It's not about Ferguson...
And on Thanksgiving Eve(and always) I'm thankful for that!
There will always be a Ferguson... or an ebola... or a Crimea... or an Isis...or a Ray Rice... or a Pistorius trial... or a Benghazi... or gay marriage... or gun violence...or someone trying to take our constitutional rights away... or a conspiracy theory... or an NSA scandal... or an Obama... or a Bush... or even further back an OJ...a Vietnam... SOMETHING!
In a few months it will be something else that everyone is upset about, that we don't even know about yet. But, to some extent, it's all the same thing with different clothes on. There will always be issues that are unpleasant (maybe even miserable) to at least some, and I'm not here to state opinions on any of them specifically. But these issues quite often become nothing more than anxiety filled and hate feeding distractions.
If you are a Believer, could we consider (myself included), that if we claim to be followers of Christ, we should be more concerned with the Bible than the Constitution?
Maybe you don't care about the "big" things everyone else cares about. Maybe those things don't weigh you down. Maybe instead, you have your own personal "Fergusons" in your life, that distract you from the path to change.
More likely, if you're like me at all, you have personal Fergusons and everyone else's Fergusons fighting to take you in deeper than Oculus Rift.
Ultimately the opportunity for another Ferguson will be there as long as sin is here, and sin will be here, as long as we are. So how do we deal with it? How do we add life to our lives, and ultimately to those around us?
Let us seek to live mature lives. At first, I'd say that most of us would think we're pretty mature. But let's look at it.
Immaturity takes the sin and shortcomings of others, mixes it with the successes (or lack of consequences) they have and uses it to puff ourselves up in comparison, thereby justifying ourselves and our own sin and shortcomings. This creates in us a victim mindset that we deserve more good than we have, and are, by comparison, less deserving of what "negative" circumstances we have. It seeks to preserve itself by diminishing others, and may me manifested in a search for "justice" externally in cases that don't even involve us. It leaves us always scrapping for approval and love, which never allows us to fully accept praise or blame for our actions. It calls us to build walls and isolate our hearts.
Eventually we can drop the "by comparison" point from our mindset and feel like we inherently deserve and have earned better than the hand we've been given, or on the other extreme that we are useless and devoid of purpose, without hope, and alone. There is no thanksgiving in this, aside from when others we deem as undeserving of their lot are brought to a place in standing with our view of them.
The more we live in immaturity, good things in life become viewed as "payment" for what we've already earned, rather than unearned blessings. We are not thankful for them, but rather we have an "it's about time" mindset, and rob ourselves of even the joy of the thing we've experienced. Immaturity can be dressed up and disguised, but it is exhausting and joyless at it's best; vindictive, hateful, and miserable at it's worst. It's always seeking more, and not truly thankful enough for what it has to experience real joy.
Immaturity thrives in the subjective, in the directionless, it blows in the wind like a tumbleweed in the desert... dry and alone, it's only fleeting hopes in mirages that aren't really there.
But what of maturity?
Maturity calls us to take our own shortcomings and use them to motivate us to be humbled, lifting others up with love, truth, grace, and mercy following their sin and shortcomings. It knows our identity is not defined by our perceived successes or failures, while not leading us to a place that we excuse apathy. It implores us to lift up others by means of a proper view of ourselves.
It ignites us to have hope for and see potential in others. It allows us to be thankful in all things, because it's driven by a proper perspective. It allows good things to really be a gift, rather than a payment for our "good deeds" "FINALLY" arriving. It allows us to properly grieve our losses. It even guides us to be thankful for the successes of others and to mourn with those who mourn, because it frees us to no longer view them as competition, but rather fellow humans as much in need of grace and mercy and love as we were, are, and will be. And it allows us to do this genuinely, not just because we feel like we "should".
It doesn't incite us to excuse wrong doing, but it doesn't give it too much power. It is evident in a sober-minded and appropriate in evaluation of ourselves and others, because it is driven by something beyond itself and it's peers.
Maturity requires proper perspective and proper perspective requires an absolute standard. None of us are the absolute standard, but there is One who is. If we claim to follow Him, but live chasing mirages in the dessert, we'll dry up there, thirsting... Living lives devoid of the Water of Life until our bodies are as dead as our souls. I urge you brothers and sisters...Ask yourself and answer honestly...
Does my life and attitude to my current circumstances(or a portion of them), those around me, circumstances in our country or in our world reflect maturity or immaturity?
If the latter, no need for condemnation, just drink of the Water of Life. The more you drink of it, the more scales will fall from your eyes so to speak, and your mirages with disappear. Then your eyes will truly be opened to love, joy, and peace. Then you can be truly thankful.
We live in a dry land, but even IF we've been living in immaturity, we can be a wellspring of life, and your life can bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control... the fruits desperately needed in a hungry world.
