Winston Churchill

Versions and Perversions

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images (4)After listening to some of the comments from the presidential hopefuls in the recent Iowa Straw Poll, I think a name change is in order.  Because the brief speeches revealed some weaknesses, it might be more accurate to call it the Flaw Poll.

Sometimes political speeches disintegrate into a form of mindless banter, and the candidate’s version of the facts is a perversion of what is true.  Winston Churchill said: “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

Truth is not created. It is discovered.  Whenever you find someone trying to fabricate the truth, you have discovered a lie.

The difference between the truth and a lie is as simple as the letters “d” and “i.”  When you add them to version, you get a di-version from the truth.  You allow your emotions, wants and desires to turn you aside from the correct course or you yield to the biased opinion and false argument of another you are misdirected.

This was the problem that Paul was addressing when he wrote to the Christians at Galatia (1:6-9):

I can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.  ~The Message

There is a close connection to the degeneration of society and the proliferation of lies.  This is one reason Paul warned the Galatians: Any diversion from the principles of God is a perversion of the truth.

Before you yield to the new and ideal, you might want to compare it to the tried and true: “We are not meant to remain as children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching and the jockeying of men who are expert in the craft presentation of lies. But we are meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ (Ephesians 4:14 Phillips).”

A Teaching Standard

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std_logoThe usage of the word “mock-up” is attributed to Winston Churchill. While he was drawing up some battle plans, Churchill said: “It is necessary to construct without delay a dummy fleet…They are then to be mocked up to represent particular battleships of the 1st and 2nd Battle Squadrons.” A few years later the noun form of “mocked up” found its way into the English language as “mock-up.”

According to dictionary.com, “mock-up” is used to “describe the making of a replica used for study, testing, or teaching.”

Paul had the “mock-up” concept in mind when he said: “Let me be your example here, my brothers: let my example be the standard by which you can tell who are the genuine Christians among those about you.” The word “example” is the Greek word “typos” and is used in reference to a “moral pattern (Philippians 3).”

When you think of Churchill’s “mock-up” and Paul’s “typos” in relation to your life, what do you see? Is your life a “mock-up” or a mockery? Is it a “typos” or a typo?

To live a disciplined Christian life, study the “mock-up” of Paul’s training regimen found in I Corinthians 9:

“Do you remember how, on a racing-track, every competitor runs, but only one wins the prize? Well, you ought to run with your minds fixed on winning the prize! Every competitor in athletic events goes into serious training. Athletes will take tremendous pains—for a fading crown of leaves. But our contest is for an eternal crown that will never fade. I run the race then with determination. I am no shadow-boxer, I really fight! I am my body’s sternest master, for fear that when I have preached to others I should myself be disqualified (9:24-27).”

Planting The Seeds of Kindness

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bekind

More often than not, when a person discusses Galatians 6 and the law of sowing and reaping, he does so in a negative context. I think you benefit as much if not more when you apply it with a positive perspective.

Notice what Paul says in these verses: “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 1 Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith (gal. 6:7-10).”

St. Basil may have been thinking about these verses when he said: “He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

Taking the words of Paul to heart and applying the saintly advice of Basil, what type of seeds have you been sowing and what kind of harvest have you been reaping?

The importance of sowing seeds of kindness is found in a comment made by Leo Buscaglia: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

Kindness is a form of communication that is not limited by ethnic or social barriers. It is a language that even the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Winston Churchill once said: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” People are so focused on living and getting, that they sometimes forget to give.

I encourage you to make a difference in the life of someone today—give them the gift of kindness. “Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” ~Mother Teresa