I’ve been reading a lot about the Manhattan Declaration over the last few days.  Some people have signed it.  Some people have not.  I agree with its content, although I’m not sure why another declaration of such is needed.  Frankly, it’s a sad statement on the contemporary church that we have to continually define that for which we stand.  Nonetheless, I do have this one thought.  What really changes the hearts of people?  As important as all the positions in the Declaration are, will they change people’s hearts?  Can we really expect a changed culture without changed hearts?  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can radically change who we are and how we live.

Flipping channels tonight and happened passed a “news” network I won’t stoop to give credence to.  I sat stunned as the anchor ridiculed Sarah Palin for her…wait for it…religious views.  Not her politics.  Not her career past, present, or future.  Not her book or her future ambitions.  Her religious beliefs.  She was ridiculed for having the audacity to believe in the literal restoration of Israel and a future apocalypse.  And for good measure, she shares this view with the most radical of today’s religious figures…wait for it…Billy Graham!  Wow.  Sarah Palin is a nut job for holding a religious opinion that millions of believers hold, including Billy Graham.  Man, contemporary media is certainly a thing to be proud of.

In a couple of days, we will celebrate Thanksgiving.  As I was contemplating the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-18), I was reminded again of some of the elements of a thankful person.  One of them has to do with the choices we make.  In regard to thankfulness, we have to make the willful effort to be thankful. 

The Bible tells us of a group of ten lepers.  They were infirmed and isolated because of their health.  Yet, an encounter with Jesus changed their lives.  He healed them.  Of the ten, only one made the effort to express his thanks.  The Bible says, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15, ESV).  As this group of men realized they were healed, one “turned back.”  One made the conscious effort to stop his life, turn around, and express thanks. 

I wonder if we are willing to take some time out of our busy lives to stop and thank God for all that He has done for us?  Will we make the choice to stop?  Stop the running and the stressing.  Stop the baking and the buying.  Just simply stop.  Stop and say thank you.  Thank you God for life.  Thank you for salvation.  Thank you for trials and triumphs.  Thank you for the grace and mercy to get through them all.  The choice is ours.  Put forth the effort to be a thankful.

Being a few days before the annual Ohio State-Michigan game, it seems like a proper time to throw out what I believe to be the best rivalries in sports.

1. Ohio State vs. Michigan - When I was a kid, I truly believed that there was a special rule that said the winner of this game automatically won the conference because that always seemed to be the case.  It is everything a rivalry should be.  It’s intense.  The game usually matters (aside from the last couple of years).  It has character and characters.  One of the things that truly makes it special is that it takes place only once a year.  Win, and you savor it all year long.  Lose, and it’s a long hard winter.  It’s a big deal.
2. North Carolina vs. Duke - Similar to above.  A lot of college hoops intensity between these two programs.  Each   one is always in the others way.
3. New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox – Great rivalry.  I’m sick of hearing about it though.
4. New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts – These guys want to beat the other so badly, they will go for it on fourth down in their own territory.
5. Army-Navy – Lots of pride, tradition, and honor.  Good stuff.

Honorable mention – Celtics vs. Lakers and Yankees vs. Dodgers.  These classic confrontations just haven’t happened in a few years, but they were truly special once upon a time.

I’m not really a Ford guy.  In fairness, I’m not a Chevy or a Dodge guy either.  I tend to buy the make and model that meets my needs and fits my budget at the time.  With that said, however, I have to give Ford some props.  They recently were listed as having some of the safest cars on the road.  This is only a few weeks after announcing that they had actually made money last quarter (and I thought a “profitable American car company” had become an oxymoron).  The impressive thing about all of Ford’s recent accomplishments – they did it without government money.  Good for Ford.  Keep this up and I may become a Ford guy after all.

Thanksgiving is coming.  Isn’t it something how we have turned Thanksgiving into a day of sitting around stuffing our faces and watching football?  Nothing wrong with food or sport, but there is a subtle problem here.  Originally, Thanksgiving was a day set aside to offer thanks to God for all of His blessings.  The focus was on Him.  Now, it’s about our stomachs and our entertainment.  The focus is on us.

