the basic message #E321
12/26/04
Isaiah 3:24
Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.
America stinks. Before you patriots start sending me angry email, let me clarify that statement. America stinks, physically. If you don't believe me, just watch the TV commercials dedicated to air fresheners. There are literally hundreds of different products on the market offering various scents and methods of scent deployment. "This would be a great place for a Stickup", a TV advertisement used to proclaim. These days the old-fashioned Stickup has become the Model T of the stink-masking business. They even have little air fresheners that plug into the wall socket that have a miniature fan to circulate odors of better quality . So now you understand why I can accurately proclaim that America stinks- if it didn't these products couldn't flourish. Right about now, you're probably wondering just how I can connect air fresheners with Salvation. The connection, my friend, is much stronger than you ever imagined.
There is a commercial currently running that features a mother and her teenage son conversing by his bedroom closet. She has "wisely" installed some sort of high-tech air freshener in that closet. The mother points out that the miracle device can overcome the funk imminating from his dirty laundry collecting on the floor of his closet. Mother and child are clearly in agreement that their dilemma has now become better through the wonders of technology. Really? Lysol spray has been a regular fixture in my home for many years. Normal body functions often call for something to dispel the fumes produced by said functions. It's funny, though- whenever I smell Lysol, I automatically think, "What kind of stink is someone trying to cover-up?" Okay, I won't belabor the point further, let's cut to the chase.
As Christians, we like to sometimes cover-up things in our lives that should be pulled out by the roots and discarded. Remember the commercial with the mother and son I mentioned earlier? The air freshener was able to mask the scents of dirty underwear, socks and the like. Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the kid should simply be taught to pick up his dirty laundry and put it in the clothes hamper or washing machine? We seem to always be looking for the easy way out- just cover up the problem rather than dealing with it.
What stinks in your life? A growing problem in America is our lack of concern for the downtrodden. Oh yes, we like to boast about how generous and giving Americans are, but overall, we're quite selective in how we give. Example: I used to call a local "orphans home" in early December each year asking if they needed Christmas presents for the children. After doing this for a few years, I was blessed to have the director of the home tell me, "What we really need is for people to help us the remaining 11 months of the year. People forget about us on December 26th until Thanksgiving." My wife and I ceased our efforts to get a "feel-good fix" at Christmas and began sending a contribution each month for the children to have a special outing at McDonalds or a similar fast-food restaurant.
As long as I'm patting myself on the back, allow me to disjoint my leg to kick myself in the butt. How so? By telling you what stinks in my life. As I get older, (I turned 50 this year), my patience gets thinner and thinner. A lack of patience may seem like a serious problem on its own, but generally speaking, this bad habit is the parent of even more indiscretions such as rudeness and other forms of mistreatment of others. Many of us like to justify bad habits, such as the lack of patience, by reminding ourselves that we're a very busy generation of people. After all, we've got places to go, people to see. So?
Not many Americans would say that 401k's stink, but they do. How so? We do our best to sock-away a large percentage of our income into our retirement plans to get prepared for our "golden years". What's wrong with that? Nothing, as long as we don't forget about the disadvantaged people that would simply like a meal or a warm place to sleep during the winter right now. Some of my capitalist friends argue passionately that most homeless people make a choice to be homeless. Opportunities exist, they tell me, that give every homeless person a chance to join all of us white, upper middle class people that are living the "American dream". May I ask a question? Suppose that homeless man does indeed go to McDonald's to apply for a job. (I use McDonald's as an example, because the typical capitalist always says that homeless people could easily get a job "flipping burgers") If you're the manager of a McDonald's, what drives most of your decisions? The customer. Can we agree that most homeless people look like..........homeless people? If you're a customer in McDonald's and you see a scroungy character cooking your burger, are you going to eat there again? Let's agree that it's simply unlikely that homeless people have an overwhelming list of opportunities out there. The St. Vincent dePaul organization in my area does a great job of giving homeless people a hand-up, not just a hand-out. So when you review your retirement "portfolio", remember that some little children might just freeze to death tonight while you're deciding between mutual funds or bonds.
So, what's it going to be- will you clean up the rottenness of your life, or are you going to simply apply a nice fragrance to mask the stinkiness? Here's one last thought: forget about that knucklehead Dr. Phil and the rest of the "touchy-feely" Oprah punks out there. "Self help" only works when God is the architect. Show me the people who have overcome their problems through self-help, and then show me how many have been able to continue that success, year after year. In my experiences, real, long-term change only happens with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, God's "man on the scene", here on earth.