Just because you can't control your emotional reaction to the truth doesn't mean I shouldn't speak it

I read an amazing quote from psychologist Roger Skinner the other day. He said, "Those who cannot control their emotions have no choice but to try and control the actions of others." What a brilliant synopsis of America in 2016.

We live in a nation of emotionally immature people who are increasingly unable to control their emotions. Students at Emory University in Atlanta lined up and protested at the office of the president because someone wrote, "Trump 2016" in sidewalk chalk on the campus. To hear the protestors you would have thought someone had been murdered. However, what was going on here was simple emotional immaturity. They saw something they didn't like. They perceived it as racist or whatever current trendy "ism" is used to justify outrage. They couldn't control their emotional reaction to it, so therefore they had no choice but to try to control the behavior of others- namely, the notorious terrorist who put a name and a date in chalk on a sidewalk.

America is increasingly becoming a nation of victims. It seems that everyone everywhere is persecuted. Everyone everywhere, it seems, is on the receiving end of a systematic structure whose sole purpose is to hurt, to keep down, to discriminate against them. Because of this, people are marching in the streets. People are violently protesting at campaign rallies. People are getting into huge arguments on social media and unfriending people they used to truly like. People are sharply divided, each claiming the other side is actively and systematically discriminating against them- each side clambering for the moral high ground in America by claiming the other side is bigoted, racist, homophobic, or whatever other convenient word is used to try and shut people up.

However, the main problem isn't that everyone is out to get everyone else. The main problem is simply that Americans have no maturity, and because of that, have no ability to control their emotions.

It is now incredibly widely accepted to fly off the handle at every little thing that we hear that we don't like. Measured response, wise response, overlooking an insult, overlooking something that is no big deal- all that is out the window. Emotionalism is what is prized in this society. It would almost seem that the highest ranking person in the social order is the one who has been "discriminated against" the most.

This is a brand new social structure. It used to be that the one with the most popularity was the one with the best looks, or the most money, or the most athletic ability. That has all been replaced by the one who is the biggest victim. Whoever can manage the biggest emotional reaction to an event, a saying, or an encounter is now the new "popular" one. Society, previously, heaped praise and status upon those who had achieved something. Now, it heaps praise and status on the one who has their feelings hurt the most. We have achieved a brand new social order- where the loudest victim is now the most popular one in the room.

However, this can only carry on for a short time before people start to take notice. People who emotionally react to every little thing get very tiresome to be around. Therefore, the professional victim class had to come up with another way to justify their inability to control their emotions in order to stay on top of the social pecking order. They invented a thing called "triggering."

Now the social status of the emotionally immature can be completely solidified and justified, because now their emotional reactions are beyond their control. It is not their fault that they react the way they do. The fault doesn't lie with emotional immaturity. It lies with a "trigger" event that moves the victim into an area where he or she is no longer responsible for his or her actions.

Once "triggered," these people throw off all wisdom, restraint, accountability, and consequences. The explanation given is that whatever "triggered" them- sidewalk chalk, microaggressions, a comment, an insult, a political opinion they disagree with, whatever it is- is so horrible that the person has no option but to lose control and act in ways that, prior to the triggering, would be unacceptable, but now because of the triggering, are completely understandable. People are justifying violence at Trump rallies because they were "triggered" and therefore are above accountability. Professors at colleges are stealing pro-life signs, claiming the slogans "triggered" them and therefore were justified in their actions. Once the blame can be placed on the "trigger," people no longer accept responsibility for their actions, claiming that they are victimized and therefore justified in whatever it is they do.

All of this boils down to Skinner's quote. These emotionally immature people cannot control their emotions, and therefore they have no option but to try to control the actions of others.

However, just because you can't control your emotional reaction to the truth doesn't mean I shouldn't speak it.

And that is the issue here in America. We are at an impasse. We have the right to free speech in this country. We also have an increasingly emotionally immature population who can't handle hearing anything they don't already agree with. So, one of two things must be done.  1) We shut down free speech, or 2) the emotionally immature must learn to control their emotions when they hear speech they disagree with.

Sadly, society seems to be taking option #1. We are prizing emotional comfort over the God-given right of free speech. We are favoring not hurting anyone's feelings over the inherent right to speak our minds. I believe this to be the key struggle of our day here in America in 2016. My suggestion to those who do not like option #1 is this- continue to speak freely. Continue to exercise your right to free speech. People will have emotional reactions to it. So what? Speak it anyway. Do not let those who cannot control their emotions control your behavior. Don't let their inability to handle anything they don't already agree with stop you from speaking freely.

