Cat, Dog, or Human Being

This past week I took a course through the Free Methodist Church, Christian Doctrine. One of the topics that came up during this course was that of humanity and the creation of man. Pastor Russ Veldman states that humanity is the pinnacle of creation and that we should be honored and humbled by the fact.

Recently we have seen a number of commercials put out by the ASPCA asking for sponsors for abused or abandoned animals.If you have not seen any of these commercials check out the one above. These commercials seem to treat these cats and dogs as if they deserve the same level of honor as human beings do. And what bothers me more is that people are being intentionally disregarded, murdered, and written off by us every day.

Psalm 8: 3-8 says: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."

Humans are created in the image of our Holy God. Men and women, boy and girl, infant and elderly, we are all created in the image of God. And our lives should be honored as such. We are not and never will be on the same level as cats or dogs or any other creature. And our culture needs to realize this and begin acting accordingly.  

As long as orphans still remain, as long as people continue to starve, I will not sponsor a cat or dog. As long as children are being abused, as long as living babies are being aborted, I will not sponsor a cat or dog. As long as women are being raped, as long as girls are being sold into prostitution, I will not sponsor a cat or dog. As long as our elderly adults are being disregarded for convenience, I will not sponsor a cat or dog. As long as the mentally and physically handicapped lives are not highly valued, I will not sponsor a cat or dog.

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A Game and Worship

Last week Kim and I thought it might be nice to take the kids to a basketball game at the local junior college. We looked at the schedule and determined that we would go to the women's basketball game and then possibly stay for the men's game depending on how the kids were.Our biggest fear was that if the kids acted up, we would have to leave.

Shortly after the game began we realized that it was going to be a long forty minutes. Not because of the way the kids were behaving but because of the way the team was playing. These girls seemed to either just be standing around as if their feet were stuck in concrete or they were running around wildly with no apparent play call or design. It was the worst game I have ever sat through and I have been to many sixth and seventh grade basketball games. The girls would stand on one side of the court, have the ball stolen from them run to the other end of the court and seem winded from the light jog, we watched as one girl bent down to tie her shoe in the middle of a play. It was comedic!

There had to be less than 50 fans that came out to watch this junior college match-up, many of whom were parents of the students and yet, for the longest time, there was no excitement or passion in the crowd, nothing really to cheer about. As we watched the coach of the team it was apparent why the girls were losing, and why this lack of passion existed. Not once did we see this coach get excited, not once did she call out a play, not once did she call a timeout to readjust or give rest to her players, not once did she offer any real coaching to the game. This lack of coaching, lack of passion and commitment on her part passed directly on to the girls that were playing the game, and this lack of passion on the court passed directly on to the crowd in the stands.

All this got me to thinking about worship in many churches today. The passion and commitment to worship is the most important thing. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! We have a great reason to worship the Creator of the universe, we have the ability to worship, and yet what seems to be lacking in many churches this passion, a fire, an excitement in the area of worship. And it is important that this passion begin with our church leaders, that the visible leaders exude this excitement, or else the worship of the body may die off.

Near the end of the game, when they were down by 45 points, some of the parents had finally had enough and they started talking. One father stood on the opposite side of the court and began to call out plays and coach the girls. He turned at one point and said "someone has to".


This concept too applies to worship. If our leaders in the church do not embrace the opportunity to worship with a drive and a passion than "someone has to". Perhaps that someone needs to be you.

WORSHIP IS IMPORTANT! Never lose hold of this truth. Worship is important. Never lose the passion for it.