Diverting
I love Snoopy. I have been fond of Snoopy since I was a small child. After all he’s adorable! It helped that I was a dog lover from a very young age as well. I had a limited supply of Charlie Brown comic books but no matter, I read them again and again always delighted when I was able to add a new book to my collection.
Today I don’t read many comics but recently I was given a calendar that for each day of the year there’s a Charlie Brown comic or Snoopy with a Bible verse. I am throughly enjoying reading a new page each morning just before getting ready for the day.
Recently, one particular comic struck me in how the real life message hit home. It was a one panel comic. The scene was set with Charlie Brown sitting on a couch with his sister Sally. As he read from the Bible, Snoopy sat on the edge watching and listening. Charlie Brown shared the following as Sally sat with a stoic look on her face next to him, “When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Lot and his two daughters escaped, but his wife was turned into a pillar of salt.” Snoopy, looking over at them thinks, “What happened to their dog?”
It brought a bit of a chuckle that morning but then it occurred to me, how often am I like Snoopy, missing the point completely in a Bible story because I am too busy concerning myself with the in material aspects of life?
Now, don’t get me wrong and think I am discounting the value of a dog, assuming Lot and his family owned one, I am after all a dog lover. What Snoopy is doing, however, is diverting from the message of the story and Lot’s families experience.
Jesus had this same struggle throughout His ministry with people missing the message He was preaching. He pointed out in Matthew 7:3-5 our very same tendency to divert. He asks us, ”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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
We also find in Luke 18:11 the following example of diverting when we read this verse, “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector.’” The story continues with the tax collector praying a humble prayer asking for mercy as he admitted he was sinner. Jesus then goes on to say in verse 14, “I tell you that this man [the tax collector], rather than the other [the Pharisee], went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
How often have I been the Pharisee or the one avoiding taking the plank from my own eye? I can think of time and again when I have been more concerned about myself and my interests, diverting away from what Jesus is concerned with: my heart…loving God and others.
He knows unless I humble myself and my heart and listen to His words I can never see clearly to help others and live the two greatest commandments. In Matthew 22: 37-39, Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment. This is how He responded, “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
I need to stop diverting and be asking myself daily where can I live out these two commandments in my life in greater ways?
How about you? In what ways is God challenging you to stop diverting?
Loving people
Serving your neighbor
Sharing your gifts
Contributing your finances
Forgiving yourself and others
Whatever it might be, listen to God’s prompting, take the plank out of your eye, and don’t miss the point of God’s word!
JW