And on Thanksgiving Eve(and always) I'm thankful for that!
There will always be a Ferguson... or an ebola... or a Crimea... or an Isis...or a Ray Rice... or a Pistorius trial... or a Benghazi... or gay marriage... or gun violence...or someone trying to take our constitutional rights away... or a conspiracy theory... or an NSA scandal... or an Obama... or a Bush... or even further back an OJ...a Vietnam... SOMETHING!
In a few months it will be something else that everyone is upset about, that we don't even know about yet. But, to some extent, it's all the same thing with different clothes on. There will always be issues that are unpleasant (maybe even miserable) to at least some, and I'm not here to state opinions on any of them specifically. But these issues quite often become nothing more than anxiety filled and hate feeding distractions.
If you are a Believer, could we consider (myself included), that if we claim to be followers of Christ, we should be more concerned with the Bible than the Constitution?
Maybe you don't care about the "big" things everyone else cares about. Maybe those things don't weigh you down. Maybe instead, you have your own personal "Fergusons" in your life, that distract you from the path to change.
More likely, if you're like me at all, you have personal Fergusons and everyone else's Fergusons fighting to take you in deeper than Oculus Rift.
Ultimately the opportunity for another Ferguson will be there as long as sin is here, and sin will be here, as long as we are. So how do we deal with it? How do we add life to our lives, and ultimately to those around us?
Let us seek to live mature lives. At first, I'd say that most of us would think we're pretty mature. But let's look at it.
Immaturity takes the sin and shortcomings of others, mixes it with the successes (or lack of consequences) they have and uses it to puff ourselves up in comparison, thereby justifying ourselves and our own sin and shortcomings. This creates in us a victim mindset that we deserve more good than we have, and are, by comparison, less deserving of what "negative" circumstances we have. It seeks to preserve itself by diminishing others, and may me manifested in a search for "justice" externally in cases that don't even involve us. It leaves us always scrapping for approval and love, which never allows us to fully accept praise or blame for our actions. It calls us to build walls and isolate our hearts.
Eventually we can drop the "by comparison" point from our mindset and feel like we inherently deserve and have earned better than the hand we've been given, or on the other extreme that we are useless and devoid of purpose, without hope, and alone. There is no thanksgiving in this, aside from when others we deem as undeserving of their lot are brought to a place in standing with our view of them.
The more we live in immaturity, good things in life become viewed as "payment" for what we've already earned, rather than unearned blessings. We are not thankful for them, but rather we have an "it's about time" mindset, and rob ourselves of even the joy of the thing we've experienced. Immaturity can be dressed up and disguised, but it is exhausting and joyless at it's best; vindictive, hateful, and miserable at it's worst. It's always seeking more, and not truly thankful enough for what it has to experience real joy.
Immaturity thrives in the subjective, in the directionless, it blows in the wind like a tumbleweed in the desert... dry and alone, it's only fleeting hopes in mirages that aren't really there.
But what of maturity?
Maturity calls us to take our own shortcomings and use them to motivate us to be humbled, lifting others up with love, truth, grace, and mercy following their sin and shortcomings. It knows our identity is not defined by our perceived successes or failures, while not leading us to a place that we excuse apathy. It implores us to lift up others by means of a proper view of ourselves.
It ignites us to have hope for and see potential in others. It allows us to be thankful in all things, because it's driven by a proper perspective. It allows good things to really be a gift, rather than a payment for our "good deeds" "FINALLY" arriving. It allows us to properly grieve our losses. It even guides us to be thankful for the successes of others and to mourn with those who mourn, because it frees us to no longer view them as competition, but rather fellow humans as much in need of grace and mercy and love as we were, are, and will be. And it allows us to do this genuinely, not just because we feel like we "should".
It doesn't incite us to excuse wrong doing, but it doesn't give it too much power. It is evident in a sober-minded and appropriate in evaluation of ourselves and others, because it is driven by something beyond itself and it's peers.
Maturity requires proper perspective and proper perspective requires an absolute standard. None of us are the absolute standard, but there is One who is. If we claim to follow Him, but live chasing mirages in the dessert, we'll dry up there, thirsting... Living lives devoid of the Water of Life until our bodies are as dead as our souls. I urge you brothers and sisters...Ask yourself and answer honestly...
Does my life and attitude to my current circumstances(or a portion of them), those around me, circumstances in our country or in our world reflect maturity or immaturity?
If the latter, no need for condemnation, just drink of the Water of Life. The more you drink of it, the more scales will fall from your eyes so to speak, and your mirages with disappear. Then your eyes will truly be opened to love, joy, and peace. Then you can be truly thankful.
We live in a dry land, but even IF we've been living in immaturity, we can be a wellspring of life, and your life can bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control... the fruits desperately needed in a hungry world.
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