the basic message #E255

3/18/04

I'm lucky to have a wife that points out my flaws.  No...I'm serious, I really do appreciate having honest feedback.  I can recall her mentioning my posture about 2 years ago, and to appease her, I tried to stand-up a little straighter.  I was staying in a nice hotel a couple of months ago, and it had mirrors on just about every flat surface in the bathroom, so no matter where you look, you can see yet another view of yourself.  What I saw was a man, not yet 50, that looked stooped over.  I was shocked to see how bad my posture really was, so while standing in front of the mirror, I tried to stand up as straight as I could.  You know what?  It hurt.  I don't mean I was in agony or anything, but my back ached whenever I stood properly erect.  I had become a victim of gradualism, and gradualism in other forms is what's killing the modern church.

I live in Louisiana, and one big problem our state faces is coastal erosion.  The experts can provide some sort of area in acres that we lose each year to the Gulf of Mexico, and it's significant.  Here's the strange thing- you could go sit and watch the Louisiana coastline for days, weeks or months and not see any erosion happening.  Why?  Because erosion is yet another form of gradualism.  There is serious damage being done, yet it's happening so slowly that you really don't know it's there until it's too late. 

The modern Christian church has become a victim of the worst form of gradualism- the kind that very likely will send many folks to Hell.  The "all Grace" people will politely correct me here and say that the only thing that sends a person to Hell is to reject Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Hang onto that thought. 

I can remember a time in which divorce was considered a stigma in our culture.  In the late 1950's, adults whispered privately, out of earshot of the kids, when they talked about someone in the community getting a divorce.  The modern church has almost "progressed" to the point of endorsing divorce.  "God doesn't want his people to be miserable in marriage", has been uttered from thousands of pulpits across this country.  The "blessing" of the church to go through with divorce is killing this country, yet the right-wing conservatives have conveniently decided to blame the demise of the American family on homosexuals.  Would you do me a favor?  Think about every family you know that has split-up, and then figure out how many split up due to homosexuals.  I know of many families that are screwed-up due to divorce, but I don't know of any that split up due to the "homosexual agenda" (whatever that is).  But, I digress- back to the subject.

I have made a conscious decision to stand up straighter, to sit up straighter, and to get my posture back to what it should be.  I've returned the reclining seat back in my pickup to a more upright position, and quite frankly, it's not very comfortable.  When I stand up, I actively try to stand straighter and pull my shoulders back.  Sometimes when I do this, my body aches, and the reason is simple: I'm repenting of the past "sin" of poor posture, and there is a price to be paid.  The gradual pull of gravity on my half-century old body was pulling me over, but I don't have to succumb to that gravity.  I can fight it and work harder to overcome it, just like sin.  Those of you who simply say, "Jesus died for my sins" might as well tell me that I should forget about standing up straight since God created gravity.  Make no mistake, friend, God's true people are a people of discipline.  Every time we commit a sin voluntarily we're crucifying Jesus all over again.  To flippantly consider discipline to be "working our way to Heaven" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but yet that's the view of most Christians.  Gradualism allows Christians to run red lights and endanger other people's lives every day- just look around in your town.  Only "bad people" blatantly ran red lights 30 years ago, but today you can sit and watch the cars still going through red lights as the other traffic is driving through their green light.  Sadly, many of those cars going through the red lights have "Jesus fish" stuck on the bumper.  What a great advertisement for Jesus.

What sins have gradually become a standard in your life?  Lying?  Stealing?  Flirting?  Workaholism?  It really doesn't matter what the flavor of your sin is, it's still separation from God.  Isn't it time for a self-examination?