Wednesday, November 1, 2023

“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, New Living Translation)

                To trash or not to trash – that is the question.

                Beginning yesterday, Peterborough instituted a new system of trash collection, including green bins for organic kitchen waste.  In the summer, we received a notice informing us that our collection day was moving from Thursday to Tuesday. But when Susan checked the website last week, it appeared that we were right on the border which meant our collection remained on Thursday. I trust Susan, but I don’t necessarily trust the info the city puts out. Which day was it really?

                So, yesterday morning, I kept going out to see what my neighbours were doing. If they were putting out their garbage, then so would I. If their curbs were empty, then I would also not put my garbage out. The thought crossed my mind that if my neighbours were also checking on one another, for the same reason, we were all in trouble.

                My scientific observation had mixed results. Some neighbours had put their garbage out. Others had not. If you can’t trust your neighbours, who can you trust? Subsequent further research revealed that Thursday is the correct answer.

                When I was growing up and fussing for something I wanted, I might say to my mother, “All the other kids have one” or “All the other kids are doing it.” The rejoinder was, “If all the other kids jumped off a bridge, would you do it?” I never thought to ask what these kids were doing on a bridge in the first place or why they wanted to jump off it, but I knew that I wasn’t going to win the argument.

                We may be taught to love our neighbour but there are serious risks in copying the behaviour of some of our “neighbours.” It could lead us down the path of unrighteousness.

                “My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.” (1 John 4: 5 -6, The Message Bible)

                I am not suggesting that our actual neighbours are all wicked and evil. My next-door neighbour is a kind and caring man. But what scriptures are warning us about is the heedless and feckless buying into the culture of consumerism, self-indulgence, greed, lies, decadence, and looking out for only one self.

                “And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.”  (Colossians 3: 5 11, TMB)

                If your “neighbour” is putting out that sort of garbage, don’t follow suit!

                Put very simply, “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.” (1 John 2: 15 -        17, TMB)

                There is much in this world that we can and should appreciate and love. God’s love for this world is generous and gracious. “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” (John 3: 16 -17, TMB)

But the things that work against God’s Love, Beauty, Grace and Goodness are those things best left to go out on the curb for the garbage - whether our neighbour does or not.

Dale