Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Through the years, I’ve always appreciated the cue for when to stop playing the prelude for funeral services. After seating the family and the minister, the funeral director would walk past the piano and quietly say, “Finish this verse and we’ll be ready,” or “Play the chorus again and we‘ll start.“ His cue to me was very important for ensuring a smooth start of the service. Since I was unable to see what was happening out front, I relied on his cue. Cues are important, but we need to be careful who we take our cues from. Not just anybody will do.

The Passion Translation has the chapter heading, “Characteristics of the Last Days.” Apostle Paul is writing to young Pastor Timothy and boldly lays it on the line: “But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce. People will be self-centered lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly. They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right” (2 Timothy 3:1-3 TPT). I could be wrong, but it appears these scriptures have become a reality in today’s culture.

I refuse to take my cues from today’s culture because it usually stands in the opposite direction of  God‘s Spirit. Believers are called to be God lovers, people lovers, humbly gracious, reverent to God, and forgiving of others. I believe our American culture is actively practicing what Jesus talked about in Matthew 12:25 TEV: “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.”

Apostle Paul later admonishes the Romans on how to live as Christ followers in a pagan culture: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT). Believers need to be brazen enough to wisely decide for ourselves by allowing God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to lead us. Let’s leave the crowd behind and stop allowing society to influence us to do stupid stuff. I recently heard a message about how important it is for a shepherd to keep all the sheep safely together. Because if one wanders away from the flock, others will follow it and fall off the cliff just like the first one. Surely humans are smarter than sheep and won‘t do something silly or ungodly just because someone of influence does it.

As believers, let’s not become so well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking. Let’s continue to fix our focus on God and what He wants. If we’re asleep at the wheel, today’s influencers can drag us down to their level of disrespect for God. Many in our culture are faithless, twisted in their thinking, and defy general truth and the truth of God’s Word. They’re far from being trustworthy influencers from whom we should take our cues. I could be wrong, but it appears that some of them have lost their minds.

The Key: Let’s continue to conform to God’s standards and not today’s culture.

Last week, I wrote about how we Little League mothers were asked by our sons’ fathers if we would like to coach our nine-year-old boys in this, the last game of their season.  This was not, I might add, because our hubbies considered us knowledgeable.  This was payback for how we had questioned the way they had handled the team throughout the season.

In an effort not to follow their lead, we shuffled the positions.  The boys were thrilled.  The right-fielder moved to third base.  The utility player pitched.  Who knew what talent had gone unnoticed by the dads who never did anything unpredictable!  When Toby, a small lad who came in only when we were slaughtering the other team, asked to be catcher, we agreed.

Poor little guy couldn’t catch a pitch.  But that wasn’t the only problem.  When we moms noticed a bulge in his uniform behind his thigh, we realized his cup, a protective device for the groin, had slipped from his jock strap.  None of us felt comfortable addressing the problem, so we asked for some help from the dads…who obviously found this hysterical and something we “coach-wannabe’s” needed to handle ourselves.

Fine.  No problem.  I was appointed.  Between innings, I took Toby aside and asked him if he realized that something was caught in his pant leg. He did.  He even referred to it by name.

“Do you know what you’re supposed to do with your cup?” I asked.

He smiled and nodded. “Yes…but it won’t stay there.”

“Toby, it goes inside your jock strap.”

“But I don’t have one on.”

I could feel every dad’s cynical ear straining to hear.

“Well then, just…just…just stick it down inside your underpants.”

“I don’t have those on, either.”

With that, Toby traded places with the right fielder, Greg, who had never caught, either, but at least he had on a jock strap.

Leading effectively isn’t easy.  This coaching thing always had looked so simple from the bleachers. Even Toby probably could have managed better than we did.

The term “arm-chair quarterbacks” was created because of people like me.  Second-guessing decisions coaches make is one of my talents, and right now, with the K.C. Chiefs vying for a Super Bowl spot, I am in high gear.  The problem is, whenever I voice my objections, Dave explains to me why that decision was made…something I never considered.

I wonder how many of us do that with God.  We ask for a “yes,” but He has other plans. Please let me get that job.  Please heal my child.  Please let me meet the right guy/gal.  Please get me out of debt. Please fix this relationship.

We, lacking the infinite knowledge God has, think we know best, forgetting that God’s ways are not our ways, and many times, God’s silence forces us to get on our knees and realize that He is the only One who sees the big picture.  Isaiah 55:9, NIV (God speaking to the prophet Isaiah): As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.            He already knows who will win the Super Bowl.  I’m guessing He probably doesn’t care.  Players and fans on both sides are praying for a victory.  The only thing He wants is that we give Him the glory, no matter what.

As for Toby, I have no idea what became of him, but, no thanks to the dads, I imagine he still brags about his catching debut.  He has us moms to thank for that.