During this past holiday season, I was given a coffee mug on which is emblazoned, “How many roads must a man go down before he admits he’s lost?” It’s silly, really, in that I don’t get lost driving the roads. Sure, I’ve made a few wrong turns, but quickly realized it and turned around. Well, there was that one time. . .
But. Anyway. There’s another way to take this proclamation against being lost and failing to admit it, failing to ask for help. And it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with getting lost in a car or truck. And I admit that to some extent I’m guilty in the first degree of that sort of getting lost. I admit that I like figuring things out on my own, doing things on my own. My excuse: I’m a loner! Simple. I just like to do things my way, by myself.
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Earlier this morning, I dropped my daughter off at school. I need to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy later this morning. Not wanting to make another trip out, I stopped near the pharmacy where I occasionally have breakfast. The food’s good and the menu offers many non-meat items of interest. Omelets are my favorite. This morning I’m having the vegi delight that includes spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese.
On the table, along with my Mac computer, is my Bible. It’s open to Hebrews chapter two. The host notices it and looks to see what I’m reading.
“Hebrews.” She says. “That’s one of my favorites. Lots in there.”
“Mine too,” I say. “It’s a letter to Jewish readers showing that Jesus is greater than Moses.”
“I get a scripture email each day,” she says, “and yesterday it was from Hebrews chapter one. The comment said that’s the main theme of the book, setting out the Way of Christ as superior to the way of Moses.”
She then headed off to lead other diners to their tables and I looked at chapter two of Hebrews. I came to this part:
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. –Hebrews 2:18
I sense the people around me, at the other tables. People are engaged in conversations, some very animated, others more subdued. Three men are talking about things of which I have no clue. Business stuff, I guess. At another table a man is counseling a woman about what some other person should or should not be doing. Perhaps their child, though they don’t look like a couple. Behind me two women are talking about their families. At another table. . . The conversations drift across my table and I grasp a piece here and a piece there. I imagine that at some point one person may say to another something concerning me like:
“Religion. It’s just a crutch. It’s the opium that dulls the mind. It’s what causes all the violence in the world.”
There have been comments that I’ve read that specifically state that Christianity should be banned in America.
People hate Christians, or dislike Christians, or simply have no use for Christians. There are a lot of reasons for this. One is that Christians seek guidance for their lives in what they consider the Words of G-d. Christians admit that they need help. That they can’t live their lives without the assistance of a Heavenly Father. And because we have no relationship with Father G-d, except through The Son, Y’shuaJesus, who reconciles us the The Father, it makes us, in some people’s minds, weak.
There’s another reason that people, in general, have a problem with Christians who take the Word of G-d at its Word, as His Word. It has to with getting to Heaven without a savior. It has to do with earning the right to salvation. But that’s another whole topic in itself.
Like my gift coffee mug expresses, “How many roads must a man go down before he admits he’s lost?”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
JonahzSong 