Don't Squander the Wander!

Stepping off the plane from foreign lands, we were home. And we didn’t have a car. So, off to the used car dealer of the day, sweltering heat hitting our skin, streamers rippling in the mid-summer wind, and shiny numbers beckoning us to the chariot of our dreams. No interwebs, no reviews online. Just pick one and hope for the best. Certainly no Carfax to compare. We desperately needed a family mobile to carry us north.

Have we got a deal for you! Promises of good deals and better running cars. Well, sort of. Kinda more like the Clark Griswold station wagon experience, we bought the clunker of chariots, but that baby blue boat got us back to our hometown and traded in for the better choice. Deal done; lesson learned.

This car deal of the century came at a specific time in history. It was the 1980’s, in all its neon glory. From Gordon Gecko to Honest Abe’s Used Car Sales, money flew out of society’s hands in all directions at an alarming rate. Interest rates were through the roof, but we were convinced as a nation it was time to try buying the biggest roof we could find anyhow. We deserved it, right? Think rates are high now? How about an 18% home mortgage rate. That was the reality of the day. Credit cards multiplied, and so did our nation’s debt. In the midst of excess, sales pitches and false promises were in step with the old days of the snake oil salesman. Context matters, but some experiences are timeless. Once again reminding humanity there is nothing new under the sun.

Step right up! Look at this magical product! Promises to cure every need. I’m the only one you can trust. My deal is the best! Don’t compare, don’t compromise. Buy now! Prices go up next week!

Is this ever God’s best for us? If a deal is too good to be true, we need only reflect on the first sales pitch in a garden. Take it! You’ll know so much! I care about you, just trying to make you better….forget that what I’m doing is contrary to the One who created you, and gave you true authority. Just exchange your God-given position here for my magic beans, in the shape of fruit. Settle for the sales pitch, and we just might be exchanging the truth for a lie, and our inheritance for a bowl of stew.

Really? Was that garden scheme the honest answer, the caring pitch? But he seemed so nice, we say. Oh, but the name of the company tells me they are trustworthy! The glossy brochure promises all my problems will go away!

Take a deep breath, every time confronted with this scenario. Remember your pre-determined boundaries, decisions, and limits. Does this sales pitch line up? If honesty is spelled out in the name, is it also in the actions? Intentions? Friend, anyone can say they are anything they want to be.

But actions speak. Actions reveal heart.

Not perfection, nobody is perfect. Life happens. People are to be extended grace and love. But broken boundaries and manipulation that hit our boundary lines should give us pause. We are allowed to be a people who know our identity in Christ, and what we can say no to. It is good and godly to understand that it is not our responsibility to take on someone else’s sin; such things were never ours to bear.

We are called to be a people who understand the depths of forgiveness, as Jesus went to the cross for every single one of our sins. Forgive as we have been forgiven. The challenge we face is to embrace this and submit to a level of dependence on Jesus that helps us extend such forgiveness to others. But forgiveness does not mean selling out our worth Jesus paid to give us.

Redemption is not calling us to roll over and accept toxic behavior, but to commit to a calling of righteousness; cultivating authenticity. A willingness to extend grace, with boundaries. Love, with accountability. That’s the real honest answer. That’s the God driven life. Not becoming the next lemming manipulated by someone trying to make a buck off you. And not a life without boundaries.

It’s really pretty simple. The snake oil salesmen will always be with us. False promises abound. Pain and manipulation are the realities of this frail humanity. Our strength comes from looking to the Lord, turning in a new direction, and finding the people who love us, right where we are in our journey. They who walk with us down the path to God’s best. Even if they don’t have any shiny streamers.