Goals for the New Year: Get Salty

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

At this point, you might be wondering about the encouragement in that verse. We are the salt, the flavor, the preservative that keeps things from spoiling, the spice that makes all taste better, when we are doing what Jesus called us to do. I love salt, probably more than anyone my age should, but I love it. The only thing that even comes close for taste value in my book is basil but I can’t imagine going to Maine and getting basil water taffy. Doesn’t really work the same, does it?

The scary part about that verse is the idea of losing our saltiness. That makes salt worthless. It can do thing for which it was intended, it brings no joy, it’s just worthless as dirt.

If you have been around a while you probably feel like you are not too salty. Life wears you down. Hurts dilute your sense of being. Injustice, upon injustice followed often by transparent, avoidable stupidity makes cynics of the best of us. You feel more bland or perhaps a bit peppery, but salty is not your overall sense of being. Life can feel like a very long episode of “Spiritual Survivor” where you just want to get to the end without getting voted out of the tribe. (Yes, theologically minded friends, I know that is not possible.) However, I have often felt the last years have been like some kind of extended hazing exercise and it has not done wonders for me. On the contrary, it’s made me less salty.

Today as I read this verse I found myself using Google for something other than flights and maps, my primary uses. I checked to see if salt can be made salty again. What I learned encourages us all. Yes, indeed, salt can regain its original flavor. In fact, salt never changes in it’s composition. It can be diluted, polluted, and hence rendered tasteless but it can also be purified, cleaned out and be every bit as effective as it once was. That process, of getting out the junk that perhaps through no fault of your own, got dumped in your salt pile, or that which diluted what was once an amazing taste, can indeed be removed, and all that was lost, restored. That is the gospel we believe, and no matter how downtrodden you have been, you remain salt. The question that remains is do you desire to be salty again?

We need not do self-repair. We are actually the people who don’t really believe in self-repair. We believe in God repair so we can ask for and be assured that He can and will, restore us in the coming year. So my friends, let’s get salty!

Fourth Quarter Faith: Set an Example for Your Family

“Getting older is not for cowards!” my father would say. As a Normandy vet, he was no one to mince words. We’re exhausted physically in ways we did not think possible. We break more easily in more ways than one. Shoulders, ribs, even teeth! (I never thought of a carrot as a threat until last year.)

We have pretty much had our fill of nonsense. Life is short. If you have not grown up by 65, you have very little time left to pull it off. Please act now! We have also had our fill of stupidity for its own sake. I had to get meds for retinal degeneration and the pharmacist has a dry sense of humor. I had finished a strange morning and said, “Do you also have a treatment for stupidity?”.

“If we did, we would be rich. But then we could also never keep up with the demand.”

I like him, he is a practical man.

As seniors we need to approach the end of our lives well. First, if you have made ghastly blunders, say so. If you cheated on your wife, broke the law, or skimmed on your taxes, honestly admit this to your children. (Also apologize to your wife, pay up on those taxes, and tell the kids what you learned from meeting a human judge.) First thing is, they probably already know, or sense it. Better they hear the truth from you. Few things are as gut wrenching as realizing after death that dad was not always by mom’s side like you thought, or good friends learning late in life they have half siblings. Fix things while you can. I honestly was not as close with mom as my dad. She was always a bit nervous and he was gregarious and outgoing. He died and I realized my mother was heroic and I didn’t realize the extent until after she passed at 93. (I love my father just as much, but would have been so much more understanding of why the dear woman was so nervous if I better realized what she was sacrificing for love of her family.)

I recall a divorced woman who received a call from her husband who ran off with his secretary, bought a red car and did the late midlife, leave the church meltdown. His kids were polite but knew who he was despite his talk slick explanations. When he got cancer, he called his first wife who said, “It’s too late for me and you, it is not too late for you and Jesus.”

He set things right with God, then he was honest with his children who had grown weary of his lavish story of his long held love for the secretary and how his first wife, who married him as an untried businessman, cleaned the house, raised the kids and stood by him till he was successful enough in his own eyes to walk out the door into moral failure. When he told the truth, he found the depth of his children’s love again. Truth really does set you free. That has never been revised nor revoked.

