“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”  – Matthew 7:3 

Many decades ago there was a syndicated comic strip that appeared in newspapers across the country called Pogo that featured animal characters, the title character being Pogo, an opossum.  The comic strip’s messages were written as satires about the human condition, as comic strips often are, the most famous one featuring Pogo reflecting philosophically with one of his animated friends, “We have met the enemy,” he said, “and it is us.”

Back in my mid-thirties I was a rising young executive.  I had just received a big promotion, and I thought I had become a real big shot.  One day on my way home I stopped by a supermarket to pick up a handful of items.  My head was so big, I failed to notice that the checkout lane where I placed my items on the conveyor had just closed and the clerk was going off duty.  But I was important, you see, and the lady should have recognized that, me all dressed up in a Brooks Brothers suit and fancy tie whose time was much more valuable than hers.  So, I let her have it, and even though she tried to explain and apologize, I stomped away leaving that poor sweet lady in tears.  Later that night as I was getting ready for bed I glanced in the mirror.  There I saw the real enemy, and it was me.  I felt so ashamed.  If only I could go back and apologize, somehow make it right.

There were so many things wrong about my behavior in the grocery store that day, and among them was the fact that I wanted someone else to blame besides myself.  So, that poor innocent lady behind the counter became the unfortunate victim of my wrath.  She was not the enemy, of course, and neither was the store manager, nor the store’s policies.  The real enemy was me.  I alone am responsible for the shame I have carried all these years over that incident.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Jesus asked.  There are a multitude of reasons why we do this.  For me I find it less painful to blame someone else than to admit something is my fault, that there is a big plank in my own eye.  If it is less painful, though, then why has the guilt and shame I have felt from that grocery store incident almost forty years ago not gone away?  For, too often the enemy we meet is not someone else, it is us.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” – Matthew 6:19 

When my grandmother realized that she could no longer live alone and must leave the home where she had resided for almost seventy years, she did so without even a hint of resistance.  Her only request from among the innumerable worldly possessions that filled her huge rambling two-story house was an old Seth Thomas mantel clock, a family heirloom older than she that had been keeping time through every season of her long life.  It was a modest petition and only fitting that she and her beloved time piece should remain together while she lived out this last of her seasons.  Except for the clock my grandmother simply let everything else go without blinking an eye, a lifetime accumulation of worldly goods each with its own special memories.  So it was that with that old clock ticking away in her small nursing home room, my grandmother gracefully lived out her final years as she grew deeper in faith, hope, peace, and love, sharing her wisdom with her beloved family whenever she could.  It was her final gift to us.

Letting things go is not just a lesson about facing old age, though.  It is a lesson for all of life; for it is only by letting go that we create space for new growth.  A young entrepreneur who starts a successful business, for example, must sooner or later hire an employee or bring in a partner, and in doing so let go of some of the responsibilities.  If not the business will fail to grow.  A newlywed couple must relinquish some of their habits from the single life in order for their relationship to grow.  Parents as their children mature must slowly let go of their grip so the child can grow into a responsible adult.

Don’t get me wrong about my grandmother’s earthly treasures, some of which I inherited, including the old Seth Thomas clock.  I cherish those items that came from her home and the stories they reveal about my grandparents’ lives and my memories of them.  But not a single one of those items compares to the lesson I learned from my grandmother that moment she simply let everything go without blinking an eye.  For her the words Jesus spoke are about as practical as they come.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  I hope one day that will be my final gift as well.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  –  Romans 12:2 

When it comes to new technologies and innovations I am typically not among those classified as “early adopters.”  In other words, if you are familiar with the diffusion of innovations theory I am not, for example, one you will find standing in line to purchase the latest version of the i-Phone when it hits the market.  There are at least two reasons for this, one is I am too cheap to pay the premium price it usually commands, and two I am too lazy to spend the time learning how to use it.  I prefer to wait until my old phone wears out before I bother to upgrade hoping by then the price will have come down.

A few years ago my two sons convinced me to join one of those mail-order shaving clubs where I could buy quality razors and blades a lot cheaper than the corner drugstore chain.  So, I signed up, but typical of me, I opted for the cheapest and lowest-tech version which suited me just fine.  Recently, though, I tried to order some new blades only to learn they have discontinued the low-end model.  Now I’m in a quandary, do I upgrade to a higher-tech razor which (a) costs more, and (b) I have to adjust to, or go back to shopping at the corner drugstore, which again is going to cost more?  Such problems!

