Messages

Have you seen the GAP commercial that has been running recently for the "holiday" season, not the one with the girls singing about boots, but the one with adults singing and dancing? Maybe it is just the prude coming out in me again (see my post from 2 weeks ago) but I don't think so, I have seen it several times now and it really bothers me.

If you are not familiar with the commercial, here are a couple of lines in the "song" that are sung after they list just about every possible winter holiday and/or celebration (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice);

"You 86 the rules, you do what just feels right, you do whatever you want and to all a good night"

Does that rub you the wrong way like it does me? Do we really need to be encouraged to forget about the rules and just do whatever we want, whatever feels right? Don't we do that enough as it is? Isn't that what has caused EVERY problem we have in this world? We do our own thing too much and it leads to; hurt, pain, frustration, anger, sadness, etc.

I was a marketing major in college, so I understand not wanting to limit advertising just to people who celebrate Christmas. In fact, I have no problem whatsoever with Target, WalMart, Macys, etc. advertising holiday sales instead of Christmas sales and with them instructing their employees to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. These retailers exist to sell things and it is legitimate business to not exclude portions of the population. What does bother me are the messages that are put out like the one above from the GAP in an attempt to be inclusive of everyone (at least I think that is what they are trying to do).

We receive hundreds, even thousands of messages a day all trying to tell us something, trying to impact how we see things. I think most people are oblivious to these messages, they take them in and it shapes their thinking without even knowing it. I am trying to be more sensitive to God and what He wants for me and often times it is a struggle to choose what He wants instead of what I want or have been told I should want or should have. The Bible says that we are to be in the world but not of the world. That means that we are to live here, have relationships here, be salt and light here, but, we are not to think like the world thinks or act like the world acts. Pay attention to the messages that are being given to you and filter them through what the Bible says.

Anticipation

There has been some anticipation, some cautious optimism in my house recently. These feelings aren't all that uncommon this time of year being the Christmas season and all. However, the anticipation and the optimism had nothing to do with Christmas but instead had to do with the decision of 21 or 22 year old college student. My son and I were eagerly awaiting the announcement of whether Jake Locker would return to school for his senior season on the Husky football team or if he would enter the NFL draft where he would make millions of dollars. I know that this seems really silly to many (if not all) of you but we were waiting much like kids (and even adults) wait to see what they are getting for Christmas. We got what we wanted in this instance which was that he would return to the team. The problem is that next year that choice will no longer be available, he will have to move on to the NFL or somewhere else.

That's the problem with anticipating things like whether Jake Locker returns or not or most of the other things that we anticipate. What are you anticipating, what are you hoping for? Is it gifts under the tree, the departure of your latest illness, the return home of a loved one, kids, grand kids, a spouse - what is it that you are looking forward to? All of these things can be great, but, they all fall short of what we should ultimately anticipate. I am as guilty as anyone of fixing my eyes on things that don't last but my desire is to fix my eyes on what does last, what I can always count on and that is Jesus.

The Christmas season and end of the year is a common time for people to reflect on what is important, what we want to do differently, what our hopes and dreams are. As such, I encourage you to spend some time this year reflecting on these things, then ask yourself "where am I focused?" or "what am I focused on?". If you are like me, you may notice that your focus needs frequent adjustment, it needs to be refined. I am constantly needing to remind myself to adjust my focus and put it back on Jesus, I encourage you to do the same.

Viewpoints

Maybe I'm becoming a prude in my old age. I went to a movie this past weekend and was bothered by it. Now usually when I am bothered by a movie it is because it has nudity or sexual activity or perhaps if the violence is over the top. That wasn't the case with this movie, I don't think there was even one woman in the movie and although there was violence it wasn't over the top. What bothered me about this movie was the message that it sends to those that watch it (of the other 10 or so people in the theater many of them were young which makes it even more disappointing). The message was essentially that you don't have to be completely good or righteous you just need to be more good than bad. Now this is certainly not the only movie that gives this sort of message, there are and have been over the years, many such movies.

I think that it may have bothered me so much because I see hints of it in my own life. Comparison and justification are tools that I use to make myself feel better or look better to others. I am sure that you have heard people justify their behavior before or excuse their behavior by comparing it with others who are worse. The problem with those comparisons and justification is that we are using our own standards when we do that, we are trying to categorize our sins. God doesn't have a sin scale where as long as you don't do any of the sins in the top 5 you are OK. All sin separates us from God and nothing that we DO can earn us favor with Him. Our only comparison should be Jesus Christ. He lived the PERFECT life that we can't live and because we can't live that perfect life, HE died for us so we would no longer be separated from God if we choose to accept what Jesus did and give Him control of our lives.

The main character in this movie was willing to help steal 42 million dollars as long as nobody got hurt, after all, he needed it, he maybe even deserved it (according to his thinking). Then when things went bad and people started getting hurt, he fought against his buddies, his cohorts and became the good guy. While many of his actions were admirable and courageous, HE WAS STILL WILLING TO STEAL $42,000,000. What are you justifying, what are you excusing by comparing it with other people who are worse on the "sin scale"? On our own we fall short, no matter how "good" we are. My desire is to stop justifying my sin and stop minimizing my sin and to truly follow Jesus, will you join me in this challenge?