Making a god of 100 mph Fastballs

Suggested Reading: Habakkuk 1:5-11

Back in the 90's, a movie came out called Rookie of the Year. The movie embodied the fantasy of almost every adolescent boy who loves baseball. The movie's main character, a twelve year old boy, had fallen and broken his arm playing baseball. After weeks in a cast, something had mysteriously fused in his arm, creating a catapult-type action and allowing him to throw fastballs in excess of 100 miles per hour. Shortly thereafter he was discovered by an agent, signed with a major league team and began playing baseball with the big-named stars he idolized. Of course, his sudden fame and success had unfortunate consequences as well. Before long, he began standing up his friends and forgetting to call them, getting an attitude with his mother, and developing some of the less admirable grown up habits of his teammates. Before long, this young pitcher discovered that the very thing he had been gifted with was getting him into trouble, too.

The double edged sword this young pitcher faced is something that we all deal with from time to time. Very often, the thing that can bring us the most success can also cause us the most problems. Such was the case for the Babylonians (also called the Chaldeans) in the Old Testament. God had chosen them to bring his judgment on Israel and several other nations because of their great strength and military might. But God eventually declared judgment on them through the prophet Habakkuk, saying, They are guilty; their strength is their god (Habakkuk 1:11, HCSB). The very thing which allowed God to use them eventually got them into trouble because it became too important to them.

Sometimes we take very good things and ruin them by making them to too important to us. Pastors who are very good at ministry neglect their families to continue the ministry. Fathers who work hard to provide for their families turn their jobs into idols. Mothers are so good at their jobs they neglect their families. Churches with strong music programs become focused on the music itself rather than on the worship the music should facilitate. A keen mind becomes an excuse to look down on people who seem less intelligent. Far too often, the talents God has given us get practiced and nurtured at the expense of our walk with Christ and the neglect of serving people. We must remain vigilant so that the things in our lives that have the most power, for both good and ill, are not transformed into curses by our own mismanagement and selfishness.

What talents or skills do you have? God has given you those abilities to make a difference in the world, but you must manage them wisely and maintain a proper perspective. Otherwise, the very things God gave you for God's own purposes can turn into something very ugly.

Are You Superman's Evil Alter Ego?

Suggested Reading: Ezekiel 20:21-26

A number of years ago, DC Comics decided to explore the possibilities that existed if Superman had been found by more sinister individuals than the salt of the earth Jonathan and Martha Kent. The resulting character in this alternate universe was Ultraman. Ultraman had all of Superman's natural gifts, but none of his character and thus he took the very same tools that Superman had used to save people and used them to hurt people for his own personal gain. The natural gifts were the same but Ultraman had twisted them into something cruel and evil.

In Ezekiel 20:25-26, God spoke to the prophet about his chosen people, saying, "I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life. I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them…" (NLT).  God had given his people the gift of the law. This gift was intended to lead them to life, to show them how to live in a covenantal relationship of trust with God. But instead, they had taken that gift and twisted it into something that gave them an excuse for behaving badly. Rather than following the laws that said, "Don't oppress the poor," or  "Don't commit adultery," and utilizing the sacrificial system as a way to bridge the gap between themselves and their Creator, they indulged themselves and then used the sacrifices as a point system to let them do whatever they wanted. 

God has given each of us gifts. To all of us who believe God has given us the gift of freedom, which Paul urged us not to use as an excuse to indulge our sinful natures. To some of us God has given the gift of intelligence, to some empathy, to some material blessings, and all of us have the potential of twisting those gifts into something disgusting. We can take intelligence and use it to talk ourselves out of what we know to be true. We can employ our empathy to  understand the plight of someone who has wandered into sin and begin accepting sin rather then employing empathy to gently restore the sinner. We can take material blessings and then place our trust in our own deceptive self-sufficiency rather then depending on God.

What gift has God given you? How could it be twisted into something corrupt? Make certain that you use your gift as God intended and never allow something good to be twisted into something less.