hi all. wanted to touch on what i find to be a very important part of the story of shadrach, meshach, and abednego in daniel 3. first, because i believe satan is an actual personality in scripture, i believe in the idea of spiritual warfare. with that in mind, i have no doubt satan was behind the idea nebuchadnezzar should build his great image and demand everyone bow and worship under threat of execution for non-compliance. it was a great way to unify an empire that had expanded exponentially in recent years, and a great way for satan to rid himself of trouble makers like these followers of god. from satan’s perspective i think he saw it playing out like this…deceive nebuchadnezzar into enacting this plan, the hebrews will not comply, they will be reported, they will be executed, problem of god followers solved.
i believe it was dan allander and trempor longman in their book “bold love” that suggest we have the responsibility to give satan a taste of defeat, and others a taste of god. (if my memory is failing me, and this idea comes from another source i beg your forgiveness) anyway, i think this is what shadrach, meshach, and abednego did. and i can’t think of a better scenario playing out. satan was trying to get rid of perceived trouble makers…as in he was up to evil. but god intervened, and turned it all into good. but not without the input of these 3 men. they refused to give into the pressure to conform even when their lives were threatened. they were then thrown into the furnace, but they did not burn. god was in the furnace with them, he would not let them burn. so nebuchadnezzar calls for them to come out of the furnace. everyone can see an amazing miracle has occurred. nebuchadnezzar issues a decree praising the god of shadrach, meshach, and abednego and they are elevated in their roles in the babylonian gov’t. wow. talk about a reversal of fortunes. but then again we are talking about god. we see this exact pattern in the story of joseph, the crucifixion, and the explosive growth of the early church. god does some of his best work in difficult times. but, and this is important, we must give him something to work with. shadrach meshach, and abednego did just that. as the bible says…may we go and do likewise. :)
thanks for reading. love the feedback. blessings. vince
last week i thought out loud about the shirley sherrod debacle. as far as i can tell, its another in a long line of unintended consequences that happen so often. here is what i mean, we highly value being ”politically correct” in our society. this is to protect minorities from harm. yet it was political correctness that led to shirley, a black woman being fired/forced to resign.
same is true with the gulf oil spill. we drill in 5000 feet of water because this is where we are allowed to drill. this reality is largely because of environmental groups pushing their agenda. then when we have a problem like in the gulf, we can’t stop the leak because it is in 5000 feet of water. unintended consequence.
i could go on. we have health care reform designed to lower health care costs that will instead raise costs. we have a stimulus that didn’t. etc., etc., etc.
as i have often said, beyond voting there is little i can do about anything i have mentioned above. but unintended consequence happens all the time to us personally. marriages don’t intend to disintegrate into divorce, but they do in about 50% of all marriages. parents do not intend to experience difficulty in their relationships with their children, but again, this happens all the time. i don’t think anyone sits down and decides they would like to get so far in debt they must declare bankruptcy. i don’t think we decide to do many of the negatives we experience in life, they just kind of happen…or do they.
paul talked about unintended consequences in galations 6. he did not call it unintended consequences, he called it sowing (planting) and reaping. we read, “do not be deceived” maybe that suggests we can be very easily deceived. “god is not mocked”. that could convey the idea god is kind of an eye for an eye kind of guy, but i don’t think so. just as in the natural world if you plant green bean seeds you will grow green beans, i think paul is telling us life works a certain way because that is how god made it to work, there is no escaping that reality. so, whatever we sow, we reap. in other words, whatever i am thinking, doing, saying, etc right now has great big implications for my future. for instance, i have had that emergency phone call at night where the frantic words my marriage just failed, were exchanged. i am not trying to minimize the pain of that kind of circumstance. but the reality is, you’re marriage didn’t just fail. it has been failing for a long time. only now you can see it. you didn’t intend for this to happen, but happen it did.
but this principle works in a positive sense too. i prefer this scenario. for instance in the past few months we celebrated many graduations of successful students. but i would suggest they were successful everyday they got up, went to school, hit the books, did the work. at graduation that success was recognized. we might call this an intended consequence. but it is the same principle at work. the only thing different is the outcome. we don’t intend the negative, we do intend the positive, but they both come from the same process. we plant seeds, time goes by, a harvest arrives.
so, if you are dealing with an unpleasant harvest here is what i suggest. do not blame shift, accept your role in this reality. (i am not suggesting every problem is somehow tied to personal wrongdoing, but this is often the case, so, if the shoe fits…) identify the underlying seeds that resulted in this harvest. confess/forsake these (as in plow up that weed filled soil). plant new seed, good seed, that will produce the desired harvest. be patient, seeds don’t grow overnight as in jack and the beanstalk. enjoy, your new reality.
as i have often said, god is gracious. he is a god of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. chances. and for this i am very glad. thanks for reading. i welcome your thoughts. blessings. vince
hi folks. if you have been following the news you are well aware of the controversy involving shirley sherrod. as if there isn’t enough out there already, i will throw my two cents out there.
first, let me say as clearly as i can. i do not think political correctness should be a national priority or value. in fact, i believe it is political correctness that is at the heart of this controversy. the bible says we are to speak the truth in love and that it is the truth that will set us free. if we valued truth telling over political correctness our culture would improve.
second, i am not interested in investigative journalism and have no intention of digging into this story any further than i address here. whether all the facts are in, or not, have no bearing on what i am about to write.
third, let me run down the story as i understand it to have unfolded (a summary, not every detail). the naacp came out with some kind of resolution the tea party movement was racist or at least condoned racism or something like that. a conservative blogger came out with a video of shirley speaking at an naacp dinner where she allegedly made some racist remarks. the head of the agricultural department, where shirley served in some capacity, either decided on his own, or with the help of the obama administration, that she should be fired, or resign, whatever. this had to happen quickly, according to reports, before fox news got a hold of it. as if that would matter. so before anyone on fox even was able to start the conservative pep rally, shirley was gone. then it comes out, the tape was edited. the story she was telling, was a story of her own personal journey from a racist past to the realization that racism has no place in her heart or our nation. that anger, bitterness, hatred is self destructive. turns out it was a story i tell all the time, b/c that is exactly what god is trying to do for each one of us…transform us to be more like jesus. so now the fingers of blame are flying, the buck is being passed big time, and the whole mess is being analyzed.
so why am i writing all this? i do not know this woman, have no clue about her in any way. but, i do know this. why do we have a tendency toward political correctness? seems to me the whole idea, as i have heard it explained, is to protect minorities. but all this political correctness led to this woman (a black woman) being fired. how can that be? that is not supposed to happen, but it did. now let’s suppose, instead of having a politically correct culture, we had a speak the truth in love culture, knowing the truth would set us free. would all this have happened? or would we have a very different story, and maybe even a very different world. i think so.
as i have mentioned before. i can’t change washington, sactown, the media, etc. but i can change me. you can change you. (i am not denying god’s role in transformation as much as i am emphasizing personal responsibility here, so chill out) i want you to speak the truth in love to me, i need you to do this for me. i define accountability as helping each other keep our commitments to god. i need this. we need this. so can we tone down all the political correctness and start elevating truthtelling in love. it may not change the world…but around here will be a lot better. :)
thanks for reading, and as always i welcome your feedback. blessings. vince
