What If We Could Take It With Us? (Part 1)

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,...” Truth. (Job 1:21)

“and naked I will depart.”  Again, Truth. Rich, poor, middle-class, when the clock strikes midnight we all turn into the same thing.

All to prove what many wits have said, “You Can’t Take It With You.”  What kind of response is that supposed to create?  According to Job it is supposed to result in our praise of the name of the LORD. Really? Is the fact that we enter and leave this life naked supposed to be a comforting thought, a wake-up call or a depressing thought which causes us to ‘eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die?’ 

Couldn’t God have made it so that we enter life with a million bucks in an account paying 8% interest which we can take with us, along with our full collection of Beatles records? If God wants to bless us, wouldn’t that have been a better plan for Adam and Eve, et al.

What if we could, Augustine wonders?  “What if we could  take something, wouldn’t we be devouring people alive?  What is this monstrously avid appetite, when even huge beasts know their limit?” Animals know when they are full, so they stop eating, but we human beings, our appetites for ‘stuff’ is insatiable.  If God had designed the afterlife so that we could take our possessions with us can you imagine how stingy we would be in this life?  Think about it: you get past St. Peter and the Pearly Gates and the first thing you see is a money changing booth, where your savings can be turned into the currency of heaven.  I don’t know what the exchange rate would be, but people would be dying to find out.

Think about what our last will and testament would read like if we could take it with us?  Would charities stand a chance at getting 10% of our net worth? Would our children receive more than a token percentage?  Our mansions in heaven would need garages the size of football fields, but at least our kids wouldn’t have to hold estate sales (or rent dumpsters).  Still, wouldn’t you like to know that the treasure you accumulate in this life is going to pay some dividends in the life to come?

Felicity's Sentence and Grace

Felicity Huffman, famous actress, will spend 14 days in prison.  She is an admitted criminal, having committed fraud, helping her daughter cheat in her college admission tests.  She also will pay a $30,000 fine, spend a year under court-ordered supervision and serve 250 hours of community service.

If you research this story you will find ‘outrage’ voiced from those who believe her sentence is too light when compared to sentences given to other non-white criminals.  (See, for example, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/us/felicity-huffman-sentencing.html) That is a worthwhile discussion to have, whether our criminal justice system is really ‘blind’, meaning that it should render justice without any partiality to a person’s skin or status.  While I could join that chorus, I want to use Ms. Huffman’s sentence to get us thinking about another topic: the nature of grace.

God’s grace.  I wonder if we truly understand how scandalous grace really is. We sing about it as being amazing, but that is because we think about it in the context of God forgiving and accepting ‘me’.  We all, mostly, agree that it is amazing and wonderful that God should forgive ‘me’ for ‘my sins’.  But, what about Felicity?  Should God ‘remember her sins no more?’, which is one description of how completely God forgives us? Should Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross be used to cover the sin of fraud by a rich and famous white woman?

You see, that is how grace works.  Here’s a little of what Ms. Huffman confessed to the Judge, which I am giving her credit for being a heart-felt statement of contrite repentance.  “I was frightened, I was stupid, and I was so wrong. I am deeply ashamed of what I have done….I take full responsibility for my actions." When God hears a confession like this, if it is sincere, God through Christ forgives the sin completely.  Does that make you happy or sad, this amazing grace we profess?

Human justice (imperfectly) serves society’s goals of retribution and rehabilitation.  God’s goal is to bring God’s children home. When I hear stories like Ms. Huffman’s I am thankful that God is a Judge who sees me just as I am and loves me anyway.  That is grace, and I want Ms. Huffman, and all criminal offenders, to know that scandalous and amazing grace.

Driving Jesus Mad

Road rage. Who among us has not engaged in it, either as the perpetrator or the victim, likely both. Lately, people with guns have taken to settling their rage with shots.  What’s up with drivers?

I read an article on the psychology of road rage (credit: ‘Why do some drivers allow road rage to take over behind the wheel?’ Stephanie Blaszczyk, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published Aug. 16, 2019). Studies show the reason otherwise ‘normal’ people act like lunatics behind the wheel is that we are ‘anonymous’ and ‘social conventions’ don’t apply. You know, like, don’t throw toys, share the sandbox, etc. When we are in a vehicle we believe we can act as if (a) we own the road; and (b) everyone else had better respect my right to drive like the freeway is the Indy 500 track.

But, for people of faith, most of us are taught that God is always with us. ALWAYS. (See Psalm 139) There are plenty of circumstances in which we would prefer to not think about that. One time we really don’t believe it is true is when we have just been cut off on the highway.  Fingers are raised. Language is spoken which we would never say in church (or even the grocery store.) What if we really believed that Jesus is riding in the passenger seat as we get stuck in the fast lane behind someone going the speed limit?  Would we then race around and cut in front of the car thinking, ‘that’ll teach them to take my lane!’  Or would we look over at Jesus, smile and say, ‘Boy, that person really obeys the law, what a good model for society, right Jesus?’

I know, I know. Some people are really lousy drivers and they don’t get that the law says slower vehicles should travel in the ‘slow lane’.  But, really, when someone gets you hopping mad would you drive like ‘that’ if you were driving Jesus?

Because, of course, you are.  You are not anonymous. And while social conventions may seem to not apply on the road, God’s commands to love your neighbor, even your enemy, do. Drive like you love that other vehicle’s operator. Drive like you love God.

Don’t drive Jesus mad!