“Squirrel”

Mark 13:1

      In the movie “Up” the dog Dug gets easily distracted. Even when important things are happening, his mind gets pulled other places. Does this sound familiar? I know it does for me. Life today is filled with so many side attractions, so many things that can pull our hearts and minds away from what really matters. It could be very easy to spend life on side pursuits and end up empty at the finish line.

      I don’t think the disciple who remarked about the beauty and majesty of the architecture there in Jerusalem wanted to know about the future. I don’t think he was asking about the city’s destruction. I also don’t think he was wondering if alien technology had been used in the construction. I think he was just making small talk at the end of a long day.

      If you have been to ancient cities, there are often ruins of buildings that boggle the mind. Walking through the ruins of Pompeii my mind and imagination could imagine the city in its moments before the destruction from the Mount Vesuvius eruption. It had beautifully painted homes and businesses, sculpted gardens, public buildings and theaters, bistros and coffee shops. It was a very modern city. It even had running water controlled by faucets.

      Rome is filled with magnificent buildings, buildings that trumpeted the wealth and influence of the empire. Anyone who came to that city knew that it was the seat of power. The Aztec and Incan ruins speak of power and values. New York, Washington, DC, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore. All these cities speak about their cultures and their values, and the power of the human spirit to make a profit, impose taxes, and self-promotion.

      Jerusalem and been built as the model city, as a place worthy of the presence of the LORD, the Creator of the Universe, sustainer of His people, and the “God with us” God. Rulers of that day come thousands of miles to see this city and its treasures. But because of the rebellion of His people, the city had been handed over to enemies who carted off the riches and destroyed the rest. The poorest of the poor were allowed to stay and maintain the crops so that the new sheriff in town could get their spoils each year.

      It had then been rebuilt, but not with the splendor of the previous city. They didn’t have the wealth and power they once had. And it was this rebuilt city that this disciple sees. And even these rebuilt walls were wonderful to see. Despite the presence of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mound today, the ancient city is still speaking of its greatness today.

      But if we miss the message of this disciple we might miss the LORD. Although he is probably making small talk, he is distracted from Jesus. These are the final days of Jesus’ life prior to His death and resurrection. These moments are important, perhaps more important than any other. Ask anyone who spends time with a dying relative. The last moments seem very important.

      Jesus is just a few steps away, and this disciple is looking at the buildings. He pulls out his cell phone and takes a few selfies. He posts them to FB. He responds to a few text messages. And all the while Jesus is right there.

      We go out to eat a meal with family or friends. Do we spend it with them, or do we allow ourselves to be distracted? Do we silence our phones when family is around? Or do we, like a family we saw recently, sit in a circle and text and surf, without any conversation across the table. Are we so busy traveling that we don’t take time to notice the people with whom we are making the journey of life?

No Bread

Mark 8:16

      Have you ever noticed that sometimes our conversations are about something that has absolutely no real importance? The Web is filled with relatively meaningless junk. Think about the funny videos you have watched. What was the eternal value connected to the moments you spent watching them? Or endless ‘conversations’ on FaceBook, or any other social media?

      But before you hang up the phone, most sports conversations don’t really matter either. In fact, I contend that so many of our conversations don’t have much content even when we are discussing the most important things. I think we have lost the ability to communicate at any level other than a surface level. We lack the vocabulary and the grammar to speak in sentences that flow from one to the other and carry on a logical argument. We have mastered the glib, sound bites, but beyond that most of us have difficulty.

      It sounds as though the disciples had no discussion beyond the bread. Jesus introduces them to a word picture about yeast and the content of religious and political speech. They seem to have never moved beyond the yeast and into a discussion about the Pharisees and Herod, the King. As I said yesterday, their stomachs ruled their minds.

      Part of what great communicators do is turn conversations. They start the conversation with a topic that connects with people. Then, slowly at first, they turn the conversation to something that matters, about which they have a passion. If they just jumped into their chosen topic, most people would turn them out. But, because they have captured their imaginations, their hearts and their emotions are now engaged. This brings them deeper into the conversations that follow. They are hooked.

      This skill can be used for redemptive and sinful purposes. Advertising specialists do this to raise their bottom line. Politicians do it to shape the conversation so that they gain power or preserve the power they have already, while carefully selecting the facts that make their position and them personally smell like roses, or at least not as bad as their opponent.

      We need to learn this skill in our personal lives, so that we can turn conversations from the meaningless and mundane to the eternal. Not very conversation needs to be about heaven and hell, but many more need to be about values and choices, observations and interactions with the culture. We need to sharpen our conversation and argument making skills, so that when the opportunity arises we are able to articulate the Gospel to a world that has questions and needs concrete answers. We call this field of conversation apologetics.

Chatterbox

Proverbs 10:8

Do you know someone who just won’t shut up? I mean, no matter what topic or when a conversation starts, they have to be the one doing the talking. The faucet gets turned on and there is no stopping it. People even leave the room and the chatter continues. They seem to have a compulsion to fill empty auditory space with the sound of their voice.

Or perhaps the conversation always turns to them. They make it about themselves, even though the situation warrants the conversation being allowed to center somewhere else. You could be talking about just about anything and they have a story about that subject. Sometime the stories fit, but many times they are sidetracking topics.

Sometime people who are this way have a very difficult time accepting what other people have to say. It is almost as if their brains only work in one direction. They seem to be able to give it out, but they can’t take it in. They are often very poor listeners.

One of the essential lessons of childhood is learning to follow directions. Kids need to learn that they are not in charge of their world. Parents are the first teachers of this lesson. It doesn’t make us tyrants if we make rules and enforce them. In fact, it makes us a better reflection of our Creator.

Some rules are just meant to be obeyed. We can try all we want to disobey the rule of gravity, but it will win. What goes up, must come down. If we try to ignore the rule, we will just end up falling. We can temporarily experience what it feels like to be in a no gravity situation, but this only happens when the plane is falling at the same speed as we are falling. Gravity still wins.

Commands are meant to be obeyed. If we obey quickly, there are better results than if we delay obedience. Quitting smoking one day before we die of lung cancer is not as helpful as quitting after only one day of smoking.

When we really obey a command we take the truth contained in the command and make it a part of who we are. It becomes part of the fabric of our being. Then we don’t even have to think about obeying, obedience is just the way we live.

People say it takes several weeks to establish a new habit or break and old one. Is there a habit you would like to replace with another habit? Now is as good a time to start as any. Start obeying.