Ensign: Where Sharing Is It's Own Reward

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 November 2013

[With some edits, this is an Ensign that I didn't realize I'd last shared nearly four years ago. And since this is the earliest in the year I recall KHRT coming out with this campaign -- hey, I'll deal with the mashing up of holidays another day -- I believe it bears repeating. Not so much to urge you who read to make a donation (though I certainly will) but to consider who we are, and who we're saying we are. And the difference between the two. -- David]

A Christian radio station in my hometown is using this slogan to promote its annual "Horn of Plenty" program that raises groceries to assemble food baskets for families and toys for children at Christmas who apply (check that, you can’t apply yourself but you can submit someone’s name to receive such a basket) along with a devotional to introduce the Word of God to them. Not a Bible, specifically, but something to help you "understand" it ... never mind that, my minor quibble is with the slogan itself.

It’s a minor quibble because, if you remember your English classes, the phrase that's the title today should NOT have a contraction in it. Expand the contraction (stay with me, this is not cosmology) and this slogan reads "where sharing is it is own reward" ... there should not be an apostrophe. I don’t know if this has been pointed out to KHRT or not, but we often don’t think even when we’re speaking and writing (largely not in the "Standard Written English" we learn in school) whether we’re describing something rather than telling you who or what it is.

The three times the word "Christian" appears in the Bible – in Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16 – it’s always used as a noun. You may remember the boilerplate definition (again, from your English classes) that a noun is a word that refers to a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. Too often, at least I notice this, we hear the word "Christian" in reference to a follower of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as a modifier in the sense of something with (or what someone pictures to be) the overtones Jesus presents.

Christian music, Christian author, or Christian anything is hardly an incorrect term to use, but when the title you and I who are Christians (I know not everyone who reads this is, so bear with me) bear gets tacked onto what we do as an adjective, it loses something. Back to the classroom, an adjective is a word that MODIFIES a noun and answers one or more of three questions: which one, what kind, or how many. This may not come across as a devotional, but it’s something to think about.

Are we nouns or are we adjectives? Do we tack "Christian" onto everything we do, even when what we do is not honoring Jesus Christ as we know Him because we’re just seeking God’s, and by extension the Son of God’s, blessing? We’re called to live a life that entails our seeking God all the time, and if this comes across as finger pointing three fingers point back at me, but we have to not be afraid to stand out for that. The call to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8) doesn’t stop at the end of the day.

Jesus’ parable regarding the Pharisee and the publican in Luke 18:9-14 also comes to mind. Do we put on a good show when we come to God in prayer like the Pharisee and brag about what we’ve done that looks like the good and right stuff to do, MODIFY ourselves? Or are we abasing ourselves before God and asking for mercy because we know we’re sinners and we’re not afraid to STATE that. Adjectives modify; nouns state. When we acknowledge before God who we are and don’t glorify what we do – others can do that – we become the statements, the faithful, the Christians this world needs. And sharing who we are is it’s ... pardon me, ITS, own reward.

Sincerely yours,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encouragement too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for communities around our world.

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won't either.

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. May we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.