Preventing the Decay of our Relationships

First a little house cleaning!  Anyone who knows me, at least in the area of ministry, knows that I don't like routine.  Now, before I get a bunch of comments telling me that routine is important, let me say "I know." I understand we need to bathe, get dressed, brush our teeth, and put our pants on one leg at a time, but sometimes routine can lull us into mindlessness and even worse, heartlessness.  So, in that spirit I don't want to lull you into that same place.  I would like for you to open your email or sign onto the blog with a sense of anticipation, so if you ever find this blog sounding like the teacher in the Charlie Brown movies, "Wha, wha, wha, wha...." let me know. Now, back to business.

There is a term that you may remember from high school science class.  (if you don't, that's cool.  This isn't a test).  The term is "entropy".  To keep it really simple, entropy states that things always trend toward the maximum amount of disorder.  For example, after you clean your son's room, it will become maximally disorganized over time.  In spring, you organize the garage and by fall it looks like someone picked it up and shook it around for a while.  Things unattended tend to decay.  Let your garden go for a month without water, fertilizer, or picking weeds.  If you take a new Toyota and put it in a field, leave it there for ten to twenty years it won't turn into a shiny Lexus.  It'll turn into a bucket of rust.  OK, I think you get "entropy".

I want to take this concept and apply it to things more important than your kid's room (or your room if you are a kid), gardens,  and cars.  I want us to look at a few things that if unattended will decay, spoil, and maybe die.  I want us to look at our relationships.  I want us to look at our marriages, or relationships with our children, and our relationship with God.  

Love is such an easy word to say, isn't it.  I love french fries.  I love the beach.  I love you Honey. I love you Lord.  Love, peace, joy!  Love, love, love . . .  Flows pretty nice off the tongue.  Jesus said "A new command I give you, love one another".  The apostle John reminds us that real love is much harder to do than to say, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  Love is sacrificial and love takes work.  Love means that we stop and decide if maybe we are loving ourselves first then giving the others our leftovers.  

There was prophet named Ezekiel who lived about 570 years before Jesus and God spoke some powerful words through his mouth.  Check these out, "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who take care of themselves!  Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost."

So, here is this flock of sheep wandering the hillside.  Just for the record, sheep aren't the brightest animals in the barn.  They need a great deal of help.  But, the shepherd who was supposed to love and care for them has instead, taken care of himself.  Two sheep have fallen into a ravine, three have starved without food and water, one has been eaten by a lion, and four eaten by wolves.  Meanwhile, Bob the shepherd is enjoying a latte under a nice shade tree while he reads  the latest issue of chariot racing weekly (the early precursor to NASCAR).  Bob loves Bob and the sheep are tending toward disorder (maximum entropy).

We are shepherds of our marriages, our families, and also have to tend to our relationship with the God who gave us both of those.  I'll be the first to admit that I have failed miserably at all of these at times but the God of grace has given me second and third chances.  Let's be really honest with ourselves today and take a real close look at our relationships.  Let's not let them tend toward disorder and decay.  It takes work, time, thought, and most of all love.  Let's get to the task of fighting entropy!  If your marriage is in the ravine of resentment, your kids are being chased by wolves of addiction, or your relationship with God is dead or dying, let's get to work!  God will help us if we ask.  Quite frankly, we need his help!

In Christ's love,

David