Truth Decay

POST-IT FROM THE PASTOR
07-20-2016
 
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:15-17)
 
It’s easy to get caught up in spreading untruth—especially in an election year in an electronic age! We live in a world of sound bites that suggest simplistic solutions to complex problems and assassinate the character of any who disagree.  If we’re not careful, we can be led to divide the world into us vs. them and assume that anything supporting our side or condemning the other must be the truth! Yet it was Jesus’ enemies, not His followers, who spread false testimony and practiced character assassination. Jesus prayed that we would distinguish ourselves from the world by loving enough to speak only the absolute, verifiable truth, defined not by political propaganda, but by God’s Word. This election cycle, we have the opportunity to show ourselves sanctified—set apart from the world—by speaking nothing but truth, with no motive but love.
 
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son to be the living truth and Your Spirit to guide us into all truth. Give us the care, courage, and discernment required to distinguish ourselves from the world by speaking only the truth in love, in Jesus’ name, amen. 
 
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JUST DESSERTS…
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A woman agreed to bake a cake for a church bake sale, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered the morning of the bake sale and quickly rummaged through her cabinets. There she found an angel food cake mix and quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack for camp.
 
When she took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat.  The cake was horribly disfigured and she exclaimed, "Oh nooo! There’s no time to bake another cake!" So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake. She found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper. She cut out the fallen center, plunked in the paper roll, and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect.
 
Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, the woman woke her daughter, gave her money, and instructed her to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 to buy the cake and bring it home. When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found to her horror that the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. The woman was beside herself! Everyone would know!  What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed! All night, the woman lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.
 
The next day, the woman promised herself she would try not to think about the cake as she attended a fancy bridal shower luncheon at the home of a fellow church member. She did not really want to attend because the hostess seemed to be a self-righteous snob who had looked down her nose at her because she was a single parent.  But having already RSVP'd, she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home.
 
The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust, and to the woman's horror, the cake she had made for the bake sale was presented for dessert! She felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake. She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, another prominent church member said, "what a beautiful cake!" The woman, stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess say, "Thank you, I baked it myself." She smiled and thought to herself, "God is good."
 
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May God’s goodness guide you into all truth!

Pastor Kirk