Falling short – The Arrow Preacher

Continuity

2020’s been a year has it not? We’ve seen all manner of strange, hurtful, heartbreaking, loss, a little laugh, a crazy election, murder hornets, killer viruses, and so much more. One thing that’s been hard is continuity. Well first, I suppose one must define continuity, Websters defines it as, “The unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time.” I think it’s safe to say this year has not been one with anything consistent. I think it’s this consistency I want to talk about. Life is by definition a broken thing. We know that from the fall, all things are in a never-ending cycle. Genesis 3:17-19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We see the fall of man, where perfection became stained with the blackness of sin. A mark on creation that would require a New heaven, and a New Earth. The continuity was broken, and a cycle of death was born. Scripture is always telling us where we must turn in our struggles. Scripture tells us where we must receive our hope, and it’s not here in the world.

I have fallen short every day of my life. I have let someone down, hurt someone’s feelings, made mistakes, the wrong choices, or followed the wrong path. I think the worst thing I have done; is I have not had continuity in my relationship with Abba. I think my failings to have a steady and solid relationship with God is my biggest fault. See, the thing is, I have always struggled with male figures in my life. There’s been substantial trust issues, and it keeps me guarded to make male friends, and as much as I’ve attempted to gain an earthly father figure, I’ve been abandoned or ignored most of my life. On the rare occasion someone rose to the occasion I became scared and I was the one to run away. I have constantly felt the desire to surround myself with friends. I have always had the need to feel accepted and wanted by people. Largely because I did not feel wanted as a child. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into my life today though. I have been trying to find my place, and sadly, coming to the realization where I believe I must go in the middle of a pandemic is beyond problematic. For someone who desires continuity in their life, a pandemic certainly pushes one to their limits. I have not seen many plans come to fruition. So, where do I stand? I honestly couldn’t tell you. As I recently told a friend, I feel as if I’m stuck in the mud chest deep, sunk in, and unable to move. I think in many ways we all feel that way this year. I would like to also say this; many people think being a Christian means you don’t have doubts, or struggles, hardships, or even depression. Being Christian doesn’t mean any of that. The difference between Christians and non-Christians, is where we place our hope. We feel the same, we bleed the same, we hurt the same, but we keep pushing forward with Hope. We keep joy in our hearts, and even beaten to the ground, we keep that joy burning. An ember can turn into a mighty flame, and we can survive in that hope. In fact, that hope is what keeps us alive, not in this worldly sense, but our eternal souls.

So it is that survivability I want to talk about. We must not grow weary of doing good, and we must continue to pray without ceasing. We must continue to push ourselves, even when life feels like everything’s crumbled around us. One thing we know, is the one thing in life we can place our hope in, is the single most continuous thing in the universe. God’s love, and grace, and mercy, simply put, who God is, has never change, and will never change. So, here’s where I throw down the gauntlet. Are you reflecting that same mercy, and kindness, and grace towards others? Are you a friend that shows continuity? Are you there for your friends? Are you available for them when they need you? Are you the father you should be? Are you there for your kids, kind, and compassionate, not sometimes but all the time? Are you a reliable employee? Are you a son or daughter who’s there for your aging parents? Anywhere in our life, we can take this lens and we can peer deep down, and evaluate where we are, and how we’re doing across the board. We truly do have so much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for, but at the end of the day, those who depend on us, have we been there for them? I think it’s something we all need to have a gut check about. Who have we pushed away this year? Who have we ignored messages or calls from? Who have we failed to keep in touch with? Who have we failed to be that dependable person too? If God is always with us, Emanuel, then why is it so easy for us to push others to the side or the back burner. We have truly forgotten the good will towards men. We claim being busy, or distracted, or even joke about being a ‘bad friend’, but we truly need to take a look inward, and see those who depend on us. Are we doing everything we can to be someone they can truly depend on? This year has been exceedingly difficult for millions, and as such, this Christmas more than most, we really should ensure we are dependable for those who need us. Show love, let the light shine off you and be more Christlike daily. We have so much more potential to love, to give, to show mercy, and grace, so we must be doing that, fulfilling the law of Christ. Love, covers a multitude of sins, and that means we must be more patient, more giving, more graceful, humbler, more truthful, not being rude, and certainly does not think evil. We should grab onto a little Christmas spirit, but not just for the season, but year-round. We need to bring back the loving your neighbor part, and be a friend a friend would love to have. Be a reliable friend, a reliable employee, husband, wife, brother, sister, spouse. Be a reliable parent, and so much more. Our God has not changed, and is always the same, there for us, day or night. Our father hears our prayers in our good times and in our bad, on the mountain, or in the valley. We should remember that with how we choose to treat others. Continuity is not just important for stability of life, but our relationships as well. Don’t forget, and Merry Christmas to all!

Accused and Apathy:

Recently I was accused of being a bad friend. I was accused of not being a good Christian man. If we’re honest about the good and bad in life I will say I am human and I will always fall short. Now, that being said I will always admit to my mistakes, but these recent accusations were completely and utterly unfounded. People often say things under the umbrella of emotions and when they do there’s really no telling what may come out.

