“Use this rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sight of God, takes from you your thirst for spiritual things or increases the authority of your body over your mind, then that thing to you is evil. By this test you may detect evil no matter how subtly or how plausibly temptation may be presented to you.” — Susanna Wesley
Artist: Sheryl Crow
Album: Live in Central Park
Title: If It Makes You Happy
I’ve been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitoes
And drank till I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo’s rifle, Marilyn’s shampoo
And Benny Goodman’s corset and pen
Well, ok I made this up
I promised you I’d never give up
If it makes you happy
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad
You get down, real low down
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well who hasn’t been there before?
I come round, around the hard way
Bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you French toast again
Well, ok I still get stoned
I’m not the kind of girl you’d take home
If it makes you happy
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad
We’ve been far, far away from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitoes
And everywhere in between
Well, ok we get along
So what if right now everything’s wrong?
If it makes you happy
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad
(Sheryl Crow / Jeff Trott)
Pastor found this song in the web by Sheryl Crow. It is very much the thinking of the times. The criterion for what is the right thing to do is “if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad”, so just do it. We often think that such thinking belongs to those who have not found Christ. But you will be surprised how many Christians live by this very same criterion when it comes to choosing what is right to do or not to do. “If it makes me happy, I’ll do it. I’m not doing anyone harm, so what if it harms me, it’s just me. Nobody needs to know or care or be responsible. It’s my choice.”
I was quite struck by what Percy shared last week about Susanna’s Wesley’s advice to her children to apply her rule in their choices. No matter how innocent something may look, how plausible it may seem, avoid evil. Why should I avoid evil?
If you cherish what Christ has done for you: 2 Peter 2:20-22 “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” Don’t undo what the Lord has done.
If you are a part of the body of Christ: 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks [unbelievers] or the church of God — even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” How can the body’s witness not be compromised, when one part of it continues to singe in sin. Imagine leaving one finger in the fire, and the rest of the body is supposed to be immune to the pain.
The chief sin at the Holy Communion is to disregard your relationship to the body of Christ, the Church. When we would satisfy our own freedoms and liberties, are we doing it without taking the church into our considerations? We are no longer our own and no longer alone. We have been initiated into Christ’s body. Let us show our gratitude to the Lord in our choices, we say “no” to vomit, we do not make choices that compromise our loyalty to Christ and to His church. Susanna’s rule of thumb is still very helpful for us today. Use it frequently.
~ Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan