Just A Thought

 She paces in her cage, tripping over her two newborn cubs that she recently birthed as a result of artificial insemination. Each day thousands of people file by the beautiful, three-hundred-fifty-pound, Siberian Tiger. A piece of raw meat lays, untouched, near the small iron grate through which her keepers had recently thrust it. Elaborate scenery, including “play-things,” decorated the quarter-acre enclosure. Everything was state of the art, as far as zoos are concerned.

“Why the pacing?” someone might ask. “She has food, water, company and safety. This must really be the good life. How come she has paced so much that she has worn a path around the perimeter of her pen?”

The answer is rather obvious. She paces because everything about her life is unnatural. She was born to be free. She was born to run, fight and survive. She was engineered to expend energy. Her body wanted to experience episodes of elevated blood pressure and adrenaline rushes. She was designed to mate and hunt for her young. In the zoo she is alive, but not really living.

Ironically, all the provision and comfort provided her by the zoo diminishes her life - because she is not in her native environment. Because everything is provided for her, one might think she would just sit back and enjoy life. Instead, she wears a path near the perimeter wall that holds her captive, eyeing the door in case it might be left ajar. She has a deep longing to be free.

Sometimes people feel a similar restlessness. They may have the comforts of life, but they are lacking purpose and meaning for which they were created. They may be playing the games society invents, but they long for supernatural encounters in which they strain and struggle, but in which they also grow and overcome. 

Many people think of sin as things we do that we are not supposed to do. It is often viewed as the “forbidden fruit.” But Scripture describes it as a cage that holds us captive. Sin can sometimes provide counterfeits for the important things in life. However, sin usually cheapens, entangles and squeezes the life out of its victims. Often, people who seem to have everything, wander through life looking for meaning, so frustrated that they sometimes despair of life.

The Good News is that the door to that cage has been left ajar. Jesus Christ paid the price to make it possible for anyone to leave their cage and live free. Those who will follow him can live free from sin, guilt and shame. They can live a life of purpose, as they look forward to an eternal life that will follow. Their free life will not be easy, but it will be the kind of life they were designed to live. The door to freedom is open; it only takes one commitment, and they will be ushered into a life that is truly free.

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Friday, February 18, 2022

 My expectations were high. I had been hunting before, but hunting elk was a whole lot more challenging than hunting deer. Neither were my other hunting trips as high in the mountains, where it was bitterly cold and two feet of snow. This adventure was just outside the mile-high community of Philipsburg, Montana. A Montana tourism site describes the small town like this: 

Philipsburg is situated between two national forests and surrounded by lofty mountains that were still snowcapped in early June. The two-lane Highway 1 leaves Interstate 90 west of Butte, Montana, and passes through the mining town of Anaconda. The scarred earth gives way to lush valleys, crystal clear lakes, marshes that attract abundant wildlife, and exuberant creeks and fishing holes just waiting for anglers.

The town boomed in the late 1800s because of all the silver mines in the region. Some of these mines were worked by Asians immigrants, because they were typically short and could work in smaller shafts. But all of that changed. Today, the county has 24 ghost towns, and Philipsburg’s population is around eight hundred. The region is more of a tourist destination now; a place where the rich go to get married and experience dude-ranching.

On the morning of our hunt, it was five below zero, in the valley where my buddy had arranged for us to sleep in a heated camper trailer. He served as my guide, providing guns, socks, boots and layers of clothing, hats, and gloves. Several of us piled into a four-wheel drive and began the ascent up a rocky mountain road to an area where elk had been recently spotted. After a few minutes of travel, I had no Idea where I was. If something had happened, I don’t know what I would have done. It was an adventure at the very edge of my comfort zone.

They dropped me and my buddy off off at one location, promising to go up the road and attempt to drive some elk our way. We then split up and positioned ourselves strategically so we could be ready when the game came our way. As mentioned, I had high expectations. An hour or so later, the day had not warmed up and my body heat was not keeping up. I consumed the snacks I had managed to bring along as I waited patiently for the prey. It was then that I realized I was experiencing one of the most amazing scenes of my life. The mountains loomed. In the meadow snow was untouched, except for where I had waded to the edge of the clearing. The evergreens were weighed down with snow from the night before. The sky was blue. And, the snow seemed to absorb any sound, so that the quiet was more complete than anything I had ever experienced. It was beautiful.

We didn’t see any elk on that trip. To be honest, I am not sure I would have wanted to dress, quarter and carry a five-to-seven-hundred-pound animal off the mountain. But I will always remember the hunting trip to Philipsburg as an adventure that I would have never enjoyed, had it not been for the guys who made it all happen. Sometimes I feel like God is taking me on similar excursions. I have expectations of one thing, but I experience other wonderful things along the way. My confidence is in my Guide. I trust He will get us where we are going, but sometimes I am living at the very edge of my comfort zone.

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Tuesday, February 15, 2022

 As a teen, I made a few forays into the culinary arts. Because of my appetite for them, I became rather good at making chocolate chip cookies. However, during one of my early attempts, I made a big mistake. It was a simple and small mistake when compared to important matters, but it was big mistake in making cookies from scratch. I simply misread an abbreviation.  The recipe called for 1 tsp of baking soda. Instead, I added one tbs.  Mistaking one tbs (tablespoon) for one tsp (teaspoon) meant that I put three times as much baking soda as needed. My mistake was not obvious until I checked on the half-baked cookies, which had swelled up to twice the expected size. Being a novice, I let the cookies finish cooking and gave them a try. Yuck! Who knew that a few teaspoons could make something so delicious taste so horrible.

We can chuckle at small mistakes, but there are some big mistakes that have much more substantial consequences. One such “big mistake” is the one made by people who are looking for a “faith” that requires very little commitment or accountability. They often declare that New Testament theology teaches that we no longer live by the law, by quoting verses such as “for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” (Romans 6:14nlt). However, it is clear from the rest of the chapter, and most of his other writings, that Paul is not teaching that believers are free from moral laws. The big mistake is in interpreting “law” to mean any kind of rules, rather than to mean Jewish ceremonial laws.  Paul taught that Jesus’ death freed us from the ceremonial laws of Judaism, but the rest of his writings prove that he believed Christians should not sin, and that they should obey the moral laws of God.

In short, to say, “Because of grace I no longer must offer animal sacrifices as prescribed by ‘the law,’” would be to agree with the theology of the New Testament.  To say, “Because of grace I am not longer bound to the laws of morality, such as the ten commandments,” would be a big mistake.

Ironically, while many people are navigating around God’s moral laws, such as the ten commandments, they are evading the very solution to mankind’s problems. Take, for example, the three commands “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not kill,” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”; If everyone in the world would obey those three, simple, moral laws, most of our world’s social problems would be solved.

The Good News is that we are saved by grace, and salvation is not earned. But, our relationship with God has parameters. We are free from ceremonial laws, but obeying God’s moral laws is actually the path to freedom. Con artists count on people mistaking manipulation for kindness. The father of all con artists, the devil, counts on people mistaking lawlessness for grace. Big Mistake!

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Saturday, February 05, 2022