The Rail Yard

            I once heard a story about a little boy who was sitting in a rail yard waiting for his train to leave. As he was watching the sights, he noticed an old man walking through the rail yard with a metal rod and he was tapping each of the wheels on each of the train cars three times as he passed. The boy had quite a long wait so he watched as the man worked his way across the yard tapping every wheel three times without missing one. Eventually the old man passed by the window of the train car that held the little boy, and he couldn’t contain himself.

            “Hey, mister” the little boy called, “Why do you tap every one of them train wheels three times?”

            The old man paused for a moment as if he had never been asked that question and replied, “You know, son - I really don’t remember – but I never miss a wheel.”

            I believe that anyone who desires to grow in life needs to be confident enough in God and the perfection of His plan, that they are always willing to re-assess their long-held beliefs. I have seen without a doubt, in my years in the Church that one of the biggest idols we face is our own religious dogma. We have spent centuries majoring in the minors. While this has caused a fracturing in the Church, which is bad, it has also clearly illustrated that part of the process of the Church becoming like Jesus is the need to be constantly aware that some of the things you have believed for years may be a lie.

            Let me give you this example from my own life. When I first became a Christian, I pushed more than a few people away because (this is what I convinced myself of, anyway) I just could not contain my zeal for Jesus. At the time I just wrote all those rejections off, telling myself that they were just arrogant and prideful and I used bible verses like this one to prove it to myself:

Matthew 7:14 (ESV)

¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

I often used the Bible to justify my overzealous and unloving witness. Sometimes when I had pushed away another family member with my ridiculousness (that I swore was from the mouth of God) I’d pull out this one:

Luke 14:26 (ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

This would help me explain to myself, in some way (although looking back, it was not a very believable way), why my mother wanted nothing to do with me or my amazing newfound religion, and why my father wouldn’t even come see his own family in Church for twenty years. Yes – my folks were wrong to behave that way too, however I had sinned grievously in my insensitive behavior toward them, and all I did was show how little I really understood the love of God or the word of God at the time.

            Through that, and many other similar mistakes over the years, I have learned that as we grow we should strive to be constantly aware of how our understanding of the Bible lines up with both the personality and the entire counsel of God as we understand it at that point in our lives, rather than our natural tendency to use a few cherry-picked verses just to win an argument. I've learned that sometimes we want to win more than we want to be right, or at least I do.

            I believe Christians owe it to themselves and frankly, to the ones God left us here for, to listen to many different Bible teachers, should we be blessed enough to live in an area where we can do so. In today’s world – that is pretty much anywhere there is internet access. We should be willing to be honest with ourselves, and pray to grow wise enough to change our views when God reveals an area in our lives where we may have grown in our understanding, or grown into a whole different viewpoint that we were unaware even existed until that precious moment in time when God revealed His truth to us.

Don’t trust in the way you’ve always done it – trust in God and His continuous work in your life right where you are today - not where you were five years ago. A faith that is unwilling to constantly grow and re-examine itself is really just a scared, weak, timid and shallow faith that does not really trust Jesus – it trusts in a set of beliefs. Some of us don’t have any idea why we believe what we believe – we just know it’s what that guy said from the pulpit Sunday morning – so it must be right. Or we know that’s what my daddy believed and my daddy’s daddy before him – so it must be right. Or that's what I've heard in church my whole life - so it must be right. Be careful, friends - that type of mindset can make you just like that old man. Clanking away – never missing a wheel – but also never leaving the rail yard.

How Much Of What We Believe Is Really True?

           I once heard a story about a man who worked in the local factory. This man had an important job, as he was responsible for the timing of everything in the factory - everything from the timing of the automated machines that produced their wares, to the locking and unlocking of the plant each day, right down to the whistle that blew to start the day at the factory each morning. For years this man had set the clock by the time on a beautiful, ornate, antique clock sitting in the window of the local jewelers

shop.

He was walking by the jeweler’s shop one afternoon when he noticed the jeweler out sweeping off the stoop. After all these years, he realized he had never met the man before, so he introduced himself and inquired about the clock.

            “Hey”, he said. “That is a beautiful old clock. I’ll bet that clock keeps perfect time.”

            “You bet”, said the jeweler. “In fact, for years now I’ve been checking it each Monday morning with that factory whistle and it has always been right on!”

            Much like that man from the factory, and the jeweler, we should always try to be aware of where we get our info from and understand that we live in a world of flawed humans, just like us, and because of that it is a given that right now believe lies in some major areas of our lives.

            There are just too many sources that can't be trusted because all those sources have believed lies too. Living in the age of the internet only makes the problem worse. It means that not only are there ten million times more opinions than ever before – It means that we get to hear ten million times the BS from people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking, in any number of areas, spewing out misinformation, that too many in our internet culture are quick to digest as fact and regurgitate to the next pupil/teacher in the perpetual school of the ignorant.

            Fortunately, there are some fantastic sources of info on how to live a life that can help us to minimize the lies. The Bible is certainly one of the best of those sources. The Bible is always true – and is also clear about the single best way how to help us avoid believing lies –

It is made clear in verses like Proverbs 11:14

     "Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory."

Decisions, Guiding Principles OfBeing A LeaderBad FriendsCounselorsCounselBad HabitsadvisersCounselingBad CounselAdvice, Bad Human AdviceCommitteesWise CouncelOr this one in Proverbs 27:9

CosmeticsHeart, HumanFragrancePer     "Oil and perfume make the heart glad, So a man's counsel is sweet to his friend."

     Along with many others, these verses make at least two things crystal clear:

           1) All of us have believed and still believe lies we have been told as truths and need to seek trustworthy sources of info.

           2) All of us need people we can trust to help us along the way - people we know aren’t setting their clocks by untested sources.

    

           We all need people who understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom in our lives. We need friends and family, who have been through some of the same fires we face, to give us sound advice - and when they do we need to listen and see if it reveals any lies about ourselves we may believe. Remember - wise counsel can help to protect us from falling victim to those lies we hear and are inclined to believe.

            Who are you setting your clocks by today? Are you setting your clocks by those God has placed in your life to help you set them, or are you setting your clock by the pretty old clock in the jewelers window?

Are You A Legalist? Take This One Question Quiz.

“The law of God is powerless to give us the strength to overcome sin. It is only able to convict us of our sin, as that is its purpose. Only the love and grace of God are powerful enough to cause lasting change in us.”   Tullian Tchividjian – Founder, Liberate, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Legalism is much easier to understand than some try to make it. They wind up being legalistic about even their definition of legalism. Legalism is simply when we believe the lie that anything we do or say or pray is what makes us acceptable to God, or believe the lie that we play any part other than the part of the sinner in the story of our own salvation, redemption and sanctification.

     It is God alone who calls - God alone who moves - God alone who saves. You want, "the peace that passes understanding?" Wrap your brain around that truth and you will find it waiting on the other side. Understanding legalism is critical though, as overcoming it creates in us a living faith that serves only because it loves - not compulsively out of some misguided sense of obligation to God. God does not need you or me. God loves you, chose you, and in His mercy, lets all His children play a part, walking out the path He has preordained. The best we can even offer Him is filthy rags (See Isaiah 64:6).

     Legalism is a system that makes your faith more about you than about God. The quiz is simple - If you believe that your actions are in any way what gain you favor or disfavor with God - then you are a legalist... and I'll bet deep down you couldn't say that your yoke is easy and your burden light. Legalism is just us exchanging one set of chains for another. God has SO much better in mind for us - not only in Heaven - but here on Earth today!