Definitions

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me, or so the kids’ song goes. My mother repeated this little ditty to me countless times in my youth when my brother or sisters would tease me or my “friends” would mock me. It is a great truth that our society and we as believers would be smart to learn.

Recently, an old washed-up radio talk show host made some very ill advised and very inappropriate remarks about a fabulous women’s college basketball team. ( Imus and Rutgers for those of you who are not following me). Suddenly, his vile words became a national incident and he was summarily fired. The basketball team, which was rightly offended, held a news conference and defended themselves against these hideous remarks.

The media culture had made these stellar athletes and college students into victims. Unfortunately, the students bought into their victimization. In doing so they gave a tired old disc jockey way too much power. They acted like he had the power by his words to define them. He didn’t, until they let him.

I wonder how many of us allow others to define us by their words or even by their actions. For some of us there is a tape that plays all day long in our heads and hearts that tells us who we are or are not. It is the recording of parents, family and friends who through the years called us losers, underachievers, stupid, limited, too aggressive, too religious, Jesus freaks or inappropriate. It is the video image reflected in the media of too short, too tall, too heavy, too poor, not cool, not important and a million other adjectives.

We should not allow ourselves to be defined by what others say about us or by what they expect of us. We cannot be defined in either of these ways unless, of course, we allow ourselves to be, unless, we choose to be victims.

It is important that we find our definition in something much more significant. We need to define ourselves by two very important criteria. These are:

1) What God calls us
and
2) What God calls us to be.

The Bible lets us know quite clearly what God calls us. In Genesis 1:26 we read, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness... let them have dominion’”. Psalm 139:13-14 tells us, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” Throughout the Scriptures we are said to be special creations made in the image of God.

The fact that we are made in God’s image gives us great value. As the bearers of the likeness of the Almighty we can make moral choices. We are told to reflect who God is. We are to have dominion over the earth. We are different and distinct from the animals. We are unique.

The way we look, our personalities, our motivations are all reasons for celebration. We are who we are at our core because God made us this way. He alone defines us. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen.

In Ephesians 2:10 we read the following, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” This verse lets us know what God has called us to be. The Greek work for “workmanship” is “poiema”. It is the word we get our word “poem” from. A great poem is a work of art, a masterpiece. God tells us that in Christ (that is to say after salvation) we are His masterpieces. As masterpieces we are created for good works. This is what God has called us to be.

As God’s masterpieces we should not subject ourselves to the critics of this world. We have been created by the Master Sculpture. We are His new creations and “God don’t make no junk”. Our purpose is good works so let’s get at it. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen.

There is ultimately only one dictionary that defines me, and it wasn’t written by Webster. If I keep in mind that God defines me as His special creation in this world and His spectacular new creation in Christ, I will avoid the pitfall of victimization hoisted upon me by the media and all other sources, including myself. We are, after all, more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Dave Watson - An Urban Christian

They should be stressed over finals and papers. “We’re all so sorry” seems so empty and shallow.

Late April is crunch time for students on college campuses. Their pace picks up as they cross the street. Their speech becomes faster because their minds are over-loaded with last night’s reading assignment, computer screens and due dates. Their perpetual caffeine state might add to the rpm level.

It is no different in Blacksburg Virginia, home of Virginia Tech. I spent five years there as a pastor working mostly with college students. It is not a sleepy Virginia hamlet. It is a dynamic, bustling college town. This time of year attendance at church and small group Bible studies for students gets a little thin. Those who make it to such events emphatically ask for prayer about papers that are due, upcoming exams and summer internships. That’s the way it should be. Now something has changed. They have more urgent prayer needs now.

Students at Tech got robbed yesterday, and to say “we’re all so sorry” seems so empty and shallow. Their sense of normalcy is gone forever. Belief in fellow students is shaken. One of their own has betrayed them. Is there another traitor on campus, in your dorm or townhouse, on your floor? They should be stressed over finals and papers.

Ambler Johnson is primarily a freshman dorm known for the things a freshman dorm is supposed to be known for. All that died yesterday. Now it is a crime scene. It will be remembered as such for years to come. The home of a co-ed's murder and a hero RA’s tragic death. How do you go back to that dorm? How does anyone sleep there again?

Norris Hall is a classroom building. My wife once worked in the building right next to it. Tech is known for its engineering program and many of the engineering classes are held there. It is place for the interchange of ideas and, the education of the mind, a place to hand in papers and take exams. All that died on Monday shortly after 9:00 A.M.. Now it is a house of horrors, the home of the greatest shooting massacre in American history. Every campus tour for a decade to come will point that sad fact out. How do you feel safe going to class there? All other memories of Norris move to the recesses of one’s mind and the terror of 4/16 moves front and center.

College is a season for great friends and good times with academic exercises sandwiched in between. The university experience at VT has been changed. It is a time to grow up. But please, not this fast. Now it’s a time for grieving and guilt. Grieving over loss. The loss of friends, the loss of security, the loss of hope. Guilt because you blew off German class because of Sunday night’s party and were rewarded with life on Monday. Guilt because everyone you cared about is okay but others have great losses and are wounded so bad. They should be stressed over finals and papers. “We’re all so sorry” seems so empty and shallow.

Adrenaline gets you through a few fleeting days but then all too quickly reality comes in like an unwelcome spring nor’easter. It chills one to the bone. Today a Tech student said, “I lived through Columbine, I lived through 9/11 and I’ve lived through this.” That’s what is so bad. This generation has had to see and live so much tragedy. I fear they will be labeled, “the tragic generation.” At the time when they should be stressing over exams and finals they have to worry when the world might blow up on them.

It is as if the thief who comes but to rob, kill and destroy identified by Jesus in the gospels has taken special aim at this generation. The students at Virginia Tech as well as those on college campuses across our country need our prayers. They are not the Columbine generation, they are not the 9/11 or now the Tech Massacre generation. They are so much more. They are the future. They are the hope and possibilities of this new millennium. They are the moms and dads and grand moms and grand dads of the century to come.

We are told not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. Let’s pray that we and those who have seen, heard and experienced so much tragedy may find the God given grace and wisdom to overcome such unbridled wickedness with overpowering good.

Dave Watson,
An Urban Christian