In the Old Testament book of Haggai, the Lord rebukes the people for neglecting the Temple while adorning their own homes.  He says, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins” (Haggai 1:4, ESV)?  In other words, their focus was on themselves and not on Him.  As a result of their self-centeredness, they never had enough.  The Bible says, “Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts:  Consider your ways.  You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill.  You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.  And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:5-6, ESV).

When we focus on ourselves, we never have enough.  We need more and more and more.  When we focus on God, however, it’s amazing how much more clearly we develop a sense of contentment.  We begin to appreciate what He has done for us.  And we give Him the thanks He deserves.  The Lord challenges His people to get things back in their proper perspective.  He says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.  Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord” (Hag 1:7-8, ESV).  May we overcome the subtle shift in our lives and return our attention to the One on whom it belongs.  Why don’t we take the next week and reflect on all that God has given to us?  Then, on Thanksgiving day, we’ll have some sense of perspective.

A couple of generations ago, Orson Welles did a radio production of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds that caused quite a bit of panic in certain parts of the country.  Well, fast-forward about seventy years and you have 2012. You have probably seen promotions for the movie.  It is a fictional thriller rooted in Mayan prophecies about the end of the world.  For whatever reasons (I’m sure partly due to the economic uncertainties of the times), people are genuinely concerned about the world ending.  Apparently, the concern is so great and widespread that NASA has repeated issued denials of the events portrayed in the film.  The thing that strikes me is this.  If we are so concerned about the world coming to an end, wouldn’t we want to be prepared for it?

Jesus clearly stated that He is coming again.  Furthermore, He makes it plainly clear how we might join Him.  He says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going…I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 13:3-6, ESV).  If you’re really worried about this stuff, it would be worthwhile to consider embracing the One who holds all of time, the begining and the end in His hands (Hebrews 1:10-12).

I was sitting at my son’s basketball practice tonight watching both his team and the team on the other half of the gym conduct their practices.  At times, I could really sense the coaches’ frustration in not being able to clearly convey to the players exactly what they wanted them to do (the ages of the kids in the gym ranged from 5-10).  It was almost as if the coach had a vision in his mind that just seemed to breakdown somewhere between his brain and his mouth.  In addition, when the did clearly communicate, the kids often had a hard time carrying out the instructions.  The reality of their context interfered with achieving the goal.  As a pastor, I can identify.

For a while now, I have been posting on two different sites.  This site has general observations about a lot of the things I find interesting.  Obviously, I write quite a bit about Christianity, but I also post a bit about politics, sports, the media, and whatever else intrigues me.  My posts on Christianity tend to be more devotional in nature.  My other site (www.rekindledliving.wordpress.com) tends to contain more in-depth posts about Christianity.  I will post lessons we have studied at our church, word studies, and other musings I don’t think the general public would enjoy as much.  I am debating combing the two sites.  It would make it easier for me to have one site rather than two.  It would also make it easier to communicate to people where to go.  I like the concept (at least as it plays out in my head) in having two sites, but we’ll see what the future holds.

I just finished reading Timothy Keller’s The Prodigal God.  Definitely worth picking up and reading.  Here’s a quote that stuck with me:

“Religion operates on the principle that I obey, therefore I am accepted by God.  The basic operating principle of the gospel is I am accepted by God through the work of Jesus Christ, therefore I obey” (p. 114).

His words reminded me anew that we tend to put the cart before the horse.  We think that if we can be good enough, or be better than someone else, God will accept us.  The reality is, He accepts us based on what Jesus did on the cross.  The Apostle Paul says,

“For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin ⌊comes⌋ through the law.  But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed —attested by the Law and the Prophets —that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction.  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.  ⌊God presented Him⌋ to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:20-26, HCSB).

Quit trying to earn your way to God.  Quit trying to compare your way to Him.  Quit trying religion.  Try the gospel  Try Jesus and what He has done for you.