Thursday, January 03, 2008

What Will The Neighbors Think


I was watching one of my favorite sitcoms tonight and the episode was about new neighbors moving in next door to Doug and Carrie. In a nut shell the new neighbors were, according to Carrie's perception, everything her and Doug weren't.
So what to do when one sees they are lacking, or inferior to others, you got it, 'Let's pretend'!
One of the scenes was with Doug and Carrie coming to verbal blows which seems to be a regular part of what has been scripted into their TV roles, but not realizing that their bedroom window was open all the time the verbal lambasting was going down.
To Carrie's dismay she went into over drive setting up a totally bogus scenario where she and Doug were acting out the very opposite to their previous behavior, and of course with the window deliberately left open for their new neighbors to hear.
It just went down hill from there, from bad to worse.

I enjoy seeing this vivid contrast within human interactions, usually depicted with a 'normal' family vs a 'so called dysfunctional one'.
To my way of thinking this is but one of a myriad of ways of that which appears to be real vs. knowing the Truth is becoming so concrete to me. For example, using this TV illustration here, let’s say for humor sake all of the characters in this episode were Christians, 'good ones vs bad ones'.
Were the 'good' ones interacting apart from any so called dysfunction solely because of the grace of God, or was it simply an expression of them relying on what they have by virtue of heredity? (A totally corrupted heredity that required God's only begotten Son who knew NO sin, to be MADE the sin of the world)?

Is grace simply available and required for the losers, those short changed in their being born into this world, bankrupt as it were from having a reservoir of virtuous and healthy heredity, I don't think so.There isn't one person born into this world apart from it being a still birth, totally lacking any life whatsoever, otherwise Jesus' good news of coming that we might have life and experiencing it in overflowing measure, was but for a targeted demographic? I Don't Think So!
Have all really sinned and fallen short of His glory, is there NONE that seek Him, is grace really only for the social misfits of society? I thought Jesus said its the sick that need a Doctor? I guess Jesus’ offer for Life and wholeness was just for those who seemed to do nothing but muck of living more and more?

Is it any wonder this whole deal of becoming a new person, (Christian) part of a whole new race (creation) is a frickin nightmare to embrace by those who see NO need for what they seemingly are doing so well at already?
From that perspective, their compassionate retort might be, 'There are those that simply need a crutch'.
Maybe the evil that blinds us all is not the overt blatant 'evil' we so easily seem to recognize in others, but hidden behind the facade, veneer, of so called respectability, manners, ethics, people of integrity, goodness and morality lies hidden the true master of disguise, the fallen angel of light, Lucifer himself?

I am observing first hand the perceived cruelness of His disturbing grace addressing, cutting through the lies (Bull Shit) of our cultural ethnicity, what we do vs what we don't do, what we have vs what we lack, how smart vs how ignorant, how white vs how black we are, bringing man to see their desperate need for the TRUTH!

Jesus and His love for us is not, nor will it ever be doled out for meritorious living, but will be freely offered to all who do NOT deserve it in exchange for what we all rightly deserved. Behold the beauty of glorying and boasting in the Cross and its finished perfect work.

The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to those who are being saved.

Rich

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