If you wish you had done things differently, fewer extravagances and greater sacrificial giving, tell your kids and at the same time start doing it. We’re going out of here in a box. Leave your children a legacy of love, and generosity. Let it “all on the field” as they say in football, for us “all for the field” might be more accurate. A spiritual legacy is far more precious than stocks and it cannot lose its value.

Distanced siblings are a tough one: often that might not be your choice. Try to keep the doors open as best you can. Once our parents are gone, our lives might diverge significantly due to factors beyond our control, but be sure to leave the door open. It’s a good example to your children.

In each quarter of any match, adjustments are made. In this final quarter of life, remember these adjustments determine the way you finish it all.

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It’s the Fourth Quarter: Not Half-Time (part one)

While this blog began for those in Bible College wrestling with things Bible College will not discuss, it has evolved as the original cast of readers are now pastors or church leaders themselves and dealing with older people in their congregations.  I am an older person, so even if you are not, pay attention because this is a real struggle for aging believers.

Yogi Berra, the baseball legend, was famous for the phrase, “It ain’t over till it’s over”.

Yogi was right.  I am staring down 70 and my body has probably already crested that exalted number as the years have not been kind.  Once you hit 60, you can deny it, but you are in the fourth quarter of life.  There’s no tie. Mortal life just ends.

You cannot do the fourth quarter of life like you are about to sit down and enjoy half-time. There is no time to slack off or sit back or redefine the story of your life.  The life you lived is the life you lived. We are adults. We need to act like it.

So, I address the Jesus believing community here:

Absolutely no one got this far in life without major, serious, traumatic, incidents. If you have, please DM me so I can get your autograph. Illness, death, divorce, accidents, kids or grandkids in trouble, kids or grandkids with disabilities, financial losses, and on goes the list. You have faced huge challenges. The desire to record your hurts or curl up in a ball to prevent more is understandable. The desire to spend your time in recreation and relaxation after a lifetime of office stress is understandable. It is simply not a biblical option. Do you really want to meet Jesus and say, “I spent the last part of my life hitting a small ball into a hole because it made me feel safe. I mean really, it was the younger generation’s responsibility to follow You.”  (No offense to golfers, the same can be said of quilting, video binging, or a host of other things. As relaxation, they are fine, as our main focus, they are deadly.)

However, you are living in the end days. Your end days and the end days of all your peers. If you are over 60, they will begin dropping like flies and it only increases every year. People have one lifetime to hear. Your job is to be sure they do know this great truth: “There is no other Name given under heaven by which we can be saved” (Acts 4:12). A lot of our age-mates are disappointed with what life has offered. Life is not kind. Jesus is. Give them Hope, that will prove true, while we still have time.

Correct, Don’t “Over-Correct”

I could make a list of many of the wise sayings friends have shared over the years, but this one stuck with me as it captures that which I have oft observed but never been able to express so well as my friend, Dana. We were talking about life and how it seems that many people who began extremely conservatively in their Christian walk, became wildly liberal in their later years and we’d observed those who were incredibly liberal become exceptionally conservative to the point of legalism. I often said people dislike balance because it is so hard to maintain. Extremes are easily defined. Staying even keel that is the real trick.

To this Dana replied, “People don’t correct. They tend to over-correct.”

That’s it precisely. I recall a couple with whom I attended university who married a year or two after we did. The wife’s vows were so “submissive” I thought it staggering that the minister approved them, if indeed he saw them beforehand. She was marrying a flawed human being, not the Lord, yet she vowed total submission to this man’s will, to have him be her priest and the priest of her family, and the entire vow sounded like this man was to her as Jesus is to us all. I won’t even broach the topic of the priesthood of all believers.

