Skip to main content

Psalm 13

By
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Psalm 13:3-5

I just got done reading about a situation in a large church (that I very much respect) where broken, sinful people acted in broken, sinful ways. People were hurt. Damage was done. Well-meaning people made mistakes - or were being accused of making mistakes. The leaders could have handled it better. Or maybe they couldn't.

It's a mess. And my heart is heavy.

What's really messing with me, though, is how quickly and eager people are to jump on to the Shame-On-You bandwagon. Social media is a powerful platform for connection and communication - but it has a dark side. It has also become a chilling and powerful tool of social conformity through public shaming. Anyone with a blog and a collection of eager and angry readers can sow a scarlet letter on your reputation and call for the world to condemn and mock you.

The internet, equipped with the viral power of social networks like facebook and twitter, have created a modern platform of shame every bit as powerful as the old world public stocks, where people would be locked by the neck and wrists in a public marketplace where every person passing could hurl their insults (or their rotten fruit). Anyone enflamed with self-righteous zeal can abuse you to the adoring and echoing applause of the crowd, many of whom actually have no idea what is going on.

And I have to say that I have seen both Christians and non-Christians try to harness this new power to manipulate people into conformity and eliminate behaviors or beliefs they find offensive (or oppositional to their goals and agendas). Who leads that won't at some point offend? Who leads who won't at some point make a mistake? Who leads who couldn't have their words used against them (either justly or unjustly)?

David prays, Light up my eyes ... lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him.

I think he is praying for courage and joy and a far-seeing wisdom that allows him to have his heart and hands, his thinking and his actions, grounded in the covenant-love of God, so that his enemies will not be able to triumph over him or take joy in his diminishment at their hands.

I think leaders need that kind of joy-fueled courage to lead well in a culture that loves throwing rotten fruit.

Prayer:

Lord, light up my eyes with hope and clarity, so I can lead with both boldness and gentle humility. Lead my heart to fear you more than I fear people, so that I will lead with a loving conviction that isn't self-protective or self-serving. Rebuke my heart when I too want to jump on the shame bandwagon, mocking and deriding people whom I do not know and whose offense I do not fully understand. Rebuke my heart as well when pridefully want to defend myself from accusation instead of humbly seeking truth. Encourage my heart in your steadfast love. The only true success any of can have is to walk in your success, for your glory, in repentant hope in your grace.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teaching the Story Arc of the Bible

By
Each of the Journey campuses has started teaching a gospel class - a class that answers basic questions about following Christ and being a member in our church. This class has attracted a large number of people who are "peaking over the fence" - checking this whole Christianity thing out. That is both exciting and challenging. It gives us the chance to share the Bible with people who don't necessarily come to it with faith - as well as challenge those who do trust the Bible to get on mission with us. Our first lesson was on the story arc of the Bible - what is referred to as the diachronic view of scripture. Simply put, it is a way of looking at scripture as a complete story - with one major primary theme: God in Jesus reconciling the world to himself. Teaching a diachronic view of scripture to postmodern culture, though, presents some unique challenges. In prepping to teach, I wrote out the following thoughts. I would be glad to get any thoughts you have on this to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sanctified Diversity: Learning how to Keep in Step with the Gospel

By
Last Sunday (March 26, 2017), I preached a message at Trailhead Church in Edwardsville, IL , called Sanctified Diversity, looking at Paul's rebuke of Peter for not "keeping in step with the truth of the gospel." The clear implication of this passage is that it's not enough to only know the truth as a follower of Jesus. You must also lean in and learn to live out its implications in the difficult spaces of life.  There are few areas that our culture needs us to lean in with gospel grace, humility, and empathy more than in the area of racial and cultural diversity. It's just not optional. We can be orthodox in our words and heretics with our lives, undermining the integrity of the message of the gospel because we are not walking in its power. To be true to the gospel, we need to do more than just believe its truths. We need to walk out their applications in our lives.  My sermon was called Sanctified Diversity . You can follow that link to listen to it on Tr...
2 comments
Read more

We are Losing by Trying to Win

By
Most people have heard of Jonathan Swift's classic novel, Gulliver's Travels. In it, Gulliver travels from one strange place to another, encountering tiny people, giant people, talking horses, and all kinds of adventures. Most people today think of it as a children's storybook because the scene where he is tied down on a beach by little people who feel threatened by him has made its way into almost every children's cartoon. But Gulliver's Travels is far from a children's storybook. It is an insightful and often cutting look at human nature. Swift was a careful observer of human behavior and lampooned it mercilessly. Swift was an Irish writer and clergyman and said that he wrote this novel to "vex the world, not divert it." I think we could use some of that vexing - and could do with some learning from it. In Gulliver's last adventure, he runs across creatures called "Yahoos." They are nasty creatures who horde shiny rocks and hur...
Post a Comment
Read more