The way of the wolf
Last night after a late meeting I flopped on the bed and turned the TV on. I realize TV rots your brain, but sometimes after a long day you need something that you don’t have to think about. So I was relaxing watching Animal planet, and I saw an amazing documentary about wolves. Some guy (he was actually well known I just forgot his name) studied a wolf pack for many years. The documentary kept talking about all the new things they where discovering about wolves. The first “surprising” discovery is that wolves are supremely family oriented. Every action that the wolves are involved in revolved around family. One of the wolves, the alpha female had 3 wolf cubs. As soon as the cubs where born the whole wolf pack started howling, and literally dancing for joy. The whole pack celebrated the arrival of the new family members. When the cubs where old enough to come out of the den the entire pack dedicated themselves to raising the cubs. While the cubs mom was involved with them, every wolf in the pack took turns watching, teaching, and playing with the cubs. Every member of the pack disciplined them when they where out of line and every member of the pack played with them and taught them important skills like hunting. Every member of the pack had a role in raising the cubs.
This really got me thinking about our society. As a full time youth minister I don’t see communities coming together like that often. I do see teens abandoned by there parents. Maybe not physically, that would be illegal, but emotionally and especially spiritually. Every day I see teens who’s parents are so wrapped up in their own lives that they leave their teens to fend for themselves emotionally. I have called parents before to tell them about some problem with their teen and actually heard, “I don’t have time to deal with this. I have problems of my own”. In fact, I have spent the last two days trying to contact a parent whose teen has been coming to church high and I almost know for a fact the parent is avoiding me. If I cannot tell them about the problem then, for them, it does not exist.
I realize it’s becoming increasingly popular to talk about “how bad our society is” especially in “Christian” circles but where have we as a culture gone wrong when the most basic forms of Gods creation (animals) can out parent us? Personally I think its Christians fault… You heard me right, I don’t blame the “liberal media” or TV or “evil” rock n roll or even Bill Clinton. I blame Christians.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt looses its saltiness, how can it be made good again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled.”
Salt was used to preserve meat in ancient times. In fact a properly cured piece of meat could last up to a year. What I think Jesus is saying here is the meat (the world) will go bad without preservatives. It’s the salt’s responsibility to keep the meat from going bad. It’s what salt is for. So, if a piece of meat is left untreated and goes bad why should we be surprised? It’s the salts job to preserve the meat. If the meat (the world) has gone bad it the salts (Christians) fault for not doing their job.
So the next thing you might say is, “So you think its Christians job to save the world?” No. I think its Christians responsibility to point others to who can save the world…Jesus Christ the son of the creator God.
May your family be like the wolf. May America adopt the way of the wolf. May all of creation stop and rejoice when someone is born. May we value our role to our children (even those who are not ours). May we one day be salt again.
This really got me thinking about our society. As a full time youth minister I don’t see communities coming together like that often. I do see teens abandoned by there parents. Maybe not physically, that would be illegal, but emotionally and especially spiritually. Every day I see teens who’s parents are so wrapped up in their own lives that they leave their teens to fend for themselves emotionally. I have called parents before to tell them about some problem with their teen and actually heard, “I don’t have time to deal with this. I have problems of my own”. In fact, I have spent the last two days trying to contact a parent whose teen has been coming to church high and I almost know for a fact the parent is avoiding me. If I cannot tell them about the problem then, for them, it does not exist.
I realize it’s becoming increasingly popular to talk about “how bad our society is” especially in “Christian” circles but where have we as a culture gone wrong when the most basic forms of Gods creation (animals) can out parent us? Personally I think its Christians fault… You heard me right, I don’t blame the “liberal media” or TV or “evil” rock n roll or even Bill Clinton. I blame Christians.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt looses its saltiness, how can it be made good again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled.”
Salt was used to preserve meat in ancient times. In fact a properly cured piece of meat could last up to a year. What I think Jesus is saying here is the meat (the world) will go bad without preservatives. It’s the salt’s responsibility to keep the meat from going bad. It’s what salt is for. So, if a piece of meat is left untreated and goes bad why should we be surprised? It’s the salts job to preserve the meat. If the meat (the world) has gone bad it the salts (Christians) fault for not doing their job.
So the next thing you might say is, “So you think its Christians job to save the world?” No. I think its Christians responsibility to point others to who can save the world…Jesus Christ the son of the creator God.
May your family be like the wolf. May America adopt the way of the wolf. May all of creation stop and rejoice when someone is born. May we value our role to our children (even those who are not ours). May we one day be salt again.
posted by Paul at Thursday, February 09, 2006
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