My Whinese Cat, Roaches, and Jesus

Mike Hosey, An Elder

I paid for a good portion of my college by working in a small town deli/bakery.  Each morning -- around 4am or so -- I would drag myself out of bed and head to the “office.”  That office was a 20 x 20 kitchen in the far corner of an old grocery store.  As you can imagine, it’s dark at that hour.  Whenever I would click on the light switch, the dark would flee as the room became bathed in fluorescence. The light will do that – push out the darkness. But it will do even more. Every morning when I hit the switch, tens of giant roaches (and probably scores of smaller ones) would flee with the darkness.  Undesirables will always flee with the darkness.

Just last night, I became reacquainted with how important light is, and how we need it, as well as how we react to it.  Around 3 am, my Whinese cat was whining to go outside. I drug myself out of bed, and trudged to the dining area. I didn’t want to turn on the light because it might hurt my eyes, since they had been in the dark for a couple of hours.   So I skipped the light switch and plotted a course through the dining area to the back door of the house. I ran right into a hard, shin level, oak dining chair. In my haste to correct my position, and in my anger over my mistake, I took a back step and a side step, and ran into a pile of my hiking gear. The sharp end of a hiking pole caught the top of my naked foot just above the toes and plowed a nice furrow all the way to just below my ankle. When we’re out of the light, we lose sight of important details, obstacles, and usable paths.

Jesus told us that he was the light of the world (John 8:12).  That’s because his life example and his teachings can illuminate our paths. When we keep Jesus first in our life by following his example, many undesirables will flee from us.  When we keep him first, we will see paths that lead to life, wisdom, and peace.  But if we do not put him first in our lives, and continually keep him there, our eyes become accustomed to the dark, and they wince and experience a bit of pain when exposed to the light.  But even worse, we stumble on our paths, harm ourselves on obstacles we should have seen, and travel down paths that seem right, but instead lead us into those very pain inducing obstacles (Proverbs 16:25).

Jesus Shoots Pool with the Pharisees

Mike Hosey, An Elder

To be “behind the 8 ball” is an English idiom that means to be in a difficult, weak, or losing situation. The saying comes from the game of pool. In billiards, when the ball you need to sink or hit cannot be touched without the risk of also hitting the 8 ball, you are in a very difficult situation. This is because if you hit the 8 ball  you can be penalized, and in some versions you forfeit the game to your opponent. On the other hand, if you sink the 8 ball as your final shot, and it goes into the pocket that you call, then you win the game.

Jesus put his detractors behind the 8 ball, ironically, in the 8^th chapter of John (John 8:48-59)! It was there that his opposition (the religious leaders of the day)claimed he had a demon. Of course, he denied that, and

then made a curious statement. He told them that Abraham had longed to see his day, and that Abraham had, in fact, seen it. This befuddled them. “What?!” they cried, “you're not even 50 and Abraham is long dead, how could you have seen him?!” He told them, “Before Abraham was, I am.” In this statement, he made a powerful claim! He claimed he was eternal. He didn't say that “he was.” He didn't say “that he will be.” In essence, he said, “I was, I am now, and I am to come,” (Revelation 1:8). But he did something even more powerful. He claimed to be God! In referring to himself as, “I am,” he was using a name that God the father had frequently used for himself (Exodus 3:14). This kind of claim called for the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16), and the religious leaders, without considering any evidence, sought to carry it out on the spot (John 8:59).

So Jesus put everyone who is unwilling to exercise faith in a difficult spot. To sum up a number of great defenders of the faith from the past, Jesus left us only three possibilities as to who he was (or is): 1) He was either a liar, or 2) a delusional, mentally ill man who had duped and garnered some followers, or 3) he was who he said he was – God in the form of a man.  

Lust is Like a Cigarette Carton . . .

