Part 3 – Bad Bricks
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
Gummy Bricks
Most people focus on the sins against society and miss the sins against God.
We continue our study in the deconstruction movement, using Legos as a visual framework. If you haven’t already, please begin with Part 1. Now, let’s do the hard work of sorting through the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of the human soul.
Imagine building with Lego-shaped gummies instead of real Legos. Just looking at our featured image makes me want to dig in, but I know I need a healthier diet. That’s a picture of what happens when we try to use some Christian person as a foundation. Although fellowship provides sound support, it is only as strong as its position to the foundation. I can’t mention all the times I looked to a great teacher or an example of faith, only to find disappointment when they tripped up. Any of us can put some person on a pedestal, or lean on a relative’s faith rather than developing a personal faith. The difference between faithfulness and faithless is not a matter of spelling but a matter of dependency. Do I only ask someone else to pray for me or make the time to be alone with God? For someone else to read their Bible to me or to expound on my already opened Bible? To drag me to church or to meet me there as I worship the God I find worthy of worship? It’s only a matter of time before a person cannot take the place of the God you ought to depend on. Perhaps, someone has lived before you as Christian in name only, thereby failing to be Christlike. Please don’t walk away from a faulty picture of God and miss out on a God who left everything out of His love for you. Don’t throw away your solid Legos because gummy Legos don’t last. Remember that people are human and yet God remains faithful, and your build will outlast the failings of humanity.
I watched a documentary about a pastor of a mega church who was discovered to be in an affair. And I thought to myself, Wow. Even Hollywood judges and condemns sin. Whether they call it an affair, hypocrisy, abuse, racism, hate, they have a moral code and a social jury. And if you agree that those things are wrong, then we have established that sin exists. Most people focus on the sins against society and miss the sins against God. Do you remember who Jesus called to love? Love God first, then your neighbor (meaning anyone you meet). So hating God is a greater sin with the consequences of separation from God. Since God is the source of life and all goodness, then separation involves death and suffering. In fact, sin is a major source of suffering. That doesn’t mean that there’s a direct correlation in an individual’s life. Sin’s consequences can affect others, even those desiring to please God. Still, God can use suffering to produce good character and a good testimony.
Being raised by a Christian family, I have been to many churches. Mostly Baptist churches when I was a child, but after my father died, my mother struggled with the Christian faith. So she took me to different social events, then a Universal church (where all faiths are accepted), some other strange churches that were likely cults, faith-movement churches, tent revival events, and then Charismatic churches. One of my family members was part of a witch coven, and I remember walking in on a seance and feeling this dark weight pressing in from all sides of the room. Today I go to a local Baptist church, worshiping and hearing the Word carefully handled by the humble, honest, funny pastor. My mother found a similar church in her area. Anyhow, I’ve seen much, including the blind leading the blind. And I am so glad that God placed a desire in me to find a good church in spite of my bad experiences. Nowadays you can go on a church website and discover their beliefs and listen to a service, at least in America. Thank God for a country where I can so freely worship.
In a post-modern world, there can be so much confusion about right and wrong. Emotions flare, and compassion for one group or ideal turns sour, from compassion to bitterness. Polarization pits one against another, and each sees the devil in human form. That other group is the collection of cursed Legos, and should rightly be thrown into the incinerator. The social justice voice cries “What about loving people?” The spiritual voice cries “What about loving God?” While John shows us a complete picture of love flowing between Heaven and Earth:
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11 ESV
Solid Bricks
Remember those small Lego tables that had a large built-in baseplate? It was made for toddlers, but now grown men are building large-scale Lego tables in their basement. It takes time and solid lumber to build the bigger table, but some people just love their Legos. Right now, the world looks more like a large collection of toddler-sized tables, all trying to come together to make one wide, short table for a world full of self-seeking ideologies. The Bible calls us aside from self-will to seek God’s higher will. Christians are charged to love the people in the world but to resist the allure of this world’s temporary pleasures and glory. We do have an obligation to be gracious with our words and behavior, although that challenge is daunting in a world that puts everything under a microscope, in an array of voices that easily offend while easily being offended. Jesus effectively described the human condition, the heart being deceptively wicked. Hurt people hurt people, as the saying goes, and bitterness goes viral. An offended society shuts out its offenders. Some offenders would prefer it that way; in fact, I’m fine with being excluded from certain circles. In that light, is it such a surprise that God shuts out of Heaven those who prefer to offend Him?
I love how in the book of Revelation – while we have the whole world falling apart, its present powers clawing away at the church, the antichrists converging into one rising beast – even so, Jesus is standing at the door of the heart and desiring fellowship. (Rev 3:20)
“Jesus, this is the apocalypse!!!”
“I know, my friend. Let’s sit down and break bread together.”
If you are earnestly looking for truth, you need not go far, though you may need to shut off some devices. It may seem everyone else has lost their way, lost the truth, lost spiritual life. But Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, is closer to you than anyone. The circle that contains Jesus and a handful of believers is by no means limited to a head count. He was the Word at the beginning of creation, the singularity of our universe. A small circle full of infinite potential. It takes time to understand how He loves you, as He sees your eternal identity. In time, He healed me of the effects of sins, pain inflicted by others and myself. When I seek out Biblical teaching, I crave the clearer representation of Christ. When I relate to the world, the love of the cross overflows into compassion for others. And in a world of hurt, that dynamic is the foundation of good bricks towards an eternal home.
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