Jonathots Daily Blog
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Pictured is the trash can in my weekend motel, which has absolutely no significance except for the fact that I got so involved enjoying the folks at the Roseland United Methodist Church that I failed to take a snapshot of my surroundings to commemorate the event. There’s no hidden message or reference to trash or garbage. Matter of fact, the folks were absolutely delightful, led by an old friend from South Miami, Pastor Cathy.
She is a delightful mingling of the spirit of Mary Poppins with the compassion and tenderness to human beings of Mother Teresa. Simultaneously, she carries a humility that would cause her to rebuke me for comparisons to a jovial Disney character and a Catholic saint.
But what made the people of Roseland so powerful is that they’re still maintaining their humanity. Religion often wishes to drain us of all semblance of ambition and desire in a pious maneuver to transform us into submissive half-angels.
I’ve never been quite sure why we take one of the more endearing parts of the human being–that being the energy to succeed–and baptize it in false humility and solemnity.
Why do we all have to be so bad before God calls us good? Because here’s the truth:
Every human being needs to feel that he or she is important.
If that’s a sin, then may we all be damned. Trying to make God the only important creature in the universe, while insisting that we selflessly give to others while rejecting our own personal desires, is not only fruitless, but anti-Jesus.
Jesus told us “we are the salt of the Earth. We are the light of the world.”
It is our works that people will see, and then glorify God. He said if we’re given much, much is expected of us. He even told us we were his friends because he shared his life with us.
One day, he jokingly explained that we were worth “many sparrows,” and that we would do greater things because he went to the Father, to cheer us on.
The mistake we make in the church is trying to convince everybody how unimportant they are in an attempt to get them to focus on God.
A Jesonian church nurtures such a vision, but in the process, teaches people what really is important:
- I become more important when I include others.
- I become more important when I tolerate and appreciate the lives of others.
- I become more important when I’m not afraid to give.
- I become more important when I take my talent and multiply it instead of sitting on it.
- I become more important when I lead with good cheer.
- I become more important when I realize that I’m allowed to be important, but so is everybody else.
The good news is, once we discover our sinful nature and repent of it, salvation comes into our hearts.
The better news is, Jesus rejoices when we take the message of salvation, go out and become important by doing important things.
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Jonathots Daily Blog 