Perspective: Two Paths

Developed from a Sunday School lesson delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church in West Greenville, South Carolina on September 11, 2011.¹

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Two Paths

Scripture:

Your word is a lamp before my feet
and a light for my journey.

Psalm 119:105 (CEB)

Forgive me now 'cause I have been unfaithful
Don't ask me why 'cause I don't know
So many times I've tried but was unable
This heart belongs to You alone

Now I'm in our secret place
Alone in Your embrace
Where all my wrongs have been erased
You have forgiven

From "Forgiven" by Skillet

At the very beginning of the Bible is story about the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. In this story God gives them the beautiful Garden of Eden to tend and to enjoy. God also gives them a choice. In the middle of the garden are two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the Tree of Life, they will live forever. On the other hand, if they eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge as God has forbidden them, they will gain an understanding of evil.

Adam and Eve choose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and they end up paying dearly for it. God drives them out of the Garden of Eden, and, because they are denied access to the Tree of Life, they will eventually die. Worse yet, their actions expose not only humanity, but the whole world to evil.²

Toward the middle of the Bible is a book of wisdom called Proverbs. Common themes in this book are the difference between the ways of the wise and the ways of the foolish and the difference between righteous people and wicked people. The Book of Proverbs consistently shows us that the ways of the good, the wise, and the just lead to prosperity, while the ways of the wicked, the foolish, and the corrupt lead to ruin. Consider the following examples:

Those who do right
are saved by their righteousness,
but the untrustworthy
are caught by their own desires.³

A slanderer walks around
revealing secrets,
but a trustworthy person
keeps a confidence.⁴

The lazy have strong desires
but receive nothing;
the appetite of the diligent
is satisfied.⁵

Poverty and shame come to those
who don’t care about instruction;
honor belongs to those
who heed correction.⁶

Later in the Bible, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it."⁷

Throughout Scripture, we are taught that there is more than one way to live - that there is more than one path through this life. We are also taught that it is up to us to choose which path we will take through life. It has been said, "We make our choices, and then our choices make us." The path a person chooses to follow will, in turn, shape the person he or she will become. Some paths are wise and other paths are foolish. Some paths are life-affirming, and other paths are destructive. Some paths lead us to God, and other paths lead us away from God.

It is my belief that God wants only what is best for all of us and nothing else. Because of this, we can always trust in God to lead us on the path we should follow if we will only take His hand and follow Him. We can trust God to show us the path that will shape us into the people He truly created us to be.

Unfortunately, we all have weaknesses that burden us, and we all have demons that haunt us. As the old adage goes, "Nobody's perfect." Jesus wasn't kidding when He said that the path to life is difficult. It seems as though no matter how hard we try to follow the path on which God is leading us, there are things that trip us up and lead us astray. Time and time again - perhaps on a daily basis - we stumble on the path that leads to life and veer into the path that leads to destruction. Years ago, I heard a prayer that illustrates this point well:
So far today, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped. I haven't lost my temper. I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or overindulgent. I'm very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed; and from then on, I'm probably going to need a lot more help.⁸

It is important to remember that even if we lose our way and end up on a destructive path, we do not have to stay on this path forever. We can always turn around and return to the path of life.

Jesus, on the evening before He was executed, ate supper with His disciples. That evening, He broke some bread and gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you." He also gave His disciples a cup of wine, saying, "This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you." Jesus asked His disciples to break bread together and to share a cup of wine together to remember Him.⁹

I think that one reason that Jesus wants us to share the bread and the wine is because this act helps to bring us back to the path of life to which God has called us. Every so often, churches will observe this very act, commonly known as Holy Communion. Typically churches observe it once every month or once every quarter of a year; however, theologian John Wesley recommended that people share in Holy Communion at least once every week. I think that Wesley realized that we constantly stumble and deviate from the path of life.

In my church, at the beginning of the Holy Communion service, we confess that we have not been obedient to God and that we have not loved God and other people as we should have. Throughout the Communion service we are reminded that by God's grace we are forgiven for our failures. When we share the bread and the wine, we remember that Christ's body was broken and that Christ's blood was shed that we might be reconciled to God. By confessing our shortcomings and by experiencing God's grace anew, we return to the path that leads to life.

Of course we don't have to wait for a Holy Communion service to realign ourselves with God: this is something we should do every day. One way to align ourselves with God and with the path to life is studying the Scriptures. To the Israelite leader Joshua, God said, "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."¹⁰ On the same subject, one ancient poet wrote:

How can young people
keep their paths pure?
By guarding them
according to what You’ve said.
I have sought You with all my heart.
Don’t let me stray
from any of Your commandments!
I keep Your word close, in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against You.¹¹

Another way to align ourselves with God is through prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises that if we ask God for guidance, we will receive it. He says, "Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened."¹² St. Paul found prayer so important that he encouraged one church to "pray continually."¹³

Two paths lie before you: one path that leads to life and another path that leads to ruin. May you choose the path that leads to life, and may God bless you on it. If you have strayed from this path and ended up on the path to ruin, may you realize that it is not too late to turn around and return to the path where God is leading you. May you realize that God is always there to lead you as you journey through this life.



