What's It All About, Alfie?

"Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31)

The most well-known of the 107 questions and answers of the Westminster Catechism is surely:

"What is the chief end of man?  Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever."

This singular truth from God's Word was brought home to me again this week, believe it or not, by a movie from 1966 entitled "Alfie."  A young Britisher named Alfie Elkins lives a totally self-seeking life, using everyone in his path as a means to his own selfish end.  At the end of the movie, however, circumstances in his life cause him to realize that if you don't have peace of mind then you don't have anything at all.  In the closing scene as the title character walks slowly into the twilight, the theme song is sung, a portion of which includes the words:

What's it all about, Alfie? 
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about, when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give?

Clearly from God's perspective we are not meant to take instead of give.  In fact, all that we do is intended to bring glory to God.  This question and answer from the Westminster Catechism is not just for Presbyterian believers!  It is to be the lifeblood of every follower of Jesus Christ.  Nothing is more foundational to any human being than eating and drinking.  Paul's point, then, is that seeking the glory of God is to be as foundational to our living as are eating and drinking.  We should view every circumstance of life through the prism of God's glory.  We should actively seek for ways in which to bring glory to God no matter what we are doing.  Seeking God's glory is not a switch that we can turn on and off, beloved!

We may not ourselves be as self-seeking and self-serving as was Alfie Elkins, but the question we need to continually ask ourselves as we walk through this life is: "Will this glorify God?"  A later line in the theme song for the movie states: "As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie."  Well, there is a heaven above and the dictate of heaven is that we should live this life in full, relentless, and joyful pursuit of the glory of God.  And that is what "it" is all about!

Ron      

Here's a 'PC' You Can Live With

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1)

Many of you may have already taken the time to check out the video clip posted on Face Book of Dr. Benjamin Carson speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast recently, both the president and vice-president not only in attendance but sitting with him on the dais.  If you haven't seen it, by all means check it out.  It is well worth the watch!  During his address, Dr. Carson told the story about a young man who wanted to send to his mother a very special gift for a very special occasion.  He purchased for her a pair of exotic and gifted birds that cost him $5,000 each and had them shipped to her.  Not hearing anything from her about his extravagant gift, he finally called her and asked her how she liked the birds.  Her response simply was: "They were good."  Unable to believe his ears, the young man told her what the birds had cost him and how talented they were, both of them being able to speak.  His mother's response is classic: "Then they should have said something!"

Back on December 20th I posted a Christmas blog that mentioned among other things the problem with trying to be "PC" or politically correct today.  Now I don't know about you, beloved, but frankly I am fed up with the whole issue of political correctness, of having to tiptoe around people's feelings so much so that we as fellow human beings can't even discuss anything honestly anymore.  So here and now I would like to propose to you that we take back the term "PC" and change its meaning to something that is much more positive and powerful.  I want to urge you to begin to use the term "PC" frequently in your conversations with others.  The only difference I want to see you make is that you introduce your own personal "PC" as a reference to your own practical Christianity.  We have learned the hard way in these past months that society's form of "PC" has not worked, is not working, and will never work.  All that it has done is to push people so far into corners of social acceptability that many are afraid to express any convictions about anything at all.

But did you notice what Paul told the believers in Ephesus about God's personal form of "PC"?  He urged his readers to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling" by which the Spirit of God had called them to faith in Jesus Christ, a calling that was meant then and is meant today to totally transform the life of anyone it touches. Society today does not need political correctness, beloved.  It desperately needs practical Christianity in front of its face every moment of every day.  People around us need to see followers of Jesus Christ living out our faith in real-life, day to day situations and circumstances.  Now that is a "PC" we can all live with!  As far as Dr. Carson's story about the mother who unintentionally cooked and ate her son's costly gift to her is concerned, she was absolutely right.  They should have said something!  Do you want to stand before the Lord one day and have it said of our failure to exhibit our own personal and visible practical Christianity that we should have said something?  Now is that time, beloved.  Today is that day.  Let's all agree as brothers and sisters in Christ that we will flood our world with God's version of "PC" and really show those around us who Jesus Christ is and what He can do for all who will turn to Him in repentance and faith.

Ron