August 20, 2008
Blacklisted
Lately with my email I’ve been dealing with failed mail. Apparently my email provider has been blacklisted by another provider. It appears that the only reasonable alternative is to keep my existing service and also get another email account with a different provider to handle the glitches. While it’s inconvenient, it’s not life threatening and I’m not going to take it personal. One reason it’s hard to get off a blacklist is because the keeper-of-the-list works so hard to keep it in effect. I’ve been blacklisted before, and much to the chagrin of church leaders, I’ve lived to tell about it. Actually, if we are honest, we all keep a list of one kind or another. We’re all going to be surprised when we try to hand the Lord our lists and find out He’s only interested in His own.
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Gail;
-----We will all hand our lists to the Lord on That Day. All of our lists, which are our hearts and minds, will be carefully checked against His list. Everything that matches His list we will get to retain. “…each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (I Cor 3:13-15). I know most of us believe this scripture to be referring to the gospel we present, the tithes we give, the church floors we vacuum, giving our neighbor a cup of sugar instead of loaning it, and kicking our brother’s dog instead of our brother. But I consider it to extend not only to everything we do in our lives, but also to every thought and feeling that has constructed the motivations, plans, and skills we use to do what we do. In fact, I believe that what we do is merely an extension of what we are, and therefore, this scripture primarily speaks to the list that is our hearts and minds. In as much as we suffer loss if our work is burned up, I believe that the reward we receive is the amount of our list that matches His list, and therefore enters into His eternity if it is not burned up. Don’t mistake me to be saying there are no crowns with jewels, and such. I am saying that the reward also includes the survival of a certain, very small amount of your head upon which to place the crown, and a piece of your heart by which to honor the One who was merciful enough to let any part of us survive at all.
-----Now, I know I did not develop His list. Therefore, in trimming up my list, trying to match His, I do not at all look at mine as a source. I hope no one else does, either. Rather, for sources I look to His Word, to what science has come to know as actual knowledge (not the bologna, like evolution), and to the tiny handful of things I have experienced myself. I believe God expects me to arrange these few tidbits of information the best I can by the abilities He’s given me . Then I must always depend upon His Spirit for the final shaking of all the pieces down into relatively proper places. After which, I believe He expects me to review my conclusions against the best understanding I have of all His Word before tentatively accepting them. And He always expects me to be watchful for new information effecting conclusions I’ve drawn in the past. Throughout this process the awareness is imperative that the list I work on is my list, not His.
-----Bias is so subtle and pervasive. It is what grows in the place of true humility. It is so easy to desire a conclusion before it can be reached, Shanghaiing the whole process to selfish ambition. Too many church leaders desire to make a great showing of themselves for the Lord on That Day. Although much of their ambition is solid and commendable, it takes little to render a good message ineffective to many, kind of like a small patch of rust on a Rolls Royce. Yet the thrill of the Rolls Royce can overwhelm the owner’s eye, and the rust patch can grow unnoticed, especially when the Rolls has become somewhat taken for granted. Under an inattentive eye, the rust can overtake the entire splendor. So also, an exciting idea in the heart of an inattentive preacher can become a blemish upon a church’s fellowship if all safeguards are not exercised in carefully assembling its list. And worse than that, the church leader should be mature enough in the Lord to know that not one of us, including himself, has assembled a complete list about anything. We all need each other’s carefully assembled lists. And especially those not closely corresponding to our own. So, what a big mistake it is to blackball another’s list. Like the Lord does for us, anybody’s list deserves the time and attention to be searched for what correctness it contains. You never know what gem might be found in your brother‘s list, what gem you may, to your shame, have to wait for That Day to see in his crown.
Love,
Steve Corey
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