Calvin Synod Herald, 2011 (112. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)
2011-07-01 / 7-8. szám
10 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Making Things Right When Things Go Wrong Let me warm you up with a short story: a man by the name of John owned an apartment complex and had just completed the exterior brick work on the 2nd floor. He had some bricks left over and was trying to decide the best way to get the load of bricks back down to the ground level without breaking them. He noticed a 55-gallon barrel on the ground and thought, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll tie some rope around that barrel, hook a pulley to the 2nd floor and pull the barrel up. Then I can load the bricks into the barrel and let it back down to the ground.” So that’s what he began to do. He tied the rope around the barrel, ran it over the pulley on the 2nd floor and pulled the barrel up. Then he tied the rope to the root of a nearby tree. He went up to the 2nd floor balcony and loaded the bricks into the barrel. Then he went back downstairs, grabbed the rope and pulled it loose from the tree. What happened next, however, John had not counted on! That 55-gal. barrel full of bricks weighed about 4 times as much as John! So the barrel shot down like lightning and John shot up like a rocket! As John shot past the barrel, it hit his shoulder, slammed against his hip and hit his kneecap. The barrel crashed to the ground, and John’s head smashed into the pulley above, cracking his skull. There he was, dangling by the rope from the 2nd story. When the barrel hit the ground, the bricks were so heavy they knocked the bottom out of the barrel. Now John was heavier than the barrel ! What a predicament! Down came John and up came the empty barrel. This time, however, the barrel caught him on the other side. It hit his other knee, scraped his hip, broke his nose and dumped him on top of the pile of bricks. He turned both his ankles and scuffed up both his shins. John let out a yell and turned loose of the rope. The barrel was heavier than the rope, down came the barrel. And you guessed it, it hit John one more time. As John found himself in the hospital bed, bruised, broken, cut, and sprained, he kept saying to himself, “I don’t know whether to file one insurance claim or should I file for five.” John’s story reminds me, and if you are like, I’m sure it reminds you too, that we are living in a terribly mixed up world! Our world is forever going up and down. And about the time we think we have the bucket filled, the bottom falls out and we get cracked in the head. We expect life to have a few bumps, but not one constant roller-coaster ride of pain, misery and bruises! There may be times when most of us feel like John. Life has dumped on us, bruised us, and dropped us on its pile of brokenness. We’re all beat up and don’t think we can even get up and walk away. Things do go wrong in life! Everything is up and down in this world! What’s the answer? How can things be made right when things go wrong? God’s Word has the answer. God’s Word is always right. Please take out your Bible and open it to Romans 12:9-11. In this portion of the scripture Paul tells how to make things right when things go wrong in life. The first lesson is to love sincerely. We all know that our love must be sincere. With a fake love you can’t go far. Years ago, if you remember, there was a song with the title “Love makes the world go ’round.” I would disagree. I would say: Love does not make the world go ’round, but.. .sincere love can sure make it go right! There isn’t anything, any situation, any relationship, etc. that true love can’t change and make it go right! In the beautiful chapter of Love: I Cor. 13:4-7, Paul writes: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Powerful! That is the truest and most sincere love there is and when it is at work in our lives, it will always make things right when things go wrong! To demonstrate love when someone is at their lowest point in life is genuine love. The second lesson we learn from this scripture is that we must cling constantly. The Bible said: “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Cling constantly to what is good in life and in people. It’s true that we are to “hate what is evil,” but we are not God’s vigilante committee to go out into the world, beating up on anyone and everyone who does evil. In the Garden of Gethsemane, perhaps you recall that when they came to get Jesus, Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. And Jesus plainly told Peter to put his sword away and then healed the ear. Jesus was trying to teach Peter that you don’t cure the world’s evils by fighting or force. And we don’t cure the evil that exists in people’s lives today by using those same means. Jesus converted people from their evil ways, not by beating them over the head physically or mentally with the gospel, but by loving them! We are often quick to criticize people, but slow to commend and compliment. Sometimes commending does a whole lot more good. Remember the expression, “You can catch more flies with honey.” An ordinary story comes to my mind. It is about a couple, let us give them a name: Bill and Mary. They lived in an ordinary house on an ordinary street. Like any other ordinary married couple, they struggled to make ends meet and to do the right things for their children. They were also ordinary in another way: they had their squabbles. Much of their conversation centered on what was wrong in their marriage and who was to blame. That is, until one day when a most extraordinary thing happened. Bill said to Mary, “You know, dear, I have a magic chest of drawers. Every time I open them, they’re full of socks and underwear. I want to thank you for filling them all these years.” Mary stared at her husband over the top of her glasses and said, “What do you want?” “Nothing. I just want you to know that I appreciate those magic drawers.” This wasn’t the first time Bill had done something strange, so Mary pushed the incident out of her mind until a few days later.
