“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, He will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
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I frequently get mass e-mail messages from people who have national and international Christian ministries.  Lately, many of these messages have been about themes concerning recent political changes in America.  One recurring theme that I keep seeing of late was articulated by  a Christian man whose mass e-mail message I read today. In a nutshell, paraphrased, here is what he wrote:

“If you aren’t doing well in your life financially, it is your own fault. It is because you don’t have a sufficient work ethic and because you are lazy. If you worked hard enough, you would be affluent like me.”

I really become uncomfortable when I talk to Christians (like this man) who have a formulaic way of viewing these things and I especially become uncomfortable when this formulaic way of viewing these things is combined with callousness or an indifference to the hardships of others.

When I was growing up in the late 1950s through the 1960s, we were told by our teachers: “Get a good education, work hard, and you will have a great life.”

This formula sounds good “on paper” and it is good as a general philosophy on getting through this life. But the problem comes when people self-righteously criticize and condemn people who haven’t been able to “work the formula.”

Here are a few examples of those who often have difficulty “working the formula”:

*Mentally handicapped people; those with severe handicaps as well as those with more moderate handicaps such as learning disabilities.

*Physically ill people. Especially people who have become chronically ill and physically limited because of it.

*Mentally ill people. I am especially thinking about people with organic and biochemical problems in the brain, such as those with schizophrenia. bipolar or “manic depression” and severe depression or anxiety.

*People who were raised in families living in extreme poverty. Especially people who were subjected to physical and/or psychological abuse when they were children.

*People who are genetically disposed to crippling addictions - either alcohol or other substances.

*Little or no economic opportunity available to people. In many parts of the United States (and the rest of the world) right now, there are people standing in lines a mile long trying to apply for jobs in which only one out of every 100 applicants will be hired.

I could go on and on and on…….

When you read the section of Scripture I posted at the top of this blog message, I think you will see that Jesus is more concerned about people who “fall through the cracks” in life than He is concerned about American success formulas.

As Christians, should we be more about promoting “success formulas” or more concerned about rolling up our sleeves and opening our check books to help those people for whom the economic success formulas haven’t worked?

I think the Scripture passage above speaks very clearly about this.  It’s a message that none of us should ignore. The consequences of taking lightly this important teaching by Jesus are indeed very, very serious.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 22-23

When I was a child, my brother and I used to hang out around the football field at the top of the hill above my grandparents’ property. We watched the high school players practice and, as a child who was raised in a home where profane language was often used, I was greatly disturbed by the language and behavior of that school’s football coach. He would yell and scream demeaning things at his teenage players and use horribly obscene language in the process.

Then, when I grew up and became a newspaper and magazine sportswriter, I was exposed to much more of this kind of behavior and vile language from athletic coaches. Thankfully, the majority of coaches were not like this and I was even blessed to make friends with several outspoken Christian coaches.

Since my sports writing days are (for the most part) in the past, I’ve never had an opportunity to meet Indianapolis Colts football coach Tony Dungy. But I certainly have spent many hours observing him on television and listening to him on radio. In case you may not be one who follows sports, Dungy has been a very successful National Football League coach. A few years ago, Dungy’s Colts won a Super Bowl title. But, more important, he is a very committed Christian man and a very outspoken Christian believer.

Today, Dungy announced that he is resigning after many years in coaching to devote his life to ministry with families and young people. As an African-American, Tony wants to especially help inner-city African-American young people, so many of whom are growing up the hard way in poverty and broken homes.

Even though Tony has taken some public stands on some controversial issues - such as gay marriage - he is almost universally liked by NFL football fans and the national news media. This is because he consistently demonstrates the “fruit of the Spirit” in treating everyone he meets with respect, dignity and kindness.

I have never once seen Dungy publicly “blow up” in a news conference following a loss and I have never seen him be disrespectful to anyone in the news media who has interviewed him - even those reporters who have occasionally asked him rude and disrespectful questions.
Enduring a tragedy in his own life with the death of a young son, Tony Dungy has continued to encourage other people and to press on in his vital and vibrant Christian faith.

Not many people who are reading this article either are (or will become) as famous as Tony Dungy. But every one of us can learn from Tony’s example about how to treat people in our own spheres of influence. He is a Christian man in both word and deed.

Well done, Tony Dungy!

Prayer for Today:

Dear Lord, may each one of us use the sparkling example of the world-famous NFL football coach, Tony Dungy, to help bring the light of Jesus Christ into every corner of this dark world. Bless Tony and his family and anoint him to do many more wonderful things for You in the years to come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.