Halloween

Sometimes I write this column in a slightly irreverent manner and others for sheer love of God. Today I write to you with urgency not the norm for this column. My subject: Halloween. I am not going to batter you with a diatribe about how satanic the holiday tends to be or rant about the impropriety of the season. In the spirit of love for you and my heartfelt desire for you to know my Savior, I humbly ask you to consider your spirituality this October 31st. I begin with a letter, called “The Seeker’s Prayer”, I found from a Puritan writer named John Gerstner. It aptly shows what the mindset of a non-believer is as we count the cost of committing our lives to following Jesus Christ. Evaluate your search through these glasses.
“Dear God, whom I hate with all my being precisely because you hate and threaten me with hell, I hate this punishment perhaps even more than I hate you. Or, maybe I should say that I love my comfort even more than I hate you. For that reason I am asking a favor of you. I want you to make me love you, whom I hate even when I ask this and even more because I have to ask this. I am being frank with you because I know it is no use to be otherwise. You know even better than I how much I hate you and that I love only myself. It is no use for me to pretend to be sincere. I most certainly do not love you and do not want to love you. I hate the thought of loving you but that is what I'm asking because I love myself. If you can answer this 'prayer' I guess the gift of gratitude will come with it and then I will be able to do what I would not think of doing now—thank you for making me love you whom I hate. Amen.”
Is this shocking? Look deep. Think of God’s view from inside of your heart. As I look back at from whence I have come, my pre-Christian life had several times when I felt like praying this prayer. While I would never say this out loud my actions screamed it with a bullhorn. When we sit on a fence and evaluate Christianity as one of a number of life options like shopping for a place for a pedicure, it’s an offense to God. John 3:36 says "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." You see, God gave His Son Jesus Christ to die in our place for the punishment we deserve for our sin. When we kick tires of commitment, He is sickened. Revelation 3:16 states “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit (literally “vomit”) you out of my mouth.” James 4:4 furthers this thought declaring “You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” See also Matthew 6:24/ Luke 16:13.
Halloween is a time of spirituality and darkness (rightly defined as the absence of light). If you are a Christian, please evaluate your heart this season. Do my or my kids’ costumes show contempt for our Creator? Does my witness for Jesus Christ get drug through the mud when I allow Halloween to compromise my integrity? Is it really just wholesome fun to dress like the devil that Jesus Christ painfully died on a cross in our place to defeat? Join me in taking these questions to God in our quiet times with Him this week.
Toe-dipper, be aware. If you are not God’s friend, you are His enemy and His wrath abides on you like a noose around your neck. Maybe you’re a pretty good person? PLEASE scan Exodus 20 (10 Commandments) as a mirror for your ability to do good. Note the “biggies”, murder and adultery, are addressed by Jesus in Matthew 5:21-2 and 5:27-8 as equally committed when angry at someone (murder) and lusting after someone (adultery of the heart). If this concept is hard to get, think of NBC Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator”. Police in a sting arrest/convict those who intend to have sex with a minor before the act happens. God, with infinitely higher standards, knows/convicts based on our intent. If you flirt with Buddhism, New Ageism, pseudo-Christian cults, Kansas City Chiefs-ism, or any other ism, take God seriously today. God cares about toe-dipping and He takes it seriously.
A brief note on good works making peace with God: Isaiah 64:6 says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” I title my column as filthy rags to remind both of us that neither of us are good. Nothing good has ever come from me apart from what is done by Him living in me. What we do before we come to faith in Christ to better our case is as worthless as these rags.
I humbly ask you to consider these claims. Trust the scripture over the chubby writer! In case this piece is short of joy, note that God is clearly a God of love. Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He loves us just like we are but wants to change us into the image of His Son. The time is now to get off the fence and tell God where we stand with our voices/actions. Halloween 2007 is our wakeup call. Friend or foe… you make the call. May God Bless you and your earnest search and final decision.