Five decades later, of course, life changed. They remain a lovely couple who apparently became progressively liberal over the years and one time suggested I might want to “get out and get to know someone in the LGBTQ+ community.” I think the reasoning was if I believe in the Bible, which I do, and being a missionary, which I am, I am in some bubble removed from the real world, which is about as ridiculous a notion one can have if they do the kind of work I do. We spend our entire lives with people and cultures unlike ourselves. I was unsure whether to be mildly insulted by the assumption or amused, so when in doubt, assume the best and I opted to find it funny. Keeping things in perspective, they lived in the same place their whole lives, which makes it very easy to form opinions about places one only seems on TV. I assured them we do not live in alone in a cave and we know people from every possible walk of life. I find no conflict between loving and enjoying people who do not believe as I do, and yet maintaining my beliefs without compromise. I dare say I believe the same things now, that I have for decades but on a much deeper level. I have shed some of my former certainties, but none regarding doctrine.

Another couple, once very demonstrative charismatics, decided that it was best to toss that out the window and moved to a colony to adopt a lifestyle that is reminiscent of two centuries ago. It was a challenge as the husband had difficulty growing a beard, but the wife donned attire befitting their new faith community and I am sure they have exceptionally low power bills.

Why do we make such radical swings in our theology and behavior?

Disappointment is one the key reasons people make wild over-corrections. They prayed for a miracle that did not occur, so they conclude the days of miracles are past. Perhaps they prayed for many miracles and did not receive that for which they prayed. Miracles are miracles because they are the exception to the ordinary, not the ordinary, and if read scripture with perspective, we realize that the apostles experienced times of unprecedented miracles, along with times of non-miracles that resulted in almost all of them suffering martyrdom. Thankfully, they did not cease to pray for the supernatural.

Delusion is yet another reason people walk out the door of churches, leave ministries, and abandon all to which we are called to hold dear. As surely as the sun rises, if you live more than a decade, you are bound to run into some quacks. I realize that might not be the theologically correct term but suffice to say there are people are “over the top” in some area or another, there are people who are mentally unstable, and there are even tares among the wheat. If you only bump into two or three of these kind of folks in your lifetime, consider yourself blessed. There’s a lot of unwell people outside the church, but there we have more normal expectations of humanity. That we meet the unwell in church, should not be a shock. Yes, there’s a time to shake the dust off your feet and move to a healthier place, but just as you have that odd uncle or slightly batty cousin, we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water because people are not well. I have heard people tell me they left church because “everyone is a hypocrite.” That makes no sense because all of humanity is hypocritical, at least according to the Book of Romans, so don’t let is be an excuse. If you’re reading this you might be a hypocrite I like very much and perhaps I’m a hypocrite that you enjoy. To be human is to be a hypocrite to some degree.

Family is another area that tosses people for a loop in later life. Disagreeing with your parents is totally acceptable. When your children take an extra-biblical position, it is staggering how many people, under the guise of being good listeners and not wanting to be at odds with their adult children, suddenly start making peace with things they would once have recognized as unscriptural. We do not need to agree with everyone we love, nor they with us. We do need to stay faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is not wrong, and the teachings of Jesus are not like a buffet where we pick and choose.We do not draw our children to faith by bending it to accommodate our loved ones. One can love well without violating truth.

So how do we avoid over-correction?

The answer is simple, but the application much less easy to work out. We are saved by grace, not by works, yet grace is evidenced by our works. We now live by the law of love. That “love” is not human love, but a godly love that recognizes that what is evil, is truly evil, and what is harmful is truly harmful. We recognize that we are all hurtful and do evil, and yet are so greatly loved, that God Himself is the only one who can rightly judge us. He alone is so good He can the pay the terrible penalty that is deserved. Jesus called out sin, named it in places that never crossed our minds, and then paid the most horrific penalty to show us just how bad sin really is. He then rose from the dead, to not only show us that death is not permanent but to remind us Who He Is in the first place, less we fall into any nonsense thinking He was mere prophet or man.

We cannot be people of grace, unless we also are people of truth and holiness, just as God has shown Himself to be when He chose to manifest Himself in the Person of Jesus. We cannot get through life by having a long list of what is and is not acceptable. We can navigate the rushing waters by imitating Jesus. It’s far simpler to remember our goal is to follow the “Word Made Flesh.”

Notice, however, I said it is simpler, not easier. It is, however, the only safe way to stay true to Truth, Love and Hope, as embodied in the Lord. Our lives might be messy and difficult, but they need not be overly complex. Stay the course and keep your eyes fixed.

