For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 
2 Timothy 4:3-4

I was handed an article this week that sang the praises and exaltations of dirt. Yes, dirt, mud, dust and ashes – we should be proud we are people of the dirt. 

The author of this article wanted his readers to buy into the idea that dirt was the stuff of magnificence! Here is what he writes, “The atoms in mud, the same kind of atoms that comprise my children and you and me, have existed for billions of years…This mud is spectacular, and we believe that God made it so. This mud is rich, pregnant with possibilities.”

He goes on to rightly say the word “humility” comes from the Latin root humus, “of the earth.” But for him, humility isn’t an expression of humanity’s lowly position in comparison to God, but rather it means we are made from the stuff of greatness. 

So when the Bible says “from ashes to ashes” he wants us to see it as something grand. “To see ourselves as made of the same stuff that rests under our boots as we journey a mountain path is no insult to human dignity, no affront to the image of God in us; it is rather a reminder of the majesty of inspired mud.”

You see mud to the modern ear is no longer to be defined by the mud of the ancient past. What once was something to clean off your boots, is now to be cherished and put in our trophy case. “All Hail to Mud!” So next time your kids come tramping in the house with muddy shoes, don’t shout them down, praise them for spreading magnificence!

I know what all tired moms are thinking right now – – mud is mud. Dirt is dirt. And it is nothing to get all teary-eyed over and poetic about. The truth is, when God says we are made from the dust of the earth it is meant to express our lowliness. Psalms 103:14 describes dust as something that is weak, helpless and needy. Psalm 78:39 says dust and dirt are transient things, easily blown away. So, truth be told, to say we are made of dirt, ash, dust and mud is not meant to be a compliment by any means. It signifies our need.

But modern people don’t like to be told the truth. We want to always feel good about ourselves and the choices we make. So to keep us feeling good, we must continually feed the lie. As one recent writer penned, “There is No Place for Truth.” For truth is not cool!

“Coolness” is the ultimate goal these days of the human condition. Advertisers say “cool” is what sells. Movie makers are forever trying to capture “cool” on screen, and “cool” is what now defines what is successful. Even mud and dirt is now something that is made to be cool – “the majesty of inspired mud!” C’mon….seriously?

So how do you define cool?

Instead of trying to find a dictionary definition, I think cool is best expressed by a person, and that person is James Dean. Especially as he is characterized by the title of his most famous movie – “Rebel Without a Cause.” It is a terrible movie: bad acting, far-fetched plot, and all around shoddy writing. But that is the beauty of “cool” it doesn’t focus on the substance of a thing, it is all about image. “Cool” is meant to only capture the look and the feel. “Cool” doesn’t want you to think – – it wants you to “experience.”

Here are four traits of “Coolness”:

(1) Trendy: It is what is youthful and “In” with regards to fashion and style. If it isn’t popular it isn’t cool.

(2) Aloof: Cool carries with it an “indifferent conceit.” It says, “I’m better than  you and I don’t care what you think.” James Dean was a master of that.

(3) Independent: Cool is not bound to “The Man.” In other words, a cool person determines his or her own rules. And rules are made to be broken. So any lame authority figure needs to be ignored or mocked. Coolness has no time for established patterns and dusty old institutions.

(4) Sexy: A cool person is a physically desirable person. Sex is the highest sign you are wanted, and sleeping with someone has become the highest achievement in a cool culture. In other words, the sexiest person wins! What do you do then if you aren’t sexy to the opposite sex? Hmm, enter our obsession with transgender and LGBT issues? That is why it is now cool to be gay!

Here is the biggest problem with our hunt for capturing “Coolness” – truth must die. Truth is the opposite of all four things. Truth is not trendy, it is written into the ancient fabric of reality. Proverbs 8:7-27 even says, “Truth and Wisdom is what created the earth with its fields, and the first dust of the world (26).”  Truth is what declared mud to be made mud and will always be mud. It also defines what is sin, justice, righteousness and peace.

Truth is not aloof, it requires a fountain of knowledge outside of itself. Truth is no respecter of persons and it makes no exceptions for different groups of people, races, genders or creeds. If coolness is James Dean, truth is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We must bow to his greatness, and aloofness is not acceptable before the King of Kings. This also means truth is not independent of him, but rather it is dependent on him.

And truth doesn’t care about sexiness,  its only concern is covenant fidelity. “So what?!?!” if you can sleep with someone, if they are not your spouse scripture calls this the highest form of deceit. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;  and that in this matter no one should wrong, lie to or take advantage of a brother or sister.”

In other words, sexual immorality by nature is a bald-faced lie. When you tell someone you love them and then sleep with them outside of marriage you are giving God a reason to judge them. If you love someone you will never put another person under the curse of God. If someone really loves you they will wait. It may be cool to take a person to bed, but never forget, “The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.” That really isn’t cool!

Supposedly we live in a post-modern culture where truth is relative, mud is the stuff of magnificence, women are men and hell is just a figment of your puritan imagination. Then how come 2 + 2 still equals 4? Because truth still is truly true, and will always be true.

So in your desire to be cool, don’t compromise with truth. It really is the only thing that will set you free. Even if you are made of mud!