A Dead End Road

A Dead end Road is no place to be

Yesterday was Good Friday, a day in which we remember Christ's crucifixion, and His willingness to be the ultimate sacrifice. I for one will remember this Good Friday like none before and not for the greatest of reasons. You see my family and I (all but the two youngest daughters) were on our way to our service at the Church in Shasta Lake, it had been a rather enjoyable morning and we were looking forward to an enjoyable day. As I began to prepare to exit the freeway and made a lane change there was a motorcyclist in my blind spot and fortunately after only moving a few feet we saw him and avoided a collision. He of course was offended I made an apologetic gesture and he returned with a not so polite gesture, however I was the one in offense so I laughed it off and continued on, or at least attempted to. This young man wanted more, he wanted to terrorize my family and I. Therefore he proceeded to race around our car attempting to scare us and act like a fool. At one point I rolled down the window and apologized verbally but again this was not acceptable, little did he know that there was no fear in me at this point but rather now a man who was set on protecting his family. You see I had apologized, I wasn’t trying to harm him I simply made a mistake, but no that wasn’t good enough he had to keep making an issue of it, he wanted more. As we exited the freeway my goal was to find a sheriff before arriving at Church, because I knew once we parked I would be in protection mode and that would not bode well for anyone; however that was not meant to be. As I looked in the rear view mirror I saw the young man (who had only for a moment vanished) coming up quickly upon our car and as he passed (in a single lane) he swung at the car and knocked out the drivers side mirror, again more antagonism. Then off he rode, avenged in his mind leaving behind destruction in his wake.
This incident is now in the hands of the authorities and maybe they will find him and maybe they won’t, either way the Lord has used this incident to show me many things, some of which I feel led to share. For our Good Friday service the Lord had led me to John Chapter 17 where Jesus is praying for His disciples and those who would later believe. In this passage He speaks of His desire for God to protect us form the world that hates us, for us to be in unity with Him, and in unity with each other through love for Him. This passage while I love it, hurts me deeply, this passage brings to mind many painful memories and some ongoing hurts, things that just won’t go away. I was reminded as we read of the incidents of the day, how apologies were not enough how the world wants more, the world wants revenge, and retribution, how the worlds lust for power and control is never satisfied, much like my biker friend. Yet that truly is not what pains me most, what pains me are those who claim to be a part of the body who have purposed in their hearts to act the same way as the world. Those who profess that their actions no matter how contrary to the word they are, are justified, how they thank God for His supposed blessing as they do things completely contrary to His word. Can I just say this, God does not bless sin, and sin is missing the mark, when your actions are contrary to the word you have sinned, and repentance is your only hope for complete restoration. Anger, retribution, gossip, striking back, striking out, these are not the actions that vilify or exemplify the behavior that Jesus prayed and commanded for us to have toward one another. The world is out to destroy us, and if the enemy can get a few of us to turn on one another then the enemy can win a battle, and yes he has won far too many! There is no way that the young man on the motorcycle can justify his actions, yet the story will be twisted and he will no doubt brag to his friends about his heroic and justified deeds. He will no doubt brag of how he antagonized and innocent family, how great a man he was for his actions and yes he will in his own mind justify them, the key words being “in his own mind”. However in truth he was not justified, in truth he was vicious, foolish, and angry, in truth he appeared to be a fool, hell bent on self destruction. I too in my earlier days have found myself all to often on this road, this road of self righteous indignation, this road with a dead end, and I headed for a crash. And unfortunately today I see too many of my brothers and sisters remaining on this road this dead end road of death, this road littered with the bodies of believers wounded by other believers in the name of justice. The highway of Christianity is a bloody place, a place where tongues have lashed, and words have cut, a place paved with innocent blood, isn’t it time to quit? Please my friends I implore you, if you are on this road, get off before it is too late, take the exit of humility, or the one of grace, or the one marked mercy, take the road of repentance that leads to healing and unity in the body of Christ. I implore you, don’t confuse the grace with which God forgives your sins as justification for actions contrary to His word, of yes He forever loves you, but He does not love all you do. Please I ask of you stop feeding in the failings of your brothers and sisters in Christ, stop judging others when the facts you do not know, stop assuming wrong and start pursuing right. You see the world wants us to turn on each other, the world desires to scar us, hurt us, and separate us, but the Lord wants nine of these things and if what we do, say, or feel causes these things then no matter how we justify it we are simply wrong, for the word is never wrong, truth will again always be truth!

Pastor Gene Burroughs