Now, I could almost draw some conclusions from this:

1) women are more spiritual than men

2) women give more consideration to what they "take in" than men do

3) women are more concerned about what their children are being exposed to than men

4) women are more thoughtful in general

One thing I do know from observing my fellow males: we will eat, drink, watch and listen to almost anything put in front of us. I find this extremely disheartening, especially when it comes to the things of God; because, in that regard, we have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table. Yet, God made us heads of our marriages, homes and churches. Go figure.

What bothers me most is how we scratch our heads and wonder, "Why are Christians just like non-Christians?" Our statistics are exactly the same as non-Christians: divorce, pornography addiction, teen-pregnancy, teen-suicide, etc. - they're exactly the same. Why do three out of four Christian teenagers leave the Church when they leave home?

See, I don't scratch my head anymore. I know what the answer is: we watch the same TV shows, listen to the same music, read the same magazines and books, watch the same movies, dress the same, live in the same kinds of houses, treat our wives and children just the same, worry just as much, lust just as much, are just as greedy, just as prideful. Why shouldn't we have the same results?

We cannot be just like the world and think we're somehow going to bear different fruit. God says we're a peculiar people. Well, why don't we start acting like it? What is peculiar about us? Certainly not our music, it's just like the world's. We're saying to God, "We don't want to be peculiar - we want to be just like the world. We want to be cool." Isn't that exactly what the Children of Israel said to God? "Give us a king so we can be like the other nations." God said, "But I'm your King." But He wasn't good enough for them. He was too peculiar. They wanted someone cool. So he gave them Saul - the People's Magazine and Time Magazine "Man of the Year." And look how he turned out.

God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Why? Because our ways are the world's ways and our thoughts are the world's thoughts. What would happen if suddenly we changed our ways to God's ways and changed our thoughts to His thoughts. What would happen? We would change. Our hearts would change. Revival would happen. A revolution would occur. A renaissance would take place in our music and culture. Marriages would be healed, homes restored, teenagers saved. But we won't even consider that idea. That's what breaks my heart.

In Fireproof, Caleb takes a baseball bat to his computer because his addiction to pornography and aspirations of owning a boat are destroying his marriage. He then replaces the computer with a vase of roses (his wife's favorite) and a note that says, "I love you more." This is one of the most poignant scenes in the film, and the turning point in Caleb's marriage. Many would think that an extreme gesture. But tell me, how different is that than Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the Temple? How different is that than the righteous kings of Judah destroying the high places, of Elijah destroying the 400 prophets of Baal, of Moses destroying the golden calf?

"If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you... If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you." (Matt. 18:8,9) I'd say that's pretty extreme action, wouldn't you? Yet, those are our Lord's commands. Are we willing to destroy the things in our lives that are destroying us? Are we willing to take a baseball bat to our TVs where we worship at the altar of sports (and are exposed to the suggestive ads in between)? Are we willing to take it to our music that our lives revolve around, our R-rated movie collections, our novels that fill our minds with worldly thoughts, our magazines that tell us how the world expects us to look and act? And, yes, are we willing to take it to our computers that offer an unrestricted gateway to unlimited pornography?

"Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." (Gal. 5:16) Conversely, walk by the flesh and you will not fulfill the desires of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are the result of walking by the Spirit. If we're not doing that, is there any wonder our statistics are exactly the same as the world's? When are we going to change? When are we going to get down on our knees, the way Caleb did in Fireproof, and beg God to change us? When are we going to get out our baseball bats and start destroying those things in our lives that are keeping Him from changing us? Change - real change - is a cooperative effort between God's Spirit and us. We have to do our part, the way Caleb did his. Are you willing? Are you willing to love Him more?



Waitsel Smith, October 6, 2008

Text © 2008 Waitsel Smith. All Rights Reserved.