Mike Hosey, An Elder

C.S. Lewis once observed a great defect in a common English figure of speech.  That figure of speech points to the lust of a man when it says of him as he prowls the streets that he “wants a woman.”  Lewis observed, quite precisely, that it is not a woman the man wants.  Instead, he noticed that the man “wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).” Lewis was able to see what should be obvious in lust – that it is base and selfish. He also observed that “Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed.”  He wasn’t arguing that lust isn’t powerful. Any man (or woman) who has ever succumbed to it can tell you just how gripping it can be. Instead, Lewis argues that there is something far more powerful and satisfying. I can testify to his truth.  I have been married to the same woman for more than 25 years.  I love and desire her more now – by several orders of magnitude – than I ever did when my body was more obliged to the pull of lust. But lust does have one ability more powerful than love.  It has the ability to destroy.  Proverbs 5:1-8 tells us how lust entices us to participate in the thrill of the moment without consideration to cost.  Proverbs 2:16-18 teaches us how it causes us to lose the paths of life. Both teach that lust leads to death.

Lust is always born out of biology. The programming of our biology is to reproduce. But our biology was ruined in the Garden of Eden when mankind chose sin over God. In that moment, our biology became corrupted -- perverted even.  And easily fooled. Our bodies will almost always give in to pleasure or the removal of pain before our spirits do.  But we are to crucify that biology and it's wrong desires (Galatians 5:24).

Unlike lust, love does not come out of biology. It comes out of willful choice. Lust is boorish and instinctual. It arises from the lowest parts of humanity.  Love, on the other hand, arises from intellect, will, and spirit. Consider how God loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). One must will oneself to love. If you don’t believe that, wait and see what happens when you have to face hard times with someone you say you love, but for whom you no longer have a feeling or physical attraction.

Lust is always a reaction.  Love is always an action.  Choose love.

SHE SAID WHAAAAAT? -- 3 Antidotes for the Poison of Gossip

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Gossip is like a poison that kills relationships. Although there are many kinds of gossip, its most basic form appears when people share either sensitive, untrue, or unconfirmed information with others who should not be privy to it. It is born from many other sins, or dark conditions of the heart. But unfortunately, we often depict it as a lesser sin. It is not uncommon to see gossip portrayed in a humorous light. Perhaps you've seen in films, television productions, or pictures the stereotypical depiction of gossipy old church ladies spreading rumors among the flock. We tend to love these mythical images, smile at their little sin, and see it as the lesser of many troubles.

But this is not how Paul saw it. Paul saw it as quite evil. In fact, he places it right next to sins like murder, hatefulness toward God, ruthlessness, faithlessness, and heartlessness (Romans 1:29-32).

This might be because gossip sours the fellowship that God desires for his people. That fellowship was illustrated in how the early church (Acts 2:42) loved each other, and meshed as a supernatural family. It is expressed by Paul in his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 2:1-2) where he implores that church to demonstrate such fellowship by being united in the same love, mind and spirit.

But gossip gets in the way of that spirit. It spreads strife, and it breaks up friends (Proverbs 16:28). Gossip is almost always born out of envy, or pride, or wrath. When people gossip, they are often either consciously or subconsciously trying to lift themselves up from a life of discontent, get at someone, or obtain some kind of glory for themselves. When people act on information they've received through gossip, people sometimes get hurt.

Here are a few ways to stop such an evil:

Don't Receive It! (Proverbs 26:20). If you receive information from others that you don't have a reason to know, then you throw wood on the gossip fire. But if you tell the gossiper to stop, then you take a log off the fire, and at least one tongue of flame ends at your firewall. Plus you have the added benefit of possibly causing the gossiper to question their own motives.

Remember the Golden Rule! (Luke 6:31). You would not want others to gossip about you. Put yourself in the place of the person who is the subject of gossip and have empathy for their plight. And consider that if someone is gossiping to you, they'll probably also gossip about you.

Strive for TRUE Spirituality! (James 1:26, Psalm 34:13, Luke 6:45). Our tongues are as much a part of our spirituality as anything else – sometimes more so. It is, after all, out of the heart that the mouth speaks!