The micro aggression/triggering/fascism stuff, sounding so intellectual and new and brilliant, is simple emotional immaturity.

If hearing something you disagree with throws you into uncontrollable emotional fits, the problem is YOU.

If you feel the need to control the actions or words or beliefs of another person because you don't like what they say, the problem is YOU.

If you claim that something "triggered" you and therefore you can justify any kind of action against someone else, the problem is YOU.

If you feel the need to shut down, shame, insult, ridicule, or silence anything you disagree with, the problem is YOU.

Just because you can't control your emotional reaction to the truth doesn't mean I shouldn't speak it.

Civil Disobedience For Pastors in Light of New Legislation

I saw the national news about the Georgia governor vetoing the religious rights protection bill or whatever it was called. Depending on what news source you read, it was either a triumph of goodwill towards persecuted minorities and the gay/lesbian community or the beginning of open season on churches and pastors.

I'm not freaking out, even though the bill apparently would have provided legal protection for pastors if someone attempted to force them to perform gay weddings or force a church to host one. This is why:

When I worked at Little Caesar's pizza when I was in college, there were some rather interesting guys that made the pizzas. We, like most businesses, had repeat customers, some of whom were very rude and condescending. Well, those folks received "special" treatment.

If a customer was abusive or angry or anything like that, it was no stretch to say that certain things happened to their pizza before it was delivered. I would leave that to your imagination as to the details, but one thing I learned- when you are wanting the services of someone, you'd better be kind to them.

That's why I shook my head when I heard about gay couples suing a wedding cake company. There is no way on EARTH I would have ever eaten a piece of that cake. I saw what the pizza guys did to rude customers' orders. There is no telling what kind of cake you would be getting if you sued the person making it. All I know is that if you were at that wedding and ate a piece of the cake, you need to see your doctor immediately.

In WWII, the German high command forced concentration camp victims to make ammunition for the Wehrmacht (German army). When guards weren't looking, the slave laborers would fill the bullets with sand instead of gunpowder. American GI's can all tell you that the number of duds- unexploded artillery shells, potato mashers (grenades), etc was MUCH higher than normal. The "workers" resisted by sabotaging what they were being forced to do. They didn't just lay down. They resisted. They found a way to fight even under the threat of punishment and death.

The gay/lesbian community would be incredibly foolish to sue a pastor or a church and force them to perform a wedding.  Why? Same reason the German army shouldn't have forced slave laborers to make ammunition for them- you don't threaten people you need. They'll find a way to fight back.

The pastor would show up an hour late, dressed in shorts and a wife-beater t-shirt with Billy Bob teeth instead of a suit.

The pastor would do the service in Spanish, or German, or Pig-Latin.

The flowers would mistakenly be watered with bleach instead of water the night before.

The pastor would lose the marriage license.

The pastor would preach a two-hour sermon, reading from the book of Leviticus about everyone who begat someone else, eventually getting around to something having to do with weddings.

The A/C units would mysteriously stop working, especially if it were a summer wedding. Same with the heating unit for a winter wedding.

The toilets would mysteriously stop up.

The reception tables would all of a sudden be missing screws and brackets.

I could go on.

See, pastors, you don't need to freak out. You're holding all the cards. If they need your services, or intend to force you against your beliefs and against your will to participate, you are still in control. A few "weddings" like I described above would be all it would take to stop the lawsuits and agenda. Get creative. I'm sure you can think of better things than I was able to come up with. Just sabotage it. Make it miserable for the couple. Let them encounter resistance at every turn. Be late. Be sloppy. Be unprofessional. Forget details. Turn off the water to the building. Make significant mistakes on the wedding license, so it will have to be returned and done over again. Postpone the wedding several times. Get the flu the day of the wedding. If, like me, you require marriage counseling sessions before marriage, miss those appointments. Have someone hold a lighter to the smoke detector during the ceremony so the service will have to be interrupted by fire fighters. Send the marriage license to the wrong county in the wrong state so it gets lost.

In other words, make it NOT WORTH THEIR EFFORT TO FORCE YOU TO VIOLATE YOUR CONSCIENCE. Make their experience so miserable, so taxing, so time-consuming, so terrible, that they decide it isn't worth the effort. Make their wedding so awful, so miserable, so cluster-you-know-what that all of their courtroom time, all their plans, all their forcing of agenda will simply not be worth it.

