Jealousy vs Covetousness

Jealousy. Envy. Covetousness. These are terms which mean the same thing: to feel bitterness or hostility because someone else has something that you don’t. They are altogether unacceptable and bad. Right?

Well, sure, from a certain point of view. However, language is a tricky thing, and a fickle one at that. Today, jealousy in a relationship is typically seen as a sign of insecurity or weakness on the part of the one who is jealous. It’s often referred to as the green-eyed monster, and people who act jealously are often viewed as irrational. At least, that’s how the term is typically portrayed in pop culture. In reality, there are numerous shades of meaning which can turn jealousy into something that is not as bad as you may think it is, and, under the right circumstances, into a very good thing.

Independence From Sin

I was a teenager for most of the 1980s. It was a time that spawned a great number of pop culture icons, including a digitized talking head named Max Headroom, Michael Jackson’s phenomenal album Thriller, and of course, Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign against drugs. Max Headroom, for all his ubiquitous appearances on TV, became little more than a footnote in pop culture history, while Thriller went on to become the top-selling album in history. And the “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign?

It was ambitious, if nothing else. Every type of media displayed those three little words, completely saturating the landscape with the idea that resisting drug use was as simple as can be. Just say no! Unfortunately, in spite of the campaign’s immense presence and the nearly Pavlovian response drilled into my generation’s psyche, research has indicated that “Just Say No” had little to no impact when it came to actually reducing drug use.

How is it that such a well-funded program, one which was supported by the vast majority of Americans, one with the best of intentions, could prove to be so completely ineffective?

Agonizing Sin

What is one to believe about sin in the life of a Christian?

When we sin after we have become born-again believers, what happens? Some denominations claim that once you have become a child of God, that status can never be revoked. Some say that once you are saved, that same salvation covers all of your future sins. Yet others claim that each sin you commit after having been initially converted requires you to once again repent and be baptized, for you have become unworthy once again. Still others claim that a return to sin is tantamount to falling away, and that there is no hope of redemption a second time. And some say that if you find yourself sinning after salvation, you should examine yourself, because that initial experience you had couldn’t have been salvation at all: you only thought you were saved.

So… what is one to believe about sin in the life of a Christian?

Continual Sin

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6)

In my recent musings about the presence of sin in the life of a Christian, and specifically in my own life, I have been circling a very uncomfortable question. Before springing it on you out of the blue, let me lead into it in much the same way that it has pursued me: one step at a time.

We all know that a Christian’s life should reflect the holiness of Christ. We should, as stated above, walk as He walked. But we also know that we are not perfect. We will stumble, even fall from time to time. Fortunately for us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

We also know that we must not abuse the gift of forgiveness, as Paul states in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Again, we are clearly supposed to be imitators of Jesus: walk as He walked.

But we do fail. It is inevitable. Worse yet, we will do so repeatedly, even if we are trying our very best to do the right thing. Temptation comes, and far too often, we succumb to its treacherous pull. My own experience with this began to make me doubt myself. Mind you, I do not doubt God, but rather I came to doubt whether my own faith was genuine. Here enters the question which has been stalking me: am I truly a child of God, or am I taking His name in vain?

The Sins You Love to Hate

“Well, I’m not perfect, but at least I don’t do THAT!”

You’ve heard these words many times before. Honestly, I’d be willing to bet that you’ve said these words before, or at least something which expresses a very similar sentiment. We all have! And no wonder! On a daily basis, just going about our normal routines, it’s a near certainty that we will see or hear about some of the awful things going on in the world.

Things that we know are wrong.

Things that offend us.

Things that hurt our feelings.

Things that hurt other people.

But then there are some things that really get to us. Things which we would never, ever do. Things that we would never even imagine doing. Things which are so vile, so disgusting, so inherently evil that we wish God would just reach down and smite the people who are involved!

They deserve all the worst punishments that we can think of, and yet they keep getting away with this insanity.

How infuriating!

How dare they??

How can they not understand that what they are doing is horrific? It’s not only a violation of God’s law, but it flies in the face of nature itself! A little common sense should tell you that this is wrong!

