Bad Choice #1 or Bad Choice #2...

Suggested Reading: Ezra 9:1-5, 10:1-6

If you hang around me long, you will discover that I am a big Sci-Fi fan. My wife likes to say, "He watches anything that starts with Star…Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate…" Well, there is an episode in the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "The Pegasus." In that episode, we discover that Commander Riker, as a young man, supported his first captain in developing illegal technology. When their ship was lost in an accident, he thought that the incident was forgotten. But when his old captain showed up announcing that they had found the lost ship (and the illegal technology it probably still contained), Riker was faced with two bad choices - admit his own part in the crime and thus betray his old captain or keep his mouth shut and allow the crime to continue anew. When Riker finally admitted to what he had been a part of, he wished that he had done the right thing in the first place and not aided his old captain in breaking the law.

The Israelites found themselves in a similar situation in the book of Ezra. Ezra had been sent by King Artaxerxes to oversee the rebuilding of the Temple and to serve as governor for the Israelites. In Ezra chapters 9-10, it is brought to Ezra's attention that the Israelites, including the priests, have been intermarrying with the other peoples of the land who worshiped idols and practiced religious abominations.  Intermarrying had been strictly forbidden because God did not want the Israelites introduced to these hated religious practices and the worship of idols. So, now the people were faced with two bad choices; 1)  get rid of these foreign wives they shouldn't have married in the first place and break up their families or 2) continue allowing idol worship to happen in their homes (keeping the wives and stopping the idol worship didn't seem to be an option).  What would you have done in their place? Given two bad choices, which one would you choose? Toss your spouse (and, apparently, children) out in the cold? Or continue living in sin?

We find ourselves in similar circumstances all the time. Having messed up somewhere along the way, now we have to make the best of a bad situation and choose between two bad options. Having made bad financial decisions, we have to choose between paying our tithe and being late on bills or paying our bills and stealing from God. Having chosen to engage in pre-marital sex and create a child, we now have to choose between giving our child up for adoption or bringing it into a less than ideal home-life. Having chosen not to study, we now have to choose between cheating or getting a bad grade on our test.

Instead of wrestling with those bad choices, however, we do have another option. We can do the right thing in the first place. Just like Commander Riker wished he could have done, we can choose, up front, to do the right thing. It may be hard or even painful, but it saves us the agony of facing two bad choices down the road and of knowing we could have avoided the entire situation by doing the right thing in the first place. What choices are you faced with today? Are you tempted to ignore what you know to be right based on what is easier or more desirable? Do the right thing, it will save you heartache down the road. 

Moral and Ethical Subroutines

Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 28:3-18

In the movie Star Trek: Insurrection, there is a very interesting contrast between one of the Enterprise crew members and a Starfleet Admiral. Data, the android second officer of the Enterprise is injured and his moral and ethical subroutines kick-in. In essence, these subroutines cause Data to have a hyper-sensitivity to right and wrong so that no one can take advantage of him in his injured state. Another crew member described his condition as, in essence, being able only to act on the difference between right and wrong. Data is foiled against a Starfleet Admiral who, because he thinks it is necessary for the survival of the Federation, violates the Federation's most sacred law. I don't know that the writers set up this comparison on purpose but they effectively posed the question, "When circumstances get tough, do you abandon your morals for the sake of survival or cling to them even more?"

Toward the end of 1 Samuel, we see a similar choice made by King Saul. Saul and the prophet Samuel have not gotten along well since early in the king's reign. Now Samuel has died and the king is facing a significant battle against the Philistines and is terrified at his prospects. In the middle of the story, the narrator informs us that Saul had gotten rid of all of the mediums and spiritists in the land. Now, whatever Saul's reasons were for doing so, removing those who practiced the occult from the land  was the right thing to do according to the law of Moses. But facing this important battle against the Philistines, Saul's nerves are rattled. Saul has tried consulting the Lord about what to do but God is not answering. Even with Samuel's hostility toward the king, Saul would gladly have consulted with Samuel but the prophet is dead. So, Saul decides he has only one option: Saul disguises himself and tracks down a medium so that she can speak to Samuel in the grave and ask the prophet what to do. When Samuel actually appears, Saul complains, "The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He doesn't answer me anymore, either through the prophets or in dreams. So I've called on you to tell me what I should do" (1 Samuel 28:15, HCSB). Samuel essentially responds by asking what Saul expects Samuel to do if God has abandoned him.

Saul's reign was never one marked by righteousness. In many ways, removing the mediums and spiritists from the land was the moral highlight of Saul's reign. But when things got tough, Saul abandoned the single moral achievement of his reign and turned to the very occult he tried to remove from the land.  Saul did not lose his kingship because of this decision but this kind of decision reinforced the reasons for why God had already chosen to remove Saul as king.