This is the way all people who try to force pastors to violate their conscience and convictions should be treated. There is nothing in the Bible that commands pastors or Christians to roll over and play dead in the face of tyranny, in the face of violating your conscience, in the face of being forced to do something you believe runs contrary to your beliefs.

Some people will say that's not very loving, that pastors should just be loving and kind and treat all people with respect and dignity. That's true. We should be loving and kind and treat all people with respect and dignity. However, that doesn't mean you participate willingly in something you believe to be wrong. There is a time for peace and a time for war, the Bible says. There is a time to compromise and a time to hold fast to your beliefs. If someone declares war on you- on your name, your reputation, on your livelihood, your freedom, your church- it's time to go to war. It's time to fight. It's time to stand up and not be a doormat. The weapons I've described above- nonviolent weapons of sabotage and civil disobedience- are the ones to fight with. War has been declared. So go to war.

When I hear of bills like this being vetoed, I do little more than yawn. Pastors, you are still holding all the cards.

When you feel like complaining . . . .

My wife and I were downstairs early this morning, which is pretty rare. Most of the time one of us is gone to work or meetings in the early mornings, so this was kind of rare.

She was fixing scrambled eggs for our son who has to go to school first. She asked me, while she was fixing breakfast, to make our son a sandwich for his lunch. I went over to the fridge and opened it up. That's when my bad day started.

As soon as I opened the door, stuff started falling. A container of cherry tomatoes, not properly put away, fell out and scattered all over the floor. I happened to step on a few of them. Then more items started spilling out, and it was all I could do to catch them before they hit the ground- jars of jelly, apples, you name it. All spilling out. It would have been pretty funny if I was watching someone else, but I was definitely not amused.

When I finally stopped the avalanche of refrigerator items from falling, I was pretty mad. Someone had just thrown all the stuff in there and I happened to be the one reaping the consequences. It was quite a mess. To make things worse, when I reached in to get the bread and turkey, as I was pulling them out of the fridge, I started another avalanche of stuff.

I lost my cool. I started complaining.

And then it hit me.

I'm complaining about having so much food that it's spilling out of the fridge. Really?

See, what I learned today was that most of what we complain about, if not all, are things that God blesses us with. I began to think about the things I complain about on a daily basis- and there was something in every one of them that was a blessing from God:

1. The over-abundance of food in my house that I complained about this morning- I'm literally complaining about having too much food. Lord, help me change that complaint into thankfulness and amazement that I have more food in my house than many people see in a month.

2. The mess in the family room that drives me nuts- that's the sign of a house full of children. Lord, help me change that complaint into thankfulness and amazement, because there are many in this world who cannot have children or have lost children and would die to have that mess if it meant they actually had children. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of my children.

3. The traffic on the roads that I complain about- that's the sign that I am wealthy enough to afford a car, insurance, gas, and so is everyone else on the road. Amazing. I also am healthy enough to drive. Lord, help me change that complaint into thankfulness and amazement that I have a standard of living that includes not just one car, but three, and the ability to drive on safe roads.

4. The idiots in government that are running this country- the fact that I can write that without fear of being arrested means I live in a free country. Lord, help me change that complaint into thankfulness and amazement. People in North Korea would die to be able to say the things I am saying/have said about those in power.

5. The never-ending chores of being a homeowner: yard work, mowing, lawn care; fixing/replacing broken appliances, painting, cleaning, etc. Lord, help me turn that complaint into thankfulness that I own my own home (and I love it) and it's more than I could ever deserve.

6. The never-decreasing piles of laundry- that's the sign that my wife, children, and I are healthy and active and all play sports. Lord, help me turn that complaint into thankfulness, because You have given us a healthy home. It's also a sign that we have plenty to wear, and we have more clothes than many people in this world. We have an over-abundance of one of life's essentials. We are so blessed.

I could go on. I think one of the ways you know that you are growing closer to the Lord is that you are able to turn your complaints into praise. Just about everything you complain about is actually a blessing that God has given you.

Do you complain about work? You have the blessing of a job, of income. Turn it into thankfulness.
Do you complain about your spouse? You have the blessing of marriage. Turn it into thankfulness.
Do you complain about the weather? You have the blessing of changing seasons. Be thankful.
Do you complain about anything? I guarantee there is one of God's many blessings right there beside it.