Correct, Don’t “Over-Correct”

I could make a list of many of the wise sayings friends have shared over the years, but this one stuck with me as it captures that which I have oft observed but never been able to express so well as my friend, Dana. We were talking about life and how it seems that many people who began extremely conservatively in their Christian walk, became wildly liberal in their later years and we’d observed those who were incredibly liberal become exceptionally conservative to the point of legalism. I often said people dislike balance because it is so hard to maintain. Extremes are easily defined. It’s staying even keel that is the real trick.

To this Dana replied, “People don’t correct. They tend to over-correct.”

That’s it precisely. I recall a couple with whom I attended university who married a year or two after we did. The wife’s vows were so “submissive” I thought it staggering that the minister approved them, if indeed he saw them beforehand. She was marrying a flawed human being, not the Lord, yet she vowed total submission to this man’s will, to have him be her priest and the priest of her family, and the entire vow sounded like this man was to her as Jesus is to us all.

Five decades later, of course, life changed. They remain a lovely couple who apparently became progressively liberal over the years and one time, rather humorously, suggested I might want to “get out and get to know someone in the LGBTQ+ community.” I think the reasoning was if I believe in the Bible, which I do, then clearly I am in some fortress far removed from the rest of the world and have never met anyone unlike myself. I was unsure whether to be mildly insulted by the assumption of amused, so when in doubt, assume the best and so I assured them I did not live in alone in a cave and I know people from every possible walk of life, so I found no conflict between loving and enjoying people who do not believe as I do, and yet maintaining my beliefs. I dare say I believe the same things now, that I have for decades but on a much deeper level. I have shed some of my former certainties, but none regarding doctrine.

Another couple, very demonstrative charismatics, decided that it was best to toss that out the window and moved to a colony to adopt a lifestyle that is reminiscent of two centuries ago. It was a challenge as the husband had difficulty growing a beard, but the wife donned attire befitting their new faith community and I am sure they have exceptionally low power bills.

Why do we make such radical swings in our theology and behavior?

Disappointment is one the key reasons people make wild over-corrections. They prayed for a miracle that did not occur, so they conclude the days of miracles are past. Perhaps they prayed for many miracles and did not receive that for which they prayed. Miracles are miracles because they are the exception to the ordinary, not the ordinary, and if read scripture with perspective, we realize that the apostles experienced times of unprecedented miracles, along with times of equally faithful non-miraculous periods that resulted in almost all of them suffering martyrdom. Thankfully, they did not cease to pray for the supernatural.

Delusion is yet another reason people walk out the door of churches, leave ministries, and abandon all to which we are called to hold dear. As surely as the sun rises, if you live more than a decade, you are bound to run into some quacks. I realize that might not be the theologically correct term but suffice to say there are people are “over the top” in some area or another, there are people who are mentally unstable, and there are tares among the wheat. If you only bump into two or three of these kind of folks in your lifetime, consider yourself blessed. There’s a lot of unwell people outside the church, but there we have more normal expectations of humanity. That we meet the unwell in church, should not be a shock. Yes, there’s a time to shake the dust off your feet and move to a healthier place, the important thing is that you actually don’t quit fellowship altogether because “everyone is a hypocrite.” All of humanity is hypocritical, at least according to the Book of Romans, so don’t let is be an excuse.

Family is another area that tosses people for a loop in later life. Disagreeing with your parents is totally acceptable. When your children take an extra-biblical position, it is staggering how many people, under the guise of being good listeners and not wanting to be at odds with their adult children, suddenly start making peace with things they would once have recognized as unscriptural. We do not need to agree with everyone we love, nor they with us. We do need to stay faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is not wrong, and the teachings of Jesus are not like a buffet where we pick and choose.

So how do we avoid over-correction?

The answer is simple, but the application much less easy to work out. We are saved by grace, not by works, yet grace is evidenced by our works. We now live by the law of love. That “love” is not human love, but a godly love that recognizes that what is evil, is truly evil, and what is harmful is truly harmful, and yet every person is so greatly loved, that God Himself is the only one who can rightly judge us, and then the pay the terrible penalty that is deserved. Jesus called out sin, named it in places that never crossed our minds, and then paid the most horrific penalty to show us just how bad sin really is.