These sins are a lot like villainous characters in movies, in that you love to hate them. These are the ones that you think of as being particularly bad, and you feel absolutely justified in railing against. They are the ones that you really (if you’re being totally honest) don’t think should be forgiven at all.

Those are things that no Christian would ever do, anyway.

Right?

Usurping Sin

I can't even begin to count the number of times that I’ve heard fellow Christians say something about how they feel when they hear someone “take the Lord’s name in vain.” We all know exactly what they are referring to: a particular bit of foul language that begins by saying “god” and ends with a word that sounds like the fruits of a beaver’s labor.

All misguided attempts at dad jokes aside, I know there are Christians out there who are sincerely bothered, even offended, by hearing the word in question. While “g-d” is considered by most people (even non-believers) to be one of the two biggest, or most intense, swear words (the other being the dreaded f-bomb), it has become almost ubiquitous in its usage in the entertainment industry and in the vocabulary which some people use commonly in their own personal conversations.

The Bible clearly says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” This prohibition is important enough to be stated twice in the Old Testament: Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11. These verses are, in fact, the Third of the Ten Commandments!

Taking the Lord’s name in vain is a serious offense, as the text indicates that anyone who does so will not be held guiltless. Being held guiltless is a longer way of saying being forgiven, which in the context of Christianity equates to salvation; for only the saved are forgiven of their sins. In light of the New Testament, we now understand this to mean that anyone who takes the name of the Lord in vain shall not be saved by the atoning death of Christ on the cross. Clearly, it behooves us to understand exactly what act merits such a drastic outcome. As it turns out, an alarming number of Christians completely misunderstand this sin.

Testing the Waters

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

A week ago, I posted my first blog article in… well, a long time. I’ve been going through my old files and I’ve found a few articles that I had completely forgotten writing. Some of them are published in this blog, but a few are not. What follows is adapted from an article which I wrote in March of 2016.

At that time, I was paying for a website with a blogging tool included. Somewhere along the way, I realized it was not financially feasible to continue paying for a website that generated no revenue, so I moved most of what I had previously written over to Google’s Blogger platform, which I still use to this day. A few of those older articles didn’t make the cut, for various reasons.

Today, I was browsing through the old stuff and this particular article caught my eye. It struck me as being very pertinent to my reboot of the blog, and more importantly, to the last several years that I’ve experienced. The term “mid-life crisis” might not be inappropriate. Sure, in some ways my life has been pretty rock solid. I became a grandfather, I have a stable job, my wife and I are in a fairly stable (certainly not luxurious!) financial situation, and from many observable metrics, one might say that I’ve been doing pretty ok.

But is this all there is? What purpose am I serving? Why am I always anxious? Why do I feel so tired all the time? What am I even doing with my life? I want to do… something. But what?

Frozen: Winter of the Soul

Photo Credit - Natalie Duncan Riddell

An old friend of mine took this photo. That picture is what actually inspired me to write this, even though in the moment that I first saw it, I had no idea what I would be writing about. I just knew that I had to write… something.

Now, if you’re from the south, like both of us (although she long ago went objectively insane and decided to move to the frozen wastes of Montana, where she just recently snapped this shot), this photo might look like harvest-time cotton, at least at first glance. But if you look at it a moment longer, you will notice that it’s not cotton at all, but rather snow collecting on the bare, spindly little branches of some type of tree or bush that I couldn’t identify if my life depended on it.

It’s a lovely shot, really; yet there’s something about it that makes me feel sad.

This being other than the fact that my friend now lives so far away in terrible, yucky, cold Montana. Oh, I tease. Montana, I’m sure, is a wonderful place (it’s certainly filled with beautiful countryside), but I cannot resist teasing my friend about the weather there. I can’t stand the cold. Not even a little bit. Give me the brutal summer of Arkansas in August anytime over that double-digits-below-zero nonsense.

I will admit that I do love a good snowfall in the winter. They are so rare here in the south. Snow blanketing the ground, the trees, the streets… icicles growing from the eaves of houses, snowmen, snow cream (yes the kind that uses raw eggs, USDA and USFDA regulations can take a long walk off a short pier)… these are the joys of winter that I absolutely love.