When things get tough in our own lives, how often does doing the right thing become a casualty of survival? Money is tight at home and so we hold back our tithe or decide its ok to "borrow" something from the office or "modify" our tax return. We realize that a personal mistake could harm our relationship with our spouse or with our parents so we choose to lie and hide the truth rather than deal with it. We discover we simply don't have enough time to do all the things we need to so we steal time from our family, hoping that they will forgive us down the road. We fear that our status at the workplace may suffer if people find out about our faith, so we choose not to tell people about the hope that we have in Christ. When times get tough, doing the right thing gets tossed out the window.

What tough decisions are you facing today? Are you considering abandoning what is right because you are more likely to get through your circumstances without suffering? Are you considering cheating, just this once, because you know that doing the right thing might cost you or make things very uncomfortable for you? Character isn't measured by how often we do the right thing, but by how often we do the right thing when it might hurt us to do so.

When Saul got scared, he abandoned what was right and he died anyway. What about you? When things get tough, will you compromise, hoping it will make things better? Or will you choose to do the right thing and trust God with the consequences?  When circumstances scare you, will you abandon biblical morals for the sake of survival or cling to them even more?

Making an Android Jesus

Suggested reading: Mark 3:7-19

In the early seasons of Star Trek: the Next Generation, there is a controversy that surrounds Data, the Enterprise's Android officer. Is he a person or a tool? Is Data really alive our just a complex series of algorithms that make him look alive? The two different camps break down somewhat predictably. Those who have served with him, spent recreation time on the holodeck with him, played poker with him, and generally gotten to know him believe that Data is alive and deserves all the rights and protections of a living being. On the other hand, those who want to use Data, to turn him into an army of Android slaves, those who see Data through lenses of what he can do for them, see him as nothing but a machine, a complex tool to be used however they see fit.

Mark chapter three contains a passage that demonstrates that, when it came to Jesus, people tended to break him into those two categories as well. The first part of the passage describes how the crowds mobbed Jesus because they knew about his abilities to heal and cast out demons. These people were only concerned with what Jesus could do for them, to the point that Jesus instructed his disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him (Mark 3:9, HCSB). Notice, this was not a boat for him to teach from because people were coming to him in order to be healed. This was a getaway boat just in case the people started to crush him!

Contrast that scene with the one a few verses later where Jesus called some of his followers, the ones he wanted, and "named them apostles — to be with him" (Mark 3:13-14, HCSB). He also called them to teach and cast out demons, but the first reason given is just so they can be with him. What a contrast from the scene just a few verses before where Jesus instructs his followers to have a getaway boat ready in case the crowd starts to crush him!

But what about us? Are we more interested in Jesus as a person or as a machine? Are we only interested in what Jesus can do for us? Or do we want to be with him? When Jesus set the disciples apart, one of the primary reasons Jesus gave was for them to be with him. Yes, they were going to preach and do miracles and turn the world upside down, but to do that they had to know him first. They had to be willing to spend time with him on his terms and not just hang around to see what they could get out of it. Are we willing to just be with Jesus? Or can we only see Jesus through the lens of what Jesus can do for us? Are we willing to get to know him or is Jesus just a tool to us?

How will we choose to treat Jesus? Is he a Person whom we get to be with and know or is he a tool we use to get what we want?

There's Nothing Wrong With a Little Hero Worship

Suggested Reading: Psalm 135:13-21

There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the Enterprise stumbles upon a ship whose passengers are all dead except for a small boy. The Enterprise's android officer, Lieutenant Commander Data, discovers the boy and soon becomes the object of hero worship. The boy is so impressed with Data and so grateful that the android saved him that he begins to imitate Data. He begins to dress like him and comb his hair like him. When people ask the boy how he is doing, he responds by saying, "All systems are functioning within normal parameters." The boy's fascination with Data would almost be cute if it weren't a response to the boy's tragic loss of his family and friends aboard the doomed ship.

The idea of hero-worship has been around for a long time. Children, have always tried to imitate those people that they think are the bravest and smartest and "coolest." I remember when I was a kid dressing up like Batman and getting on a little banana seat bicycle and "patrolling" the neighborhood because that is what heroes were supposed to do. As we grow up, hero-worship takes on a little more serious dimension. We want to be like a particular leader or businessman and so we read their books and try to develop some of the habits that they have developed. We want to be as good at parenting as our parents (or some other worthy parental role-model) and so we try to do things the way they would have done them. One of the most natural things in the world is emulating someone we admire.

