Friday Coffee with PJ

Friday already? Ouch! How can it be? This week seems a lot shorter than usual! Oh ... that's right ... I was away in Cleveland for the first three days of this week attending the 2017 Basics Conference for pastors. So ... given the fact that I am trying to jam a full week of work into two days ... I will be very brief today. So pour yourself a cup of your favorite java and join me for a couple of random thoughts. 

I just LOVE the reality that so many of the PA Turnpike rest stops have a Starbucks! Yes! I enjoyed two cups on the way to the Basics Conference and one cup on the way back. Now I realize that many people (I am guessing the majority) don't simply order a straight up cup of coffee at Starbucks. But that is the ONLY thing I order. I like coffee undefiled (OK ... I admit I put a "dash" of creamer or milk in ... but that's it!). Now do I look down my coffee mug at those who prefer to have their Starbucks coffee in some other way? Of course I don't (unless I am standing in line where the three people ahead of me all order "specialty" drinks and only one person is working behind the counter doing their best to multitask!). Just because you like your coffee differently than I like mine is no big deal in the grand scheme of things!

What is true for coffee preferences, however, does not hold true for issues of morality. Our taste in coffee (or clothing or music or ice cream or ... ) is one thing. But when it comes to issues of morality, that is a choice of a different color. Sadly however, in an ever increasing way, issues of morality are treated very much the same way as ordering a Starbucks mocha or latte. And who determines what you order at Starbucks? You do, of course. And so it is with moral choices - we choose according to our preference ... what we think is best for us (the categories of "right" and "wrong" are rapidly disappearing - especially among the younger generation). Each of us becomes our own authority (and therefore we answer to no one). 

This is NOT the biblical worldview. Scripture is clear that there exists a moral Lawgiver who is none other than our creator. And the laws he gives us to live by are not meant to keep us from having fun. No! God is not some cosmic kill joy intent on crushing us under his almighty thumb. Not at all. He gives us these moral laws for our own good (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). My friends, man is NOT autonomous (self-governing). We live under the authority of the God who made us and keeps us. And when we go about our lives using his Word as our compass .... then we find the joy and fulfillment that we were meant to experience. 

The day is fast approaching when we all will answer to him for the moral choices we have made in this life (Romans 3:19 and Romans 14:12). Are YOU ready to give an account to Him? Check out Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face. 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj