Remember that high school science experiment – a toad sits in lukewarm water, the water heats by minimal intervals up to boiling, and yet the toad still sits there unaware that it’s going to boil to death?
It’s not a stretch to use this scenario as an analogy for the current condition of this world. The heat is on, but it has risen so gradually that we’re not even aware of it – until the first bubbles of the boil pop next to our ear.
Bolder moves that don’t just chip away at morality but seek to redefine it, sizable and numerous natural disasters like floods and tornados along with cosmic events like volcano eruptions and earthquakes, the amount of individual suffering, stories of bizarre crimes, and the immediate means of hearing about all of this via the world wide web.
Hindsight being 20/20, we might be able to track the path that got us here. Gradual and under the radar. But opening our eyes now reveals the full-blown boil, and it’s starting to burn!
Recently, I read Psalm 119. You know, the long one, the one nobody reads in its entirety because it’s so long? That’s too bad because it’s got lots of good stuff in there – the verse everyone knows “Thy word is a lamp until my feet…” is right in the middle of it. (vs. 105)
Anyway, the entire 176 verses are about one thing – God’s Law – how we should love it, obey it, meditate on it, praise God for it, cherish it, delight in it. All 176 verses.
Although I consider myself a conservative, I’m most definitely not the most conservative Christian you’ll ever meet. I’m far from perfect. I’m highly suspicious of religious people. I love to talk about grace much much more than I like to talk about sin or rules or shoulds and should nots.
However, as a follower of Christ, His Word should take top seat in my life, actually be that lamp to my feet and light to my path. His grace is not an excuse to ignore or water down His law. Truth is still Truth.
I’m mentioning this for a couple of reasons.
First, I believe that the signs of the times (Luke 21:10-11) point to the Perfect Lover coming soon to take His bride, the Church, home to get married. The time of betrothal will one day end. In response, whether it is sooner or later, I should be mindful of how I live.
It’s like the end of Pirates 3: At World’s End (2007), when Captain Will Turner is bidding his love, Elizabeth, goodbye for ten years. They’ve exchanged vows, committed their hearts, but he has to leave to do the job that he’s called to do, the price of getting to live though he had died. Right before he leaves, he says, “Keep a weather eye on the horizon.” That means, I’ll be back – watch for me to come for you!
I should be keeping my eye on the horizon, living in a way befitting my Perfect Love Who is coming back for me. (Rev. 16:15)
Second, I believe that a part of being mindful of how I live is not to judge more but to love more. Love is telling the Truth and offering Grace. (Eph. 4:15, Ps. 85:10)
It’s like the awesome line in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)– “Get busy living or get busy dying.” In other words, stop wasting time! Well, I’d paraphrase that as, Get busy loving and get busy forgiving, because people are dying.
I experienced something recently that taught me that I cannot control what people do to or think of me aside from living with integrity. I can only live as close to the Truth as I know how, and then let God be my Judge as well as my Defense. That requires of me two things. One, let God be the Judge of others as well, and not step in there myself. And two, take my example from Christ Himself Who, while dying on the cross, said of His slayers, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Lk. 23:24)
So, my Dry Ground friends, stay sharp to the rising temperatures! Love more! Forgive more! And keep a weather eye on that horizon!
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