Change Is Possible

 

As he was standing in line at the grocery store checkout counter, a friend of John’s noticed he was purchasing a dozen roses and a card. “You in trouble with your wife?” the friend asked. “Nope!” John replied. “Preventive maintenance.”

Poet John Holmes (1904-1962) said something about people and dogs that caused my mental wheels to whirl when I read it. See what you think – “A dog is not ‘almost human,’ and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such.” Sounds like Holmes might have been a little sour on the human race. But before you totally dismiss his statement, read the following story (author unknown), and think about it. 

A man e-mailed a hotel to see if his dog would be allowed to stay there with him. He received the following answer: “Dear sir, I have been in the hotel business for over 30 years. Not once during that time have I ever had to call in the police to evict a disorderly dog in the wee hours of the morning. No dog has ever attempted to pass off a bad check on me. Never has a dog set the bedding on fire because it was smoking in bed. And I have yet to find a hotel towel in a dog’s suitcase. Your dog is most welcome at our hotel. P.S. – If the dog will vouch for you, you can come too.” 

Okay, I know the story is a little goofy, and it may be a little overreaching to make a point, but there is a point to the story. It is humans who sin and make a moral and spiritual mess in the world that God created for us to live in together. Daily headlines remind us that we live in a badly fractured and fallen world. Instead of peace there is war; instead of love there is hatred; instead of harmony, hostility; instead of acceptance, rejection; and instead of kindness there is often killing in one form or another. The borders and barriers that divide and hold human beings apart in homes and communities and nations are not just physical. Sin also separates people from God (Isaiah 59:2). And race, religion, class, caste, greed, breed, place, face, prejudice, and pride divide and sometimes cause people to do awful things to one another. Is there any reason to hope for real change in such a fragmented world? Can hostile people come together and live in peace and harmony in spite of the physical, philosophical, verbal and/or emotional barriers and borders that have so badly caused division for so long? Some people don’t think so. You hear this conviction in the old expression, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” On hearing this as an excuse not to change for the better, one lady responded to a speaker, “So isn’t it good we aren’t old dogs?!”

[Ephesians 2:14-18] The Gospel holds out prospect not only for the possibility people can change but also for the power that brings it about. In speaking about the intense hatred and hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles, the apostle Paul wrote these stunning words found in our reading: “For He Himself (Jesus Christ) is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross (the church), thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were a far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” God’s way of bringing warring people together is not to teach them new tricks. His way is to bring them to an old rugged cross. If you come closer to Christ and His will, and I do the same thing, will we not be coming closer to one another? The question is are we willing to come closer to Christ? “…let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” (Colossians 3:12-17).