We cannot be people of grace, unless we also are people of truth and holiness, just as God has shown Himself to be when He chose to manifest Himself in the Person of Jesus. We cannot get through life by having a long list of what is and is not acceptable. We can navigate the rushing waters by imitating Jesus. It’s far simpler to remember our goal is to follow the “Word Made Flesh.”

Notice, however, I said it is simpler, not easier. It is, however, the only safe way to stay true to Truth, Love and Hope, as embodied in the Lord. Our lives might be messy and difficult, but they need not be overly complex. Stay the course and keep your eyes fixed.

Live with Urgency: People’s Lives Depend On It

In recent months, I have written little. Two very dear friends have passed unexpectedly. In one case, the friend was at his father-in-law’s home and just passed. The other friend has suffered numerous health issues for her entire life. She had so many, she simply did not tell me every time she had a surgery. The years go on and the losses pile up. They can be paralyzing.

Other things can be paralyzing too.

In recent years I have been plagued with a lot of unnecessary drama created by someone I hardly know, have not seen, and who needs either a medical of relational issue over which to create drama. It is a coping mechanism to keep from having to deal with the underlying problems that should have treated with loving kindness but were overlooked in the stir that was created. This would not be ironic were the “stirrer” not someone who often repeated the pattern. As a highly functioning person with a complex injury, I do not belittle the realities of physical issues. I do question why we so often treat the symptoms and lovingly overlook the disease. That’s not really loving, it’s just easier.

If you are on the receiving end of loss, or drama, or simply very noisy streets and a lot of bureaucracy, you are still facing the great enemy: distraction from the urgent. What is urgent? Souls. The lives of the people around us are of urgent need of our thoughtful attentive efforts to reach them. One friend, mentioned above, knew her days were numbered. The other had no idea he would climb the stairs for the last time that day when he woke up that morning. The same can be said of any of us. The same can be said of our neighbors.

Personally, I confess to giving into distraction. It has worn me down. I feel like someone playing basketball in the para-Olympics and someone 6′ 8″ is jumping up and down in front of me blocking my shot. The frustrating part is they are wearing the same team jersey I am. I cannot take the shot and I will not foul them. But the time that is wasted is precious. I never get those days, those moments, or those heartbeats back. I could have been sharing Jesus, but I allowed myself to be distracted by what, in all honesty, was a very, very distracting ruse.

I saw a statistic the other day that says I have about 10 years and 3 months to live. I want to use that time with urgency. I want to be urgent about the lady at the small neighborhood store with high blood pressure. I want to be urgent with the couple in the building behind me who I first met when the wife wandered into our building, overwhelmed by grief, looking for my neighbor who passed unexpectedly. I want to invest what I have, and not try to invest what I cannot, into doing things that will share a hope that will not fade.

The times are urgent. The times are always urgent. Every generation is the last and we never know how long that time will be. Let’s live accordingly.

Things that Really Matter

In Trapani, I was on a short holiday time with two coworkers. For one, it was her first vacation ever. Being older, I lack the energy of the younger folks, and went back to our BnB while those under 35 walked at a normal pace without having to wait for me. I saw a distraught elderly woman with dementia.
“I am lost. I don’t know where I am and no one cares for me” she told me.
She was clearly well cared for and I was guessing quite near her home but I asked if I could pray for her and she did and we waited together. She did not recognize her family but they knew and loved her.

Two weeks ago, my closest friend in this city died from an inherited birth defect. She was energetic and funny and I am devastated. Shortly after she was buried, another elderly woman was distraught in our lobby and desperate to find my neighbor who passed. I tried to reassure her but today saw her from my window and we managed to meet. She was a bit confused and while I went to her home, she came to mine and met my cousin Enzo. He is 23. He was kind, patient, spoke Italian to her as best he could and she came back to her home where I was waiting and said how lovely he was. “He is your blood, you can tell” she assured me.

