CrossTalk – On the Web with Randy

Are you making a living or making a difference? Tough question?  You know it doesn’t need to be one or the other.  If one is decidedly attempting to live redemptively, one can make a difference while making a living.  In my view, that is the most viable manner for a Christian to make a life!

To work with integrity in a secular world is a high call.  And to work toward secular success without sacrificing the pursuit of a meaningful life has been my goal since I came to faith.  I believe that with God’s help, we can live in the world, but not become so contaminated by the world that we lose our ability to make a difference for the cause of Christ.

MY FATHER WAS A JEWISH GROCER. I AM A JEWISH GROCER. Everyone who knows me and was acquainted with my father (may he rest in peace), knew that Dad was a better grocer and also a better Jew. Nonetheless, I often heard the old saying repeated, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Of course, since I have been preaching the Christian Gospel since 1973, many would agree that a motivated apple could roll pretty far given the right inspiration. The Bible provides just such motivation.

Ancient Jews lived alongside pagans. Some succumbed to the temptation of assimilation to their eternal detriment. The Bible warned of the consequences and also explained the folly of worshiping false gods. One particularly delightful expression of this truth can be found in Psalm 115. It causes me to suggest that idolaters turn the old saying upside down. Those who cut down trees to carve idols prove the tree doesn’t fall far from the apple. Dead trees, dead fruit, and dead pagans were what remained in that pathetic situation. Consider the following:

The heathen made idols of silver, gold, and other works of men’s hands. The carved gods had ears but they could not hear. They had eyes but were blind. Precisely as described, the pagans who made the idols were as bad as those who worshiped the idols. “They that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusts in them” (Ps. 115:8). The Psalmist instructed Israel to trust in the Lord alone because it was from Him that their help would come.

As described, the pagan neighbors of Israel made their own gods and then worshiped the gods they had fashioned. They carved wooden images & statues only to bow themselves to their own creations. At times in Jewish history, we did the same things.  It never ended well.

And in that stark twist of that pointed phrase, the irony was indelibly carved on the hearts of every reader. With perfect clarity, it was as the Psalmist wrote, “and they that make them are like unto them” (Ps. 115:8a). In other words, the makers of deaf, dumb, & blind idols were spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind.  And some continue in that deluded state as they bow to gold and worship bulls & bears to the poverty of their souls.

Now modern readers from educated societies are not likely to graduate with a business degree from any ivy league school and rush right out to start carving idols. But some have been known to build temples in the financial district or to construct their lives around the sacrificial pursuit of wealth to the depreciation of health, family, virtue, or true spirituality. Permit me to suggest that those who do such things worship a false god.

Actually, the argument might be made that anyone who loves the base things of this world is in danger of turning their allegiance from God to worship vain pleasures and temporal assets. The worldly pursuit and gluttonous accumulation of earthly possessions can therefore cause one to succumb to a modern form of idol worship. One makes sacrifices of their time, their resources, and perhaps even their loved ones. But it is a futile effort that serves to satisfy an insatiable hunger. Such fleeting, short-term gains have a bigger tax than can be levied by a wayward, impoverished government.  A government is capable of sucking the life from one’s taxable earnings.  But one’s life is not measured by what a government leaves behind.  Rather, it is found in the unselfish sacrifices that enhance the lives of others.  Perhaps the highest cost of a selfish, non-redemptive life, is an empty, vacant soul?

Some have said that money talks. Actually, money is as deaf, dumb, and blind as a block of wood. It may have an image of ears, eyes, or even a heart.  But a block of wood, no matter how lovely the artist, will never be made as wondrous as the tree from which it came. And the worship of any false god is as abhorrent to the God of creation as the practice of those ancient pagans.

Those who cut down the trees to carve their gods died long ago. Their fruit was wicked and their heritage disappeared leaving only scant evidence of their existence. Like their gods, they are gone. But remember Psalm 115. And if you forget that, remember that THE TREE DIDN’T FALL FROM THE APPLE.

My personal prayer and my prayer for you is that God will help His children through these tough times to draw us nearer to Him.  We are in the midst of a depressed economy that appears to be failing in a fallen world.  Some of our leaders want to cut the anchor ropes that tied us to our foundation.  Yet in spite of these circumstances, I believe in God and His ability to direct us to make a living, make a difference, and in so doing, He will continue to help us make a life.

Meanwhile, if your faith has been damaged through the pursuit of other things, I have great news.  God loves you and is waiting to hear your prayer and receive you as His child.  Repent.  It never hurts as bad as the result of continuing to ignore God’s plan for your life.

Til next time, have a bloggin’-good day in the Messiah!
Shalom,
Randy Weiss
www.crosstalk.org
www.myspace.com/randyweissmusic

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