How Do We Make Decisions?

As I was returning from lunch this afternoon, I was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show.  A gentleman called in with his dilemma.  He basically admitted that he had lived in the casinos for a number of years, but that he left that scene about 2 years ago.  While he said he had made a substantial amount of money gambling in the casinos, he basically implied that his lifestyle was turning into an addiction.  Clearly, I commend the man for being willing to leave the casinos, even when he was making quite a profit off of them.

But the man's story was not finished there.  He explained that he has learned many of this gambling ways from his father.  Apparently, his father had not fared so well at the gambling tables.  He explained that his dad had a $225,000 mortgage, but that because he was so far in gambling debt that he would not be able to make good on the repayment of the loan.  So, the father set a proposal before his son.  He said he would give his son what little bit of money he had left if his son would go and turn it into a profit at the casinos.  The bottom line is that the son was calling Dave Ramsey because he had mixed emotions about returning to the casinos, but he didn't want to see his father lose his home either.

What kind of advice would you give to the young man if you were in Dave Ramsey's shoes?  I can tell you what Mr. Ramsey said.  He told the young man to tell his father:  "I'm sorry Dad.  I can't go back to the casinos to help you.  I'm not going to give an alcohol his next drink."  That's pretty good advice, and I suspect Mr. Ramsey's opinion has something to do with the fact that he professes to be a born-again Christian.

But still I'd like to know, what would you have counseled the young man to do?  We can understand why the son might have mixed emotions about going back to the casinos, but would it really be all that wrong for the young man to go back so he can help his struggling father?  Some would argue that returning to the casinos would really be the best thing for the young man to do if he really loves his dad.

Every day decisions like this have to be made.  When the moment of decision comes, I wonder how you and I make decisions.  Or how do we decide what kind of counsel to give when others have decisions like this that must be made.  I sincerely hope that we are turning to the Word of God when these issues of life need to be determined. 

If I were counseling this young man, I would have to tell him that returning to the casinos (or to any form of gambling) is not the answer.  Why?  Because God's Word condemns gambling.  Not only did he rebuke Israel for sitting at the "tables of chance" (Isa. 65:11), but gambling flies in the face of everything God has said about the making and mastering of money.  To gamble is to sin, and clearly we would not want to counsel anyone to walk in the paths of sin - no matter how well-intentioned they might be.

So what of the father who stands to lose his home?  I would encourage the son to talk to his dad to see if he has any assets that can be sold to help meet the debts.  If not, I would encourage the son to help his father secure an honest job that would help him in paying his debts.  If the father were not capable of working due to handicap or disability, I would encourage the son to do all he can to help provide for some of his father's bills.  But under no circumstances would I counsel the son (or the father) to go back to gambling.

But you say, "The father could lose his home."  That's true, but such are the consequences of a life of sin sometimes.  We can't just expect to live in a way that is contradictory to God and then not have to suffer the consequences along the way.  And remember, the Bible says "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble" (Prov. 15:16).  And again, "Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich" (Prov. 28:6).

So I hope you and I will consider how we make our decisions.  As Christians, I'm convinced that biblical ignorance is not always our problem.  Many times we know what God's Word says - we just don't always want to do it. When the decisions of life must be made in our own life and in the lives of others, I hope we'll be found turning to God's Word.  God's path is not always the easiest one, but it is always best!

"Preacher, Does This Church Belong to You?"

That's definitely my favorite question I've been asked at VBS this year.  Hanging with the kids is always so much fun.  They're full of questions, and almost always they are very sincere and innocent when they ask them.  God gave me quick grace to answer the little girl's question.  I responded, "No honey, this church belongs to Jesus."

But a little later, I started thinking about my answer to the little girl's question.  Did I answer her honestly?  Can we genuinely say that this church belongs to Jesus?  Of course, the church does belong to our Savior.  He said in Matt. 16:18, "On this rock I will build MY church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."  No doubt - the church belongs to Jesus.

So then, I guess we've got to answer the question, "Is this group of people really a part of Christ's church?"  The church is the Body of Christ, and we know that we become a member of Christ's body at the very moment we place our faith in Him.  All that is pretty elementary stuff, but what we need to determine is if we're acting like we belong to Jesus.

I'm convinced that if we belong to Jesus, we'll start doing what He says.  So what did Christ tell us to do?  He instructed us to do many things, but the last marching orders He left us with were these:  "Go and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19).  The last thing Christ wanted His church to know before He left this earth for heaven was "go and make disciples."

So back to that little girl's question.  Does the church I pastor really belong to Jesus?  Does the church you attend really belong to Jesus?  There's a sure-fire way to find out.  How many disciples are we making?  How many unchurched people are we reaching?  God help us all to answer these questions and to make sure that our churches belong to Christ.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

My oldest son, Tanner, has become an avid reader.  Just this past year he read about 40 or 50 books for his school's AR program and finished at the top of his class.  I'll be honest - that's more books than I read in my entire K-12 experience.  I've become a much better reader since then, but I definitely got off to a slow start.  Tanner really got interested in the Percy Jackson series of books this past school year.  He read all five in the series and just completed "The Lost Hero" a couple of months ago.  Some of those books were hundreds of pages long with small font and no pictures.  His mother and I thank God for his new-found love of reading.

And yet we had an experience at Wal-Mart a few months back.  While perusing the book section of Mr. Walton's Supercenter, their was a book that immediately caught Tanner's attention.  I'll have to admit I was impressed as well.  It had a metallic cover with a Punisher-type skull on the front of it.  It was just the kind of book that a young boy would be attracted to.  Tanner asked if he could have it so I picked it up and read the back cover of the book.

After reading the back cover I turned to Tanner and said, "Trust me, you won't like this."  I can't remember now exactly what the plot of the book was, but I knew it wouldn't interest my son.  And yet he was smitten with the cover - he had to have the book.  Realizing I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it, I decided to buy him the book.  He was pumped about getting this shiny new book, but as he began to read it his enthusiasm turned into boredom.  Needless to say, the book couldn't deliver what the chrome cover seemed to promise.

We've all been guilty of judging a book by its cover, but of course it's not just books that we judge.  We're often guilty of judging other people based on their appearance.  I was reminded of this while reading the words of Paul today.  He asked the Corinthians:  "Do you look at things according to the outward appearance?" (2 Cor. 10:7).  If so, then Paul knew he was in trouble.  Apparently the Corinthians had already started judging him.  Some of them were saying, "his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible" (2 Cor. 10:10).

Paul was not the first person to suffer this kind of judgment.  Remember, if had been left to Samuel's discretion, Eliab (David's oldest brother) would've been anointed Israel's next king.  Samuel certainly wouldn't have anointed the ruddy young shepherd boy of Judah.  God had to teach Samuel an important lesson:  "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).

Were we alive when Jesus was still physically ministering on this earth, my guess is that none of us would've been drawn to His appearance either.  Concerning the coming Christ, the Bible said, "When we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa. 53:2).  The physical appearance of our Savior would've probably never drawn us to His saving power.  But of course, Jesus didn't draw men unto Himself through good looks.  Rather, we have all been drawn to our Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So I would remind us all of that old adage:  Don't judge a book by its cover.  Satan has placed a lot of shiny books on the shelves of this life.  But just a few pages into his story will show us that he can never deliver on what he's promised.  The Bible says that he's the father of lies (John 8:44).  Rather than picking up any number of his shiny volumes, I hope we'll all be compelled to pick up our Heavenly Father's book.  The Bible may not be the most attractive book on the shelf, but it is the only one that can offer its readers a well-spring of life.  When we allow the truth of its pages to saturate our lives, we'll never go looking for a refund.