Dan Safarik: God is not in the junk business

A school teacher was teaching a lesson on identity and asked the question, "Who are you?"

The first little boy stood up and said, "My name is Johnny Jones, I know that! I live on the other side of the tracks, I know that! And I'm good, I know that, cause God don't make no junk."

Hurrah for Johnny Jones. He has something that a lot of people don't -- a healthy self-esteem. Someone once said that anyone can tear a person down, but only God can build them up. Only God can give us the faith we need to face life. The world wears us down and tries to tell us we're junk.

I think this may be a big reason we have so much violence in society. If we're convinced we are no good, we are worthless junk, then we might as well jump in the junk piles of life. Violence is the natural result if life is considered cheap.

There is an old saying, "You can't know the value without knowing the background." That is illustrated best by a man who was very interested in old books. He ran into a friend who had no interest in old things. The friend had just thrown away an old Bible he found in his attic.

He said, "It was printed by somebody named Gutten or Gotten; something like that."

"Gutenberg?" the other man said. "You Idiot, you've just thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy sold recently at an auction for $400,000."

The friend was unmoved.

"My copy wouldn't have brought a dime; some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it."

You do not know the value until you know the background! The background of the Christian faith is the Bible. Many people miss those sections of Scripture about the great value we have in the eyes of God. One of those we often overlook is one of the most familiar. Jesus' greatest commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself."

We usually notice the part which says love God. And we know that we should love our neighbor. Many of us miss the last little part about loving ourselves. It is a commandment by God! We are created to love ourselves as well as God and others.

That is one piece of our spiritual background. Even further back, we also find in the book of Genesis the affirmation that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Most of us feel we haven't lived up to that image but still we are in some ways like our Creator. There are many Scriptures that remind us of our value.

Even as I talk about how great we are, I can hear those who would remind us of the doctrine of original sin. Some teach that we are totally depraved. I would remind us of that great teacher, John Calvin, who taught these very doctrines from the Bible. He never soft-peddled sin, even John Calvin referred to people as cracked cathedrals of God.

The towers may lean, the roof needs work and the foundation is shaky but nevertheless, we are cathedrals of God. He sounds a lot like the little boy who said, "God don't make junk”.



Prayer: Our Lord, give us the proper balance of humility and confidence so we might be as healthy and whole as possible. Amen.


The Rev. Dan Safarik serves St. Luke United Methodist Church in Lincoln. E-mail him at stluke@inebraska.com.