Notes:
1 - The original basis for the Sunday School lesson was:
Simon Peter Iredale. "From Generation to Generation", Adult Bible Studies Fall 2010. Cokesbury. pp. 13-19
This perspective is developed from elements I added to the original lesson.
2 - For the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, see Genesis 2-3.
3 - Proverbs 11:6 (CEB)
4 - Proverbs 11:13 (CEB)
5 - Proverbs 13:4 (CEB)
6 - Proverbs 13:18 (CEB)
7 - Matthew 7:13-14 (CEB)
8 - http://www.oneliners-and-proverbs.com/engels/D_d.html
9 - For one account of the Last Supper, see Luke 22:14-20. (CEB quoted)
10 - Joshua 1:8 (TNIV)
11 - Psalm 119:9-11 (CEB)
12 - Matthew 7:7-8 (CEB)
13 - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (CEB)

The photograph featured in this perspective was taken by me at Table Rock State Park in Pickens, South Carolina.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.

Perspective: Like Cute, Fluffy Animals

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Like Cute, Fluffy Animals

Scripture:

Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is - what is good and pleasing and mature.

Romans 12:2 (CEB)

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colours will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes, I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And You loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, You know I believe it

From "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2

A few days ago, while I was at work, my mother sent me an email titled "Animal Therapy." It was the type of email that people often like to forward to each other - the kind full of assorted cute animal pictures. One of these pictures, the one shown below, particularly caught my eye.


There are two things worth noting about this picture. First of all, it is unbearably adorable! Second, the two kinds of animals that are depicted in such a friendly state in this picture are normally in a predator-prey relationship. Whether you saw a cat catch a bird in your own backyard or watched Sylvester's futile attempts to eat Tweetie on Looney Tunes, you probably learned at a young age that cats hunt and kill birds. According to conventional wisdom, the chick should be fleeing from the kitten and not sitting atop the kitten's head.

When I saw this picture, a particular saying came to mind: "The lion shall lie down with the lamb." This saying originated from a prophecy that came through the ancient Jewish prophet Isaiah. As he described what life will be like under the reign of the Messiah, the one who would bring about an age of peace, he said:

The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down
with the young goat;
the calf and the young lion
will feed together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young will lie down together,
and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
A nursing child
will play over the snake’s hole;
toddlers will reach
right over the serpent’s den.¹

In Isaiah's prophecy, a number of animal pairings that would normally constitute predator-prey relationships are depicted living and grazing and resting together. These images are not dissimilar from the picture of the kitten and the chick.

So how is it that the two animals in the picture above are able to coexist so harmoniously? I am not an expert in animal behavior, but perhaps the the kitten and the chick are simply too young to know the way that things are "supposed to be."

On at least two occasions, Jesus spoke about children when describing the Kingdom of God. One day, Jesus called a child to come to Him and then said, "I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."² On another occasion, people brought their children to Jesus so that He would bless them. When the Disciples tried to stop them, Jesus said, "Allow the children to come to Me. Don’t forbid them, because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to people like these children."³

This summer, I was fortunate enough to see Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life. At one point in the film, the mother says, "There are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow."⁴ The "way of nature," as I understand it, is the idea of the "survival of the fittest." According to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, an animal with more favorable qualities will survive to propagate it's species while an animal with less favorable qualities will become extinct. Applied to a social setting, the more ruthless a person is, the more likely he or she will succeed. On the other hand, the kind, the honest, the humble, and the meek are left trampled in the person's path.

The "way of grace," as I see it, is the opposite of the way of nature. People who live by the way of grace don't live in conflict or in competition with each other. Instead they love each other, help each other, and seek to build each other up. This is the way that Jesus taught us to live.

The young do not understand the way of nature: they live by the way of grace. This can be seen in the two young animals in the picture who do not yet realize that they are natural enemies. This truth can also be seen in small children who have no apprehensions about playing with children of different races or of different social classes. At some point, though, all creatures are robbed of their innocence by the world around them. All creatures are hurt by others and exposed to the evils of this fallen world. All of creation becomes broken by the way of nature.

This fall from grace is illustrated well in the second Jurassic Park film. Early in the film, a man is approached by a tiny dinosaur, classified as a compsognathus or "compy" for short. Wondering why the dinosaur is not afraid of him, he asks a paleontologist who tells him that the dinosaur has never seen humans and thus has no reason to be afraid. The man then tasers the tiny dinosaur and says, "Now it does." Later in the film, the same man is overtaken and devoured by a herd of compies.

One night, a pious man named Nicodemus meets with Jesus. Jesus tells him, "I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom." In other versions of the Bible, the words "born anew" are translated "born again" or "born from above." Nicodemus is perplexed by Jesus' words, wondering how it is possible to re-enter the womb and be born a second time. Jesus goes on to say the famous words: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him."⁵

Jesus Christ came into the world to usher in the Kingdom of God. To put things into Terrence Malick's terms, Christ also came into the world to heal the wounds inflicted by the way of nature and to show us the way of grace. Being "born again" means being transformed by God's grace so that we might become like little children again, fit for the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God has yet to be fully realized here on earth, but it can be seen in those who follow Christ by choosing grace over conflict, love over selfish ambition. I believe that someday Christ will return to reign on earth, and there will be peace and harmony. What was once a predator will rest with what was once its prey. Former business tycoons will dine with people who were formerly homeless. People will no longer look at each other and see the things that divide them but will instead see brothers and sisters.



Notes:
1 - Isaiah 11:6-8 (CEB)
2 - Matthew 18:2-5 (CEB)
3 - Matthew 19:13-15 (CEB)
4 - Click here to see the trailer for The Tree of Life.
5 - John 3:1-4,16-17 (CEB)

The pictures featured in this perspective were forwarded to me in an email, so I do not know whom to give credit.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.