relevant question you will ever consider. Make that decision soon. Graveyards are filled with people who quickly understood the limits of their mortality.

Prayer: Dear Lord, the clock is ticking for us all. Help us to look at where we will go when our life is at its end, and who will be awaiting us when we get there. Thank You for the gift of immortality through Your shed blood on a Cross for us. Amen.

Present With The Lord

 

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8 

 

An old English poet once said that every death diminishes us a little. I believe that is true. Contrary to the common saying that “Death is a natural part of life” I refuse to believe that. From the time I was a child and at my earliest funerals there seemed nothing natural to me about death. If you have ever seen a human or animal body in rigor mortis you can’t tell me that is natural. The body itself seems torn and twisted by the death event. 

 

Death was never God’s original purpose for us. Sin brought death into the world, and the Lord moved heaven and earth to defeat death by sending His own Son to die upon a Cross to Destroy Death and the Grave. 

 

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 

 

And: 

 

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:18 

 

Nevertheless, this earth is still awaiting the revelation of our full redemption. Our spirit is saved and will be present with Jesus at our death for those who are believers. And one day Jesus will return to this earth and make all things new–a world without death and decay. There is a verse that speaks of nature or the present created universe waiting expectantly for our full redemption. 

 

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:19-21 

 

Years ago I saw a show where a little boy described his afterlife experience. He was pronounced dead for a certain extent of time and he described what he saw in heaven. He said while he was in heaven he was surrounded by puppies frolicking all around him. What a beautiful experience that little boy had. 

 

This past friday night our little dog of over 12 years old passed away peacefully in my wife’s lap. I could not swear to you that dogs go to heaven or have some sort of afterlife, but I would not be surprised by it. How wonderful it would be along with seeing old family friends and relatives who have passed on to also see our beloved pets that were our loyal friends. I certainly hope so. 

 

What I do know is that God is Good. He has blessings in store for us on the other side that are beyond our imaginations. There is life beyond this life for those who put their trust in Jesus as their Savior. Our present body must die because it has been a part of this diseased and decaying world afflicted by sin. 

 

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10 

 

Yet we have a new body awaiting us on the other side of this life. 

 

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1 

 

We were not made for death. We were made to be God’s companions for eternity. We need not fear death when we have put our trust in Jesus for He has already conquered death for us. And the great hope of every Christian is that when our time comes to leave this earthly body we will be present with Jesus forever. 

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, death can be shocking and drive us to fear. Yet help us to always remember that You have conquered death and the grave and we need never live in fear or dread of them thanks to You! To live with Your presence in us is wonderful, but to die and see You face to face will be glorious! Amen.