A Note From Pastor Mark

When you were a kid, did you dig in the dirt? I remember planting the garden with my grandpa in the backyard, horsing around with my neighborhood friends, and doing a lot of digging in the dirt.

Who cared if you came home with a big smile on your face plastered from head to toe after a nice romp in a squishy mud hole? My mom did, of course; stains had to be washed out of my clothes, and if the caked mud wasn’t on too thick, which meant I had to be hosed down outside, she would send me up for a bath and tell me to scrub until I was shiny again. Never mind the ring around the tub, that would come out too, thanks again to my redeemer at the time, mom.  Thank God for mothers!!!

And then we grew up.

Dirt, however, was still there. This time it wasn’t made from God’s good earth. No, this was dirt of another kind: gossip, rumors, innuendos, broken promises, and cleverly disguised white lies.

One only has to pick up a daily newspaper or watch evening news broadcasts for examples of different types of dirt.

It runs from the playground right up into the highest offices of the land. And boy, do we eat it up. We love it, don’t we? And blame! It’s always someone else’s fault. We had nothing to do with it, and besides, we only had a small part in it anyway, right? Cheating? Never! Not me, well, maybe once or twice but everybody else was doing it so…

Pontius Pilate washed his hands of any wrongdoing during Christ’s trial, and what about the High Priest and the Romans, and what about the Jews who started the whole mess? What about all the dirt they dug up to throw at an innocent man, Jesus, and then what about the disciples and their attitudes, along with Peter’s denial of knowing Christ?

Who should we point the finger at here? Where was the accountability there?

What about today, where is our accountability for the dirt we so liberally throw at another created in God’s image?

Are our deeds and motives honorable and done out of love for Christ and one another? Maybe we enjoy “digging up dirt” on another but, boy oh boy, how we holler when some of it falls on us.

Read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch found in Acts 8:26-40. In the beginning of the text, Philip finds himself in the desert. The Holy Spirit leads him to approach someone far different from him…and he does so faithfully.

Philip takes the opportunity to share the gospel with this man—someone whom he could have otherwise judged. But rather than “dig up that dirt,” he chooses to focus on the good news.

For the kingdom’s sake, he set aside differences and followed the leading of the Holy Spirit.

As we wait for Jesus to return, let’s all step aside from the mud and dirt and stop pointing fingers. Let’s simply extend an arm, lend an ear, and share the good news in love for another and try to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

I’ll look forward to being with you in worship!

Pastor Mark

Email Pastor Mark:  pastormark@sotpmail.com