Psalm 135:15-18 reads, "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them" (HCSB). These verses describe the very phenomenon we have already discussed, but from an angle we don't often consider: we become more and more like whatever we worship. The phenomenon is very similar to the idea that we become like the people that we hang out with, except it is amplified and often much more difficult to notice because the things we worship (the focus our primary attention and strength) are often not even living things.

Sometimes, we focus all of our time and attention on money and we soon become cold and hard, caring only about the bottom line and whether or not we can obtain something. Sometimes, we focus on leisure time and relaxation, and we soon become laid back, lazy and unmotivated by anything but enjoying ourselves. Sometimes, we focus on work and then nothing matters to us except being productive and avoiding distractions that could lower productivity, like family or spending time serving and loving people. Sometimes, we focus all of our attention on a particular person and we begin picking up that person's habits and we hear people who care about us worried that we are "losing ourselves."

Whatever we worship, whatever is the focus of our attention and devotion, will shape the people that we become. When God is the focus of our worship, we develop more and more the character of Christ. If our character is developing in other ways, chances are pretty good that we have set something else up as a god in our lives, possibly without even realizing it.

What habits have you seen develop in your life? How has your character evolved recently? Answering those questions will give you a good indication of where your heart is focused. If you don't like what you see, change your focus. Intentionally place your attention and devotion on the God who gave his Son to save you. Keep your mind focused on who God is and what God is doing in the world. The more hero-worship of God that we engage in, the more we become like Christ.

Four Kings and a Fearful Android

Suggested Reading: Genesis 14:1-16

In Star Trek: Generations, the android Data finally got to put in an emotion chip and experienced the full-range of human emotions that he had always wanted. Data had always been the smartest guy in any room, the strongest guy in any room, and the most ethical guy in any room, but he had always wanted to be human and experience the same emotions everybody else experienced. But the emotion chip overloaded his artificial system at just the wrong moment. While the villain of the movie was taking his best friend hostage, this incredibly powerful android who could easily have saved the day and stopped the villain was frozen by fear. When I watched the movie the night before the official release I sat there stunned. What in the world was Data afraid of? He should have been wiping the floors with the villain! Instead he was paralyzed and acted like a little baby because his fears got the best of him.

Last time, we talked about how scared Abram was of the Egyptians, going so far as to give up his wife to save his own skin. Well, after God saved Sarai from Pharaoh and Abram was banished from Egypt, he returned to the Promised Land with Sarai and his nephew Lot. Lot was captured by four kings who had come in to conquer the Land, wiping out all of their rivals in the process.  The next thing we know, Abram "assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he and his servants deployed against them by night, attacked them, and pursued them as far as Hobah to the north of Damascus. He brought back all of the goods and also his relative Lot, as well as the women and the other people" (Genesis 14:14-16, NLT). I read that passage, how Abram had conquered an entire alliance of kings who had wiped out all of the local kings, and how he did it with only 318 men, and I thought, If he could do that, why was he so afraid in Egypt?

Fear is one of those things that can sneak up on us. Much of the time, fear is not rational. And often fear loses its power if we can stop and think about the situation or if we simply focus on what needs to be done rather then why it scares us. Don't get me wrong, fear can be a good thing when it causes us to be cautious in circumstances where we might hurt ourselves by simply rushing in. But we must use fear as a tool, helping us to recognize situations that require a little more thought, determination, or prayer. We must never allow fear to dictate our actions.  2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, "God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment" (NLT).  Those three things - power, love and sound judgment - can transform fear from something that drives you into a tool at your disposal.

Don't allow fear to paralyze you. Use fear as an indicator of where sound judgment, love and God's power are required. Then apply them to the task.

Abandoning Your Rights As a Klingon

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 5:14-19

Worf was one of the most memorable characters from Star Trek: the Next Generation. A Klingon with giant ridges on his skull, Worf was from a race of warriors who prized honor above all else. But Klingons also believed in punishing children for the sins of their fathers. When Worf discovered proof that his father had been falsely branded a traitor, he brought that proof to the Klingon High Council to clear his family name. As a result, the Council offered Worf the son of the man responsible for framing his father and a chance for his family to avenge the wrong done. Worf was given the right to kill the young boy but he refused to punish a boy who had not personally committed a crime against him.  As far as Worf was concerned, he had the right to kill the boy, but killing him would not have been right.

At the end of Nehemiah chapter 5, after Nehemiah had dealt with the nobles and officials who had been exploiting the poor, Nehemiah made an official notation that almost seems like he was tooting his own horn. Nehemiah wrote, "Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year-- twelve years-- neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor." (Nehemiah 5;14, NIV) Nehemiah went on to say that the previous governors collected a very hefty salary from the people he governed but that he  himself refused to take it, even though it meant feeding 150 officials on a daily basis as well as the occasional visiting dignitaries out of his own pocket. Nehemiah specifically stated that he refused to demand what he was due as governor because it would have hurt the people of the land. Nehemiah could have demanded a salary and reimbursement for all of his expenses because they were his right, but he chose to make the people more important than his rights.