This is where the “diffusion of innovations theory” becomes helpful in explaining how the use of new technologies, processes, and innovations spread through a society, and why they are adopted over old methods.  Imagine a bell curve.  At the extremes, the bottom left lip of the bell represents the innovators, the risk takers who are first to jump in.  The bottom right lip represents the laggards, the very last group to accept new innovations, if at all.  The bell itself is populated by most everyone else, from left to right the early adopters, early majority, and the late majority.  As you can see, I probably land somewhere along the downward slope of the curve – at least with razors and i-Phones.

The Apostle Paul encourages us to “not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Paul, of course, is not concerned about i-Phones or shaving products, although such things do matter.  Nor is he concerned where we reside along the bell curve.  Rather, are we progressing, renewing our minds in such ways that advance God’s Kingdom, and in ways that bring us nearer to Him?

“This is my command: Love each other.”  – John 15:17 

One sentence, seven words to be exact, and even though it did not come from a pulpit I would rank it among the most impactful sermons I have ever heard.  Someone was angry, having a bad day, throwing a tantrum with a raised voice spewing out venomous words.  Justified or not, the person’s behavior was over the edge, out of line and out of control.  They deserved to be called out, thrown out, and punched in the nose if I had my way.  Except, at the same time those thoughts were circling in my head I heard the calm voice of my friend and former pastor Johnny Cook speak softly, almost as if talking to himself, yet audible enough so that those around him were able to get the message of that powerful one-sentence sermon. “That person needs to be loved on,” he whispered.

Okay, okay, I confess!   The story, which sounds like something out of a barroom, didn’t happen exactly that way.  Actually, it is more of a composite of various instances of someone becoming angry and behaving badly to which the pastor and perhaps a few others were witnesses, or even victims.  What is true is that on multiple occasions our good pastor Johnny Cook would respond to such situations by preaching that same one-sentence sermon, both to himself and the small group of one or two or three from among his flock who happened to be present, and I had the good fortune to be one of them.

It is almost a certainty that each one of us will either witness or be victims of some sort of hostility today.  Someone will cut us off in traffic, be rude to a store clerk or a wait person in our presence, write a nasty email, or post something derogatory on social media – or never mind that, just read the news briefs or watch them on TV.  How easy it is to respond the way I so often do, to want to give them a piece of my mind, or have them thrown out, or smack them in the nose, when what they really need is to be loved on.

I wonder how many people out there, the ones who cut us off in traffic, who treat store clerks and wait staff rudely, who seem to be angry with the world, I wonder how many of them have never experienced what it is like to be loved on?  And for those of us who do, what a difference it could make if we respond by following Johnny Cook’s lead, “That person needs to be loved on.”  After all, Jesus stated plainly: “This is my command: Love each other.”

“What good is it . . . if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”  – James 2:14 

“He (she) doesn’t smoke, drink, or cuss,” we used to say of people who supposedly are clean living and of high moral character – supposedly!  I say that because my experience has been that phrase has mostly been used tongue-in-cheek, a joke rather than a statement of fact, not that there aren’t certain people who might abstain from those three particular vices.  But even if they do they’re probably guilty of other character flaws.  Aren’t we all!  And if we don’t believe that, we are kidding ourselves; or as scripture says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves” (even if we don’t smoke, drink, or cuss).

I don’t know about you, but willpower is a struggle for me.  To not partake of something that gives me pleasure never comes easy, if at all, like giving up ice cream, for example, which is never going to happen.  Yet, it seems every time I visit the doctor he tells me to cut something out, something I really enjoy, mostly sugars and carbs.  Once he suggested I should substitute almonds for other salty, high carb snacks, only to be reprimanded by the dentist because almonds were cracking my teeth, and crowns are expensive.  The bottom line is, either because I’m confused about what habits to change, or I simply lack the willpower, I still have my own share of character flaws, and plenty of them.

We all know we are better off if we don’t smoke, drink, or cuss, and we know we will be healthier if we follow the doctor’s orders.  But even if we do, that is only half the equation, for if we’re not doing the “do’s” in life then the “don’ts” don’t really matter.  Jesus, in his constant sparring with the Pharisees, told a couple of tongue-in-cheek stories himself.  One was about a Pharisee praying in the temple, proud that he did all the right things (which means he probably didn’t smoke, drink, or cuss), unlike the tax-collector across the room, who was quick to admit his own flaws.  In another story he told about two religious leaders who for very legitimate religious reasons, refused care to a wounded traveler along the road.  Yet, a Samaritan came along, a religious outcast (who knows but that he smoked, drank, and cussed) – who stopped and rendered aid, thus saving the man’s life.  And who does Jesus present as the obvious heroes in these two stories?

So, what’s the point of the “don’ts” if we don’t do the “do’s”?  And “What good is it . . . if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”