"BE PREPARED" and "DO A GOOD TURN DAILY"

We are surely adrift...Historically, there is something that the Boy Scouts of America gets very right, summarized as their 'Scout Motto' and their 'Scout Slogan'. "Be prepared." "Do a good turn daily."  These notions, for several generations, Dads regularly shared with their sons, Uncles with their nephews, and Granddads with their grandkids. We could even expect the sentiment to be shared by the involved neighbors, family friends, and more distant family members. It would not have been strange for the teachers of our children to have expressed it in the classroom. The message was just that welcomed. The ideas were a solid fit for a community that leaned Christian.

From 1908 at its beginnings in England, and beyond its start in the USA in 1910, the hope of raising boys to become outstanding men met with reasonable success, but now its influence is against many obstacles, much as the Church faces in a post-Christian, increasingly secular society. A lack of well-grounded absolutes, in favor of relativism, softens the resolve to 'do good'. We could use a return to boyhood, favoring becoming "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent", the twelve features of The Scout Law. Watching our girls similarly drift, expectantly, one could make the case to likewise extend it to them.

"Ponder the path..." But it must start with the parents. Influence the parents, and you change the family. Change the family, and so goes the neighbors. Win the neighbors, and so goes the community. "Ponder the path of your feet..." with your stride and your striving grace-led. Redemption abides in a redemptive conversation. Resist the sin of silence. Share the gospel. Faith entering the equation makes for good pondering! "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." [Romans 12:2]

Historically, there is something that the Boy Scouts may not get very right, as put forth in their "Scout Oath". "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the 'Scout Law'; to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." It has all the makings of a contract, beginning with the scout, rather than a covenant starting with God. Nicodemus had a sense of contract with God and brought all his religious merit before the community, but before God, he heard this: "You must be born again." That's covenant language!

The first step of being in alignment with God is the New Birth that He offers, otherwise, we may be dressing up our 'boy-hood' and 'male-hood' [to use Tony Evans' Kingdom Man concepts] with faulty foundations, appealing for a time, socially acceptable, and even suitable for adoption, but prone to fail, personally, privately, publicly, and eventually, even eternally... good manners?...prone to tatters... You must be born again! Our 'honor' before a holy God is as filthy rags...and doing our best will fall short, accepting 'grind' over grace.  Grace-born fruit comes of its roots, which boast the same great grace. And absent this, we'll be amiss, without its seed in place.

The New Birth requires the redemptive conversation, which is home to the gospel. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. "You must be born again." Within the 'Scout Law', of those twelve characters, 'reverent' must be first and foundational for the others to have a chance, and that comes from being humble before God. It is a great anchor, but is also the glue for all of the others to work together well. It is the captain of the others. The 'good news' is the seed.

So, dear Church, there is a grace message which exceeds all else. And we must give it heartily: 'You must be born again'... the good turn, which brings good turning, is the good turn by which our steps are established, to the glory of God, by His perfect work, and know that He is faithful to complete it.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, in this day, I pray for a good turning. Forgive me for the stumbling I've chosen. Bless the time to receive, of me, reasonable pondering by which today's better pathway is approached and undertaken, to Your glory. O' Spirit of Christ, lead me this day, and let me be Your instrument of grace! Amen!
By Dea. McNeal Brockington