Find the blessing in the complaint, and turn your complaints into thankfulness to God. Honestly, we should have no reason to complain about anything. God is good. We are blessed.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Philippians 2:14-15

"Well, I guess I'll have to give up my girlfriend . . . "

Last Sunday, I was finishing up my Inside/Out Dad prison ministry. One of the guys asked if he could talk with me after class. He approached me and said, "Just wanted you to know- I had divorce papers that I was going to send to my wife, but because of last week's class I decided not to."

I nodded.

He continued, "You said that you'd sit down and do counseling for anyone in this class. Will you really sit down with me and my wife and help us work things out?"

I said, "Sure. I'm a pastor. I do that all the time. I'd love to sit down with you and your wife and see if there are things I can help with. I really believe in marriage and want to see everyone succeed in it."

Then, in one of those moments where the Holy Spirit guides you, I said, "This past Tuesday night I was watching the UK-Alabama game when I got a message that a friend of mine had died. I had baptized him back in July a few months ago. He went to work, came home, sat down on the couch, massive heart attack, and died."

I continued, "I went to the hospital to visit the family. When I got there, it was mass chaos. The family was grieving, the coroner was trying to get information from his wife who was understandably beside herself with grief, family was there, etc. I sat and listened and counseled with the family for about an hour."

"Then it was time to go home. I walked back to the room, room #6, where my friend's body lay. I went there with his wife and stepdaughter- the women of the family. This was going to be their goodbye. The last words they would say to him. I'll never forget what they said."

I looked at the inmate. I said, "The wife leaned down and said, "Joe, you were so good to me. No one has ever loved me the way you did. Thank you." His stepdaughter said the same thing, "Joe Daddy, you were so good to me. You treated me so well."

The guy looking at me was silent.

I said, "That's what being a man is about. For the women in the family- the ones we are supposed to love and cherish and take care of and provide for- for them to say at the end of our lives, "You were so good to me, no one has ever loved me like you did," is about as good as it gets for a man. Now, let's say it was you laying on the table dead. Would your wife and daughter say that to you?"

He looked at me and said, "Probably not."

I said, "Well, what can you do right now, and continue doing for the rest of your life, so that they actually WOULD say that?"

He looked me in the eye and said with a straight face, "Well, I'd probably have to give up my girlfriend."

It's not easy to render me speechless, but he sure managed to do it. I thought he was joking at first, but he was as serious as he could be. I raised my eyebrows, gave him the two thumbs up signal and said, "Good plan."

After talking a little bit more, I found out that the reason he wanted to sit down with me and his wife wasn't to work on their marriage. He wanted me to tell his wife that she needed to get over his having a girlfriend on the side. That's what he thought I would do for him.

I said, "You're absolutely nuts. I'm not going to tell your wife that you having a girlfriend is okay."

The entire situation is laughable, right?

Who in their right mind would want a minister to say that outright sin is okay? It would never happen, right?

Sadly, that is what Christians do every day. Although we are much more sneaky about it.

How many of us want to be committed to God? If you are a Christian, probably most of us. Now consider this: how many of us want the preacher to preach on tithing? If you are a Christian, probably no one. The Christian is too many times like this inmate- he's got his "marriage" to God but also his sin of selfishness on the side, and he wants the preacher to tell God that his disobedience to the Word of God is okay.

How many of us have our "marriage" to God but also have our porn on the side? Or our adulterous affair on the side? Or our lack of prayer,  lack of study of the Word, lack of passion for the Great Commission, and idolatry on the side? How many of us want to wear the label "Christian" and yet lead lives that look no different than the rest of the non-Christian world?

We are like that guy. We are the inmate who wants both his wife and his girlfriend. Far too often, that describes the Body of Christ.

Well, like marriage, it won't work.

I can't imagine that any bride, on her wedding day, would like to hear the words from her soon-to-be-husband, "In sickness and in health, for better for worse, till death do us part . . . .  wait. How committed do I have to be to you? What if I am 98% committed to you and only commit adultery once a year? Will that be okay? How about 95%? How committed do I have to be to you before you'll get mad?"

The bride would likely look away in disgust and say, "It's either 100% or 0%. If I'm not your one and only, I'm gone."

God is the same way.