There are many things that we believe are our rights, things that we think people owe us. Sometimes, we have a right to an apology, to an explanation, to compensation. People may owe us credit or thanks. And often, we would be well within our rights to demand those things. But sometimes, demanding our rights simply isn't right. Sometimes, we need to put people and relationships above our rights. That person who hurt you may owe you an apology, but is the apology worth more than the friendship? Jesus set aside his rights as creator of the universe and ruler of eternity in order to save the very people who had taken his gifts of life and freedom and thrown them back in his face.

Jesus refused to cling to the rights he was due as God because we were more important to him. Shouldn't we be willing to forgo some of our rights because people are more important to us?

Bustin' Up the Devil in a Game of Strategema

Suggested Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Peak Performance," the Enterprise's android second officer, Data, is challenged to a game of Strategema (think really fancy chess) by a renowned grand master who is visiting the Enterprise. Data, despite the fact that he has a computer for a brain, loses and loses bad. Initially, he has something of a robot pity-party because, after analyzing his performance during the game, he cannot find any mistakes and therefore believes that something is wrong with his programming. So he shuts himself in his quarters and refuses to come out until he can figure out what is wrong with his programming. But after being encouraged by a friend that it is possible to lose without making any mistakes, Data emerges and challenges the grand master to a rematch. Reluctantly, the grand master accepts but just moments into the match, the grand master becomes flustered. As the match continues, the grand master's frustration grows until, finally, he throws down the game controls in disgust and stomps off.

When Data is questioned about the outcome of the game, Data explains that the first time he played he was trying to win and played aggressively. As a result, when the grand master set up traps for Data based on his desire to win, Data fell into them. But the second time, Data chose to play for a stalemate, playing just to stand and make certain that he didn't lose. As a result, according to Data's friends, Data "busted him up."

In a lot of ways, Data's second strategy is exactly the way we should live our lives when battling our greatest enemy, the Devil. In Ephesians 6, Paul instructs us about the spiritual war we face and he commands us, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:11, NIV). Then, he repeats, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (6:13, NIV).

Paul's instructions for our war with the Devil and the evil forces at work in the world say nothing about attempting to defeat the Devil. Paul is only concerned with making sure that we stand, that we don't fall. The Holman Christian Standard translates verse 13 "so that you may be able to resist in the evil day...to take your stand." James uses similar language when he says, "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7, HCSB).

You see, we don't have to worry about defeating Satan and the forces of evil. That is God's job and that war is already won. All we have to worry about is standing, making certain that we don't fall. We resist temptation. We resist evil when we see it. We resist the forces of darkness when they come against us. But we must never begin to believe that we must defeat them. We must simply remain standing by living lives of integrity and refuse to allow evil a foothold in our lives. The war doesn't depend on us. We just have to hold the line.

Rejoice! Emmanuel Has Come!

"Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son…" Hebrews 1:1-2 (HCSB)

"The problem with believing in a deity is there is no way to know what that deity wants from you."  Deanna Troi made that statement in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Who Watches the Watchers?" She said it while trying to save a shipmate from becoming a human sacrifice at the hands of a primitive people they had been observing. Her statement demonstrates a fantastic point made by the agnostic or the atheist - if God exists, there is no way to know what God wants.  But this point is also the one God chose to blow out of the water on that first Christmas.

Up until that Christmas, one might have made the argument that all of the prophets and dreams and visions and angels were simply the delusions of human beings attempting to see the divine or explain the unexplainable. But when Jesus was born and the infant's cry sounded, God's voice was heard directly by human ears. No longer did God speak indirectly through prophets or in dreams and visions. No longer was the message filtered by the ignorance, prejudice and selfishness of mortal men. No longer did we have to guess about what God wanted. We heard his own voice tell us. As John said,

"What was from the beginning,

What we have heard,

What we have seen with our eyes,

What we have observed,

And have touched with our hands,

concerning the Word of life--

That life was revealed and we have seen it

And we testify and declare to you…"

(1 John 1:1-3, HCSB)

God removed any doubt that day about what He wanted from us or for us. He stepped out of Heaven and walked the same ground that we walk, breathed the same air that we breathe, and we heard his voice. "The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14, HCSB)

On this Christmas day, as we celebrate the gift of God's Son, take a few moments to be thankful that we don't have to guess anymore. We don't have to wonder if we got the message right. God spoke to us with his own voice. He healed us with his own hands. And He gave us His own Spirit to remind us. Rejoice! Emmanuel has come! God is with us!