Does This Sound Right?

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and you can also tune into our podcast.

I try to serve people in unusual ways wherever I go. It’s part of an attempt to “be the missing part” which is what I think Christians were meant to be. For example, whenever I see someone else’s baby smile at me, I try not to smile back. I want to be one of the few people willing to help them realize at their tender stage of life that they are not the center of the universe. The sooner they realize that, the better for all of us. It’s just one small way I try to help.

As another example, I try not to simply “beep” the horn when a driver has had a lapse of judgment or awareness in some way. Instead, I try to “help” them know for sure they’d made an error and be firmly resolved to “do better” in the future. A “beep” simply does not suffice. So I following them closely for a period of time with my horn applied in one long, blaring message which says “I want to help you be a better driver!” It’s just one of the many ways we can all help serve each other. Was that you I “helped” on the expressway this morning? I hope so.

Obviously this kind of thinking is more than a little “cracked”. But it’s not far off from some of the ways we attempt to self justify our strange or indulgent behavior. Pastors who were meant to be “lead-foot washers” end up surrounded by perks and exclusivity. “In order to be lead foot-washer,” they think to themselves, “I should be accorded some special privileges to get this most important job done.” That’s more than just a little ironic.

Another example has become a famously familiar phrase: “Just because I have to love you, doesn’t mean I have to like you.” The problem is, if we’re all truly open and honest, those two things include each other.

Given enough time, most of us can think of some truly imaginative ways to validate almost any habit or impulse. “It’s just the way I was made” is probably in the lead position. But when you read the words of Jesus (the red ones in your New Testament), it doesn’t take long before you get this sense that He knew this about us. In John 2:23 it says of Jesus that, “When He was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, may believed in His name because they saw the signs that he was doing.” But then it says this in verse 24, “But Jesus on his part would not entrust Himself to them because He knew the heart of man…”

We are our own worst enemy, and the darker side of our human nature can take on the shape of whatever it’s poured it into. We can do the right thing for wrong reasons, the wrong thing for right reasons and then we can layer these things one upon another until we no longer know which is which. All of us are subject to our own “sweet talk”, and no one can “check the math” on your deepest thinking and self justification. Only you can “hold your feet” to the “fire” of change. Have you checked your deepest motives lately? Have you asked yourself tough questions? The adventure of change is worth it. Become a different person from the inside out and you may be surprised at how your possibilities are multiplied.

We’re in the midst of a series right now that grapples with these and other issues by asking the question, “What is true beauty?” So what is true beauty? What is worth wanting, chasing, building, having, protecting and desiring? What are the distractions that set a heart free? What are the urges we won’t have to fight – because they drag us closer to freedom and not further from it. If you missed last Sunday, you can visit our website for the new series intro or tune into the podcast.

Cheers,

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
True beauty, fighting fire with fire, the desires we don’t need to fight and the relationship between change and beauty.

THIS SUNDAY
Special guest Rick Hiebert – church planter, communicator, pastor, leader, motorcycle owner.

FROM THE NOT SO DISTANT PAST
From our series “Church Exposed”, remember: Christianity is meant to be activated, not simply thought about; it is best confirmed or disproved by acting on it, and the trigger for all this is kindness to God and kindness to others. We are attempting to be a church that’s pulled that trigger.

AN ANCIENT ART
You could think of each Sunday service as a 75 minute reprieve from your practice of Christianity. Then, at the end of each service, we get the chance to take up this ancient art all over again starting in the lobby. I hope to see you there.

An Idea about Gas Prices

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

What causes stop and go traffic? You could call it the “multiplied tail light effect”. One person applies their brakes, then the next person (who’s traveling too quickly and following too closely) needs to apply their brakes aggressively. The person behind them (also traveling too quickly and following too closely) needs to apply their brakes even more aggressively and the lane comes to a halt. Now you have a stop and go traffic.

According to James Surowiecki in The Wisdom of Crowds, all of this would occur far less often if we simply slowed down and left a little more room between us and the car ahead. The flow of traffic would stabilize at a lower (but constant) speed, and we’d all move through choke points with far less aggravation. Which leads to a phrase I want to use: “if only”. “If only” we’d all slow down and back off, our world would be a much better place.

Now let’s allow ourselves a few more “if only’s”. If only we’d all switch to energy efficient light bulbs and turn a few of them off… If only we’d carpool, reduce, re-use and recycle… Just imagine. If only we could get one more hour of sleep… Imagine that…

And try this one for fun… Every once in a while, we get angry enough about the random, inexplicable nonsense of rising gas prices to organize a one day boycott. The problem is, we can’t do without the gas we didn’t buy. So the very next day, we go to the gas stations we boycotted and buy yesterday’s gas as well as today’s. All the while the oil executives giggle to themselves and think “Silly consumers! You’ll pay what I tell you to pay because you have nowhere else to go!” But if only we’d wake up just a little bit more and organize a slightly different kind of boycott. Let’s boycott one gas company for life and put them out of business. If only. Maybe then they’d listen!

There is a problem with “if only”, however, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed. “If only” just doesn’t happen very often. It’s because change – real, daily, sustained change – is tough. It’s so tough, in fact, that even the smallest things (like the one’s we’ve been talking about) lie just outside our collective grasp. If only…

So listen: real change occurs in small, gradual increments. Building a better world isn’t complicated, it’s just difficult. So be patient with yourself. You can be what you were made to be and you’ll get there over time. Just put one step in front of another and think of steps small enough that you can start taking them today.

Starting this Sunday, we’re spending the next several weeks looking for those things in life that represent “true beauty”. So what is beautiful? You can visit our website to see the new series intro video (it should be up in the next few days). And you can also contribute your own ideas, questions, comments, directions, opinions and suggestions. What do you think is beautiful? (just use info@askthequestion.ca).

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
The final segment in our series, “Church Exposed” searching for the “trigger” on our faith, our future and ancient Christianity. Tune into the podcast to catch up.

THIS SUNDAY
The first in our new series, “Beautiful”. Why should we care about “beauty” in the first place?

DO MORE THAN JUST CARE
Two Sundays ago, Rob and Tracy Dunham were with us to help lead in worship. They’re adopting a pair of siblings from over seas. There are few things more meaningful – and more Christ like – than to give someone else a chance at a whole other life. We contributed as a church and want to give you the chance as well. If you’d like to be involved, let us know (just use info@askthequestion.ca).