We talked for more than an hour. Their hearts torn from more grief upon grief as old age remind us that time is short and most of what is left shall be terribly lonely. But a 23 year old brightened her day with kindness. A plant from my neighbor, who apparently was her cousin, brought her to tears, and we spoke of our hope of heaven.

There are so many simple things we can do in a day to change how someone feels. We can let them know they are seen. They are know. They are loved.

Let’s keep our eyes open.

Dying to Yourself in a Safe Place

The world has a lot of new words and phrases. “Politically Correct”. “Emotionally Safe”. “Unconscious Bias” and even “Boundaries” can be misused when they become an excuse for prioritizing yourself above others. Like many things, I hope much of this will pass with time. I am apolitical. Some days I feel more emotional than others. Unless someone is threatening my life, I do not feel “unsafe” and “emotional safety” is a great term coined by the world to make another self-centered experience truth. “Unconscious bias” is a bit Orwellian. I got a letter one time saying I had “thoughts that do violence to other people”. This apparently is because I go to church and read the Bible. I am not guessing that is the reason, they specifically named church going as a form of “thought violence”. I can say with certainty the person who made the comment knows zippo about my thoughts and I am not a mind reader of others in the congregation but I am sure they are not violent. If they are like me, they spend a good deal of time thinking about where they left their eyeglasses. The world is self-centered so we accept that is how the world thinks, which should not be confused with, “Act like the culture”.

The problem is when this language and mindset crept into the Church. People need to feel “safe”. God manifested Himself in the person of Jesus not for your safety but your salvation. He came to save you from your sins and then send you, in gratitude, to a world of people like yourself who need saving from their own sins and lack of understanding of the love of God.

I have had real safety issues. They required a room in which I could lock our family and wait out an impending attack. Safety did not mean I could not share a coffee with someone who was unlike me. It certainly did not mean I took advantage of someone’s good nature as long as it benefited me and when I no longer needed them I withdraw on the pretense of “I’m OK, that person is not. I will retreat to my safe place feigning responsibility while actually dumping my immaturity on them”. That does nothing more than allow people to create their own personal version of truth which is actually deceitful and destructive to both the speaker and possibly to the hearer. I would phrase that more gently but I have concluded it is unkind to not to speak the truth here. People err. You are a person. If you are the standard of perfection, then I assure you, you will find an infinitely small number of people with whom you feel safe. As you are not perfect, you should be really comfortable being with other non-perfect people and comforting to other non-perfect people as well. That’s your choice. The alternative is a very lonely future.

The world is lost. Lost. People are desperately in need not of being their true selves. Your true self is either a self-promoting delusion or a truthful disappointment. People need to see themselves as desperately inadequate, and in need of a Savior who loves them without condition. No one is going to figure this out while hiding in self-protection.

As Christians, we are called to die to ourselves daily. You cannot do that in a “safe place” where you feel OK “safe” dying to yourself. Dying is not comfortable. It does it prioritize your needs. The Christian concept of dying to self, prioritizes others and their need to know Jesus.

Sacrifice your ego, your anger, your sense of rights, your idea of what is healthy for you personally (which might be very unhealthy for someone else, which you are biblically required to consider) and live for Jesus.

It is written, “We are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God”. If you believe that, cut up your safety net, get out of your space and let go of your indignation. Live like someone who knows their ties to this present world and all the ideology that goes with it, is past.

Ultimately, you age and when you do, you do not want to regret years spent wasted in self-protection. We are “always, only, all for Him”.

People Age, So Will You

I often sit with my very dear neighbor, who could be my mother, in that she is 18 years older than I am. I have learned much about this city from her. Much of the history of this island. She corrects my Italian as I periodically mix in some other language or dialect and we enjoy a daily “miranda” which is the afternoon snack around 4:30 PM. I check in with her every day before I leave the house, and every night before I go to bed.

She loves the Lord. She has great faith and at times, I feel she is giving me a preview of my future. She inadvertently turns off her cell data while swiping her phone and is frustrated she cannot send messages so I turn it back on for her. She is stressed that she cannot do what she once did.  Her air-conditioner controls are confusing and one is in English, so she spent weeks sweltering as her controls were set to cool the room to the upper 80s and hence did little to assist those of us on the top floor of a stone building when triple digit temps were the norm outside.  As we age, we need more time to recover, the importance of staying comfortably cool is greater, and the inability to control that for oneself is even more frustrating.