People, today we need to stop committing spiritual adultery, which is exactly what we are doing. Like that inmate, let's get rid of our "girlfriend on the side" and commit our way solely to the Lord our God. You know exactly what needs to leave your life. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Get rid of it today. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Oh, Lord- how faithful they are

One of the frustrating things about being a pastor is a rainy Sunday.

They told us in seminary that if it rains on a Sunday, you can expect up to one-third of your people to stay home. That probably harkens back to the days when transportation was by horse-drawn carriage and no one wanted to go out into the field and hitch up the team in those kinds of conditions, let alone travel on a muddy road where you would most likely get stuck in your Sunday best clothes.

It is unbelievably frustrating for pastors to see people sidelined by rain. On Sundays when it rains, such as yesterday, it is difficult to not get angry at people who would go to work in the rain, go to school in the rain, go to a UK basketball game in the rain, but not to church.

Well, this isn't a blog castigating people who stay home when it rains. Quite the opposite.

One of my long-time mentors told me, when I asked him what was one regret he had in ministry, "I wish I would have spent more time appreciating who was there rather than being mad at who was absent."

Yesterday, on a dark, rainy Sunday morning, there were tons of people at church. There were lots that were missing, but there were many more who WERE there than who weren't.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

Every Sunday, people set aside time in their Sunday morning to come to Catalyst to worship, to participate in the community, to fellowship, and to be part of the Body of Christ.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

Every Sunday, people give of their hard-earned money to support the church. We don't scare people into giving. We don't say that they will burn in hell if they don't. The people give of their own free will and their own choice. And each week we have enough to meet all our needs.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

We've been a church for almost eight years now. We have never missed a Sunday; never called off worship for Christmas or rain or snow or ice. There have been people attending Catalyst Christian Church for four-hundred and fourteen Sundays in a row.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

We have Catalyst members who are foster parents, who are adoptive parents, who do missions in Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, India, and Nepal, who support foster and adoptive parents, who fill backpacks full of food to feed hungry kids on the weekends, who teach fatherhood skills in prisons, who serve on the worship team, who volunteer in children's ministry, who volunteer in our youth ministry, who greet and usher on Sunday mornings, who prepare communion, who prepare the baptistery for baptisms, who share their faith with friends and family and bring them to Christ, who are discipling their children in their homes, who gave Thanksgiving and Christmas to children of inmates, who serve and serve and serve and never ask for any recognition whatsoever.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

We have a congregation who gave of their treasure, above and beyond their normal giving, in order to move into our first building in 2009 and now into our current building in 2014.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

We have people who give of their time to lead community groups to pastor and teach people, and people who give up a night a week to host and attend these groups. They are growing each day closer to the Lord.

Oh, Lord, how faithful they are.

I could go on. The faithfulness of the people in the church is amazing. What I listed was just a small portion of what goes on daily in the lives of Christians. No media, no front page news, no announcement or plaques or awards given. Just day to day faithfulness of the believer in Christ.

When I'm tempted to get upset at people who stay home on a rainy day, Lord, remind me of the amazing amount of faithfulness demonstrated by the people. Pastors, I encourage you to do the same. Remember the words of my very wise mentor:

"I wish I would have spent more time appreciating who was there rather than being mad at who wasn't."

The Power of Twelve Short Words

We speak a lot of words. Experts tell us that the average man uses between 8000 and 10,000 words a day. The average woman uses 20,000-plus words per day. Most words we speak are rather meaningless; they don't carry life-changing truths or convey great thoughts or really make a hill of beans difference in the end.

That's why when special words come along they have such power. 

I do a lot of counseling, both personal and family. I do marriage counseling. I do parental counseling. As a pastor, people come to me for advice, for God's perspective on their problems, for help, for just about anything, really. I've seen a lot of advice and given a lot of advice (some good, some bad), but I always come back to these twelve words that I discovered several years ago.

I have found that those who are able to consistently do what these twelve words say, day in and day out, live wonderful lives. They are good fathers. They are good mothers. They are good employees. They are good bosses. They are good husbands. They are good wives. They are good at just about everything entailing human interaction. They have a remarkable ability to relate, to connect, to have good marriages, happy homes, and effective careers. All by following twelve simple words.

What, pray tell, ARE these twelve words that will almost certainly guarantee success?

Here they are. Straight from the Bible. The book of James, actually. James 1:19:

                  "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."

Rather underwhelming, isn't it?

Yet, so true.