Often when the truth is uttered those who hear and feel a conviction will lash out in anger. They are not slow to speak and they cause destruction left behind after the sound waves of their voice subsides. The wicked tongue is plentiful today. It’s all around us in the music we listen to on the radio, the movies and TV shows we watch, and even the voices heard in our very homes. Proverbs 21:23“Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” No one seems to care anymore that communication is slowly dying. I’ve watched as excuse after excuse comes across my phone screen as to why a message was ignored for days, weeks, and sometimes longer. I’ve gotten every manner of excuses and while some are absolutely legitimate others are not. My biggest frustration is when I get the simple excuse I’ve just been busy. This verbiage, busy, doesn’t usually mean busy, it means ‘you weren’t a priority.’ Thus the excuse given really comes from a place of apathy. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I’ll give you the definition, Apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. There was no concern on how someone would feel being left hanging, dangling there for weeks before a response was finally given, and that response never actually held an apology. See, what most people fail to realize is just as dangerous as the tongue is, as it’s probably the most dangerous weapon on the planet, it has the power to build, or destroy. Matthew 15:11“It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

I have a good friend who has a few kids. He has often told me about his policy with the kids, the punishment for wrong doing will be equal to the crime, but the punishment for a lie on top of the crime, much more severe. This makes sense because we as Christians know we will make mistakes. We know that it’s not about if we screw up but when. The thing with those mistakes is using the tongue along with actions to try and make amends for that mistake. So many people are afraid to stand up and speak the truth, but more are perfectly content living in a world where they never have to face the consequences of their actions. So many now lash out, out of anger and never fully see the ramifications of those words because now everything is done over non-verbal, or vocal communications. People now are so quick to anger, so quick to shoot off a ill thought out text that things are said without thought, and likewise in that anger it’s so easy to hit a couple buttons and poof, that persons gone from your life. People in droves make rash, hurtful remarks and then run away before any defense can be made, thus destroying the very foundation of friendships, and relationships. Proverbs 12:18“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Proverbs 18:21“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” When we consider the power of the tongue and what we say, how it affects people in our life, we hold such power just a few inches from our brains. Many have little concern now about who they hurt, what they say, or why. On top of a lack of caring how our words affect people, the effect goes far beyond just what we say. A general apathy has sprung up in people all over the world. Since we have gotten to the point now where we don’t care what we say, how we say it, the other side of that coin is we don’t truly care about others. I’ve been in the online dating world for quite some time now, and I have noted on multiple occasions in the last 24 months that people just stopped caring about anyone but themselves. There’s no thought to the curtsey given to how we treat people. We ignore messages, we lie about the excuses to cause long delays in communications, and that’s if communication doesn’t stop abruptly without warning. I’ve always prided myself as being a very understanding person. I’ve watched people do horrible things that affected me and it wasn’t the mistake that hurt the most, it was lying to me about it. If someone doesn’t have the desire to have fluid communication often, a simple text to inform me of that would go a long way. James 3:10“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” When will we finally realize how our words and actions affect other people?

Something I’ve often wondered is when we are quick to anger and that anger leads to a wicked tongue, how then can that very same person say to the accused “You’re not a Christian man?” I have pondered this very thing for a little while now, and as I’ve gone back over conversations for a long while involving many people, I have come to a sad realization; the term Christian is perhaps the worst Apathy of all. How many Christians or self proclaimed Christians are there all over the world? How many of them would say, “I’m Christian, but it’s not important.”? How many would say they are Christian on Christmas, Easter, and maybe one or two sprinkled in the rest of the year? We see less then 19% of Christians now are involved Christians meaning, fewer then 19% open and read there Bibles more then 3 times a week, most far less if ever. How can someone stand there and pass judgment about doing nothing but stating facts, with no emotional bias, even if those facts don’t show someone in an appealing light? The answer is convictions. When we are confronted with our own shortcomings and we become angry we say and do things that are within its very nature, Sinful. We live in a world where truth is something convenient we don’t like to face.

We’ve become so consumed with self that we have such a deep apathy for other people. We don’t care how we hurt someone, or why. We don’t care to lead someone along only to drop them from the side of the cliff. Apathy my friends is a disease that is plaguing our society. The invention of texts, and online dating have created a gap in the human condition that now allows people to do what they wish and never having to see the fallout from their actions. Being accused recently of being a bad Christian, and treating my friends badly, is obviously coming from someone who is hurting badly themselves. Truth however, no matter how painful is always the best way to go. The truth is, people can be cruel, and manipulative and hold nothing but apathy for you. All we can do is love, pray, and continue to lean on God’s word the best we can. We are people and we will make mistakes. People always need to be forgiven for their trespasses, and thus we must always ask for forgiveness of our trespasses. Never loose sight of the hope that springs in the horizon every day. We may be accused but our accusers who flee before a defense do not seek answers or retribution. Those who spit venom and run away are nothing shy of cowards. Those who hide behind technology afraid to face their own fallout are cowards. Do not worry yourself with these types of people, no, I say to you my brothers and sisters, forever pray that God opens their eyes to see, warms their hearts to feel, and blesses their souls with empathy and love. Are you the sword or just a poor reflection? Don’t loose hope for, while God is still sovereign over all, there will always be hope.

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