She reminisces about her family and her life reflectively, at times with sorrow, as her life has not been easy. People are unable to see past the wealth her husband acquired years ago, now long on spent medical tragedies that have devastated their family. She is fully dependent on her stipend to meet her needs but people speak as though she had not a care in the world. She is frustrated by the limitations of age and like us all, is surprised as each year imposes some new limit for which we were unprepared.  When she does not sleep she is easily confused and yet mentally she is sharp. Her body is changing as happens to us all, but she senses the sudden change it alarms her. She is a brilliant and gifted woman who wishes to acquire nothing because she realizes life does not go on forever.

She is a vital part of my life, and one of the reasons Jesus has us here. That is a good thing. If you are near a person advanced in years, see yourself as the hands of Jesus to your neighbor.

So to you young pastors out there, take the time needed to sit and listen. The most vital thing you can do at any moment is listen. The media presentation is not as urgent as the profound loss of being needed as we age.

To those of us who are older, we have a purpose, but we must accept the fact our limitations grow with each passing year. That makes us normal, not useless. It is incredibly frustrating, but it is the one result of the fall none of us can escape. We will eventually die and a generation following us will carry on, most of them full speed ahead, until we are suddenly no more, and they realize this too shall happen to them.

No ages are given for those in the Bible for whom the Lord took the time to stop and listen and heal. But I am sure if an old man or woman cried out, they would merit no less of His time or attention than someone younger.

Don’t Let Social Media Eat Your Fruit

One of the nice things about being older is you can say the truth and don’t really care if it upsets anyone. So I am going to say a vital truth because you really got to get this one folks. Really. It’s really important.

In ancient times, meaning before digital cameras and phones, people in our line of work frantically took photos to create a “slide show” just before they went home on furlough. This was a step of faith as the photos were not automatically in focus. But people were remarkably forgiving. The reality is, normal people do not spend their entire day creating events of which to take photos unless they are “influencers” which I believe is job that might be summarized as “I can tell a good story and do no work, but I make great pics that get likes”.

I have read posts that are very moving, and only in the last couple of years have learned how deceiving posts can be. There is a pressure to post to sound impactful. The truth is stretched, details that are untrue are added and honestly, I have read some and thought, “Wow, quite the tale, about half of it is true”. Posting pressure is so great, posts can be very misleading.  People run into something, take photos, write a story based on their incorrect understanding and get a lot of likes.  They are not trying to deceive, but they posted something, much of which was untrue, to meet a need to seem to be making an impact.  For whose sake are we posting? For prayer?  For support?  For the glory of Jesus?  Those are important questions to consider every time we hit the button.

Not every day is amazing, nor remotely fit for social media. The hours you spend sweeping up after the youth group do not make for great IG moments. The kid who calls you at 2AM is when you are dazed and half asleep and his girlfriend broke up with him, is your real job.  You just can’t post that but it mattered a lot more than the paint ball party that made it to your feed. 

Do what matters, not what the world wants to see. Jesus so often pulled people OUT OF SIGHT to heal them. He told them, “DON’T TELL ANYONE” after doing the miraculous. I guess He did not understand marketing. Maybe we are wisest to follow His example.

My concern for the current generation is that the pressure to look good outweighs the need to do well. Do things that matter, without a preoccupation that to sound like you are daily changing the world. None of us is changing the world. Jesus is. Your best moments are servant-like. They are not glamorous. Take out the trash even though you can’t do a post about molded plastic bags. Do it out anyway. Serve. We are called to imitate the Humble One, not to make amazing impressions. Those in the most difficult situations in the world, cannot share a thing about their lives, but the Almighty sees.  Keep in mind, the importance audience is the Audience of One. 

The character of Christ is summed up in the fruit of the Spirit. None of those traits can be captured on social media. Don’t let the pressures of the day, eat your fruit. Concentrate on fruit that “shall remain” and He, who sees that which cannot be posted, nor shared in public, will reward you with a crown that gets the only “Like” that matters.