A Better Story

"This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Don't allow small seeds to grow into huge plants." -Coach

When I was in high school, my uncle (whom I will refer to as Coach for the rest of this post) would meet with students on Friday nights at a local Starbucks. We would sit around a large table on the patio, and ask the tough questions about life and religion. The goal was an open forum, a place anyone could come, regardless of faith, and learn about the Jesus of the Bible. It started small, just our family, but grew over the next two years to over 30 students, ranging in age from middle school to college.

During one of those Friday nights, Coach told us something that has stuck with me all these years; I even wrote his words down in the cover of my bible, now falling apart a bit at the binding.

"This book is truth. Absolute. This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Don't allow small seeds to grow into huge plants."

What does that mean though?

First of all, it means that something like absolute truth exists. You might say truth is subjective. My question is are you sure? Because that's an absolute statement.

Right and wrong exists. Morality isn't subjective. We don't all get to decide our own individual morality. To say, "just follow your heart," can lead to some rather sticky situations. James tells us that our hearts are wicked.

That can come off legalistic, and I'm not say we have to be perfect, there is beauty in Grace that saves perfectly. But that's not a get out of jail free card. Don't abuse the gift you've been given.

It's also so easy to fall. Take King David, in Samuel, God refers to David as a man after his own heart. But in 2 Samuel, David makes the decision to stay home during "the time kings go to war" and sends someone else to lead the troops in his place. In this seemingly small decision, David finds himself basking in free time. In this time, he spots Bathsheba bathing, and he has to have her. But she's married to Uriah, and when she becomes pregnant, David has a problem. Her husband is out fighting, out where David would have been. So David spins a complicated web, attempting to save himself, ending with Uriah's death and the death of the child.

Has your life every spun out of control? Maybe not this kind of extent. But one seemingly small choice can snowball out of your control. And in that lies the issue. What is really in our control? How much of life is beyond what we can do? We think we are fine, can master life on our own, maybe read some self help books and pull ourselves up by the boot straps.

Life doesn't work that way, no matter how bad we want it to. We have a tendency to only want God  on the mountain tops or the valleys of our journey. We forget to stay faithful in the mundane, and we often become complacent.

But there is a better story. All is not lost. Dig in now, to the living word. Hold tightly to your community. If you don't have community, find one, seek out others on the same path to pursue Christ. I know it's easier said than done. But nothing worthwhile is every easy.