Think about it. What would your marriage be like (if you are married) if you and your spouse, every day, practiced these twelve words? What if you were quick to listen? What if instead of jumping to conclusions or speaking out of turn, you instead were quick to listen and slow to speak? What would your marriage look like if you, instead of becoming instantly angry, were slow to anger?

I'll tell you what your marriage would look like. It would be wonderful.

What would your interactions with your children be if you practiced these twelve words as a parent? What if you were quick to listen to your children instead of being the one who was always talking? What words have you spoken out of haste or out of anger that have caused major damage in your relationship with your children? What words would you do anything in the world if you could just take them back?

Twelve words. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

I counsel couples that I marry to do this. I counsel couples that come to me with marriage problems to do this. I counsel parents to do this with their children, and children to do this with their parents. It really seems fairly obvious, doesn't it? 

Yet, how many of us practice it? How many of us not only neglect this advice but actively do the opposite? How many of us would describe ourselves as people who are slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to become angry?

I would say that is far more common. Look at the results of it in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our marriages, our friendships.

Today, write these twelve powerful words down and vow to practice them every day. Today, look for a situation where you can be quick to listen. Look for a chance to be slow to speak. Look for an opportunity to be slow to anger. You'll be amazed at how different your interactions with people will be. You'll be amazed at the peace and calm that settles in your home. You'll be amazed at the results you see in life.

The power of twelve simple words. Use them to change your life today.

Why Ash Wednesday is Essential to the Christian Life

I'm from a tradition that doesn't make a big deal out of Ash Wednesday.

I'm not Catholic or Lutheran or Episcopalian. I don't pastor a liturgical, traditional church. I'm an evangelical, non-denominational pastor, so traditional days like Ash Wednesday are rarely even mentioned in the circles I run in.

However, this has been to our detriment.

Evangelical Christians do a lot of things well. We give to all kinds of charities and causes. We are excellent at reaching others for Christ. Out of all segments of Christianity, we are the ones most likely to attend church, to give regularly, to be involved in Bible studies, to volunteer, to adopt children, to go on mission trips, and to generally carry on the work of the church.

As you notice, the emphasis on that list is "DO."

Evangelical Christians are great at "doing" the work of the kingdom.

However, we've missed a big part of our faith. We're so concerned with doing the work of the Kingdom that many of us have missed the relationship with Christ that drives that work.  The biggest key to that relationship, the starting point of that relationship, is repentance.

We as people are broken, sinful people. We are self-centered. We disobey God's commands regularly and with very little remorse. We use the Lord's name in vain, we lie, we purposefully seek out porn, we routinely live together before marriage, we actively condone evil; we do all kinds of things that should never be present in the life of a person under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

This is nothing new. This has been present since the very beginning of humanity. People have always recognized this as part of the struggle of being a faithful believer in Jesus Christ.

However, the language of repentance, once so widely practiced and used in Christian circles, has all but disappeared from American Christianity. Where are the sermons calling people to repent? Where are the messages from pastors to their people to fast, to mourn, to feel the weight of their sin? Where are the people who routinely confess their sins and weep over their brokenness and rebellion against the Lord?

If those things are around, I sure don't see any.

What I see are pastors bending over backwards not to offend, to try to put a positive spin on sin, to not speak about it at all for the risk of offending someone. On the other hand, I see Christians leaving churches because a pastor dared to CALL a sin a sin. I see Christians angered over the fact that a pastor would dare to preach on something that is present in their lives. If you doubt me, ask a pastor to preach on gluttony. Or greed. Or envy. You'll see how popular he is by the amount of anonymous letters he gets and the decrease in numbers the next Sunday.

Yes, we have stripped the language of repentance, self-denial, and brokenness out of the church. We have embraced the political correctness of our world that says there is no evil, there is no good, everything is equal. We have bought the line that daring to call sin a sin and suggesting that a person needs repentance and change is "judgmental" and of course, Jesus never judged anyone.

So, what we are left with are a bunch of churches who have been made as comfortable as possible on their road to hell. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 13:5, "Unless you repent, you too will perish." It doesn't get much clearer than that.

That's why Ash Wednesday is essential to the Christian life. It is the one day of the year we focus on repentance, on brokenness, on being reconciled to God, on turning from our sins, of weeping over the sin in our lives and in our world, and beginning to deny ourselves instead of indulging ourselves.

Think about this as you enter the Easter season. Without repentance, no one will see the Kingdom of God.