Today’s Scripture Reading (June 18,
2016): Psalm 119:1-48
The case of
Brock Turner is simply tragic. And maybe that is why it remains as a headline.
Brock Turner, probably better known as “The Stanford Rapist,” has thrown away
his life for what his father has called “twenty minutes of action.” Dad
maintains that it is a steep price to pay for that twenty minutes of fun, and
there is probably no one that would disagree with that. But here is the
problem. For Turner, it was twenty minutes.
For his victim, it is much longer, and
maybe even a lifetime of problems that lay just ahead. Twenty minutes caused
much irreparable damage. It was only twenty minutes,
but that twenty minutes has ruined two
lives, thrown two families into an emotional crisis that they knew only in
their nightmares before this time, it has cost the judge in the case the respect
in the eyes of people and has colored the way that people view an elite
university. And all of this happened in just twenty minutes.
But I might
go a step further. It happened because there seems to be no place where Brock
Turner set the limits of how far he would go and what he wanted his life to
really stand for. He is a product of our culture which seems to teach us to
grab as much fun as we can and worry about the consequences later. The problem
is that it is like buying a car without ever asking about the price, or even
what the payments might be. By the time we drive it home and get into an accident
with it, it is too late to decide whether we are really willing to pay the
price.
I am
frustrated that the Christian Church often follows this same course. We never
think about the consequences of our actions. We follow what we have heard, but
have often put much too little thought
into the process. The psalmist’s solution to the problem is a simple one. I
have hidden God’s word inside of me. I have internalized what God has said.
When the situations of life arise, I don’t have to wonder about which path is
the right one; I know. No one can take it away from me because it is inside of me.
I once heard
a pastor teach about spending time with Christians in China. And one of the
stories that he told was about standing in a room filled with Christian
leaders, and as he read the Bible he noticed the lips of the faithful moving. They
had memorized the text and hidden it away where no one would be able to take it
away from them. And they had hidden the word away where it could inform their
behavior. Sometimes I have to admit that I believe that our behavior is
informed more by Facebook than God’s word, probably because we spend more time
on Facebook than we spend wrestling with what God says in the Book that he has
given to us.
Hide God’s
word in your heart – and then when trouble and temptation strike you will at least
know which path is right. Of course, whether you decide to follow that right
path is a totally different question.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
119:49-96
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