There is always that intellectual battle; if I only knew better, but I didn’t know. Well, we can all come up with many excuses and targets of blame. Many times the excuse is that I, or we, don’t know enough. We are not prepared. I need to learn more, I need to study more. I can’t help.
I will be honest, I have mumbled those exact words more than once. Now the real challenge comes down to the point were is it truthful or just something we hide behind? How many times have I walked past someone in need with extra money in my pocket? How often have I ignore the real need someone may have? Many times it is easier to ignore people we don’t know, but why do we avoid picking the phone up when we see someone we know calling us?
There is a story in the bible that we may be familiar with. It is about a story that Jesus responds to the lawyer/pharisee. The person questions Jesus about helping others. In the story in Luke 10, Jesus explains about an incident where multiple people come upon a person in need and how many react. Check it out for yourself: Luke 10:25-37
An interesting situation is painted in this illustration. A priest and a Levite. Well if you did not know, the Levite in this story is a person that works in the church. A person that does know morally what to do. Do you see the situation? The priest and the Levite knew better than walking by the person in need. The priest did not need to go and pray and get further training on who he should care about. The greatest commandment, which Jesus reaffirms in this section:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
And you and I immediately jump right to that last section. He is not my neighbor! He is from somewhere else. My neighbors are not that bad. Really? Wow. We need to become a bit more aware of our existence. If you have ever been on a mission trip or to a country where you are not a majority, you will realize that our fellow countryman/woman is our neighbor. When you are in a foreign location you will be drawn to an English speaking person, someone that looks familiar. Now when we are challenged with someone that we don’t know their name, we avoid them.
The bigger question comes down to the point, have you ever been in a situation where you have been in need? I don’t even mean homeless. I don’t even mean living out of a grocery cart. I am talking about in your life have you been in need of another person to notice you? We are people designed to be in community. There will be a day, whether you want to think about it now or not, when you will desire acknowledgement of someone else. It may be a close relative or loved one that you need. It might just be a co-worker to acknowledge things are not going well.
How many times have you heard of a tragic situation where someone was depressed, sad or desperate and they do something crazy? I have had many situation in my life where someone did something really crazy, and I said, “wow, I did not know”. There have been acquaintances of mine that have blown their head off with a gun, ended their life with a noose in the garage and inhaling exhaust fumes in the garage. What does it take to look someone in the eye. To say hi, to acknowledge them. We will not always make a difference. We don’t even have the ability to save everyone, but what could your life and relationships be like if you were more open and loving.
Yes, I said it, loving. I believe showing compassion, empathy and the ability to listen and provide fellowship. Those are things we tend to question after someone we lose is no longer available. If we were on an island with no one around we would not know the difference. But not many of us are isolated in a way to avoid fellowship with others.
Let us not continue to make excuses like the priest and the Levite that we need to prepare more. That we need to get in a better situation before we reach out to others. This does not have to be about a homeless person on the streets. What about the neighbor you don’t know. The person that lives next door. Do you know what is going on in their life? Seeing news interviews of people saying “they were a nice person, never caused any problems” seems to be the common airing, but how sad is that? We have people so close to us, and all we do is draw back and hide. Here is the question I close with:
Do you look your neighbor in the eye or make a wide loop around them?
I will admit that I am not one of great worldly accomplishments. I have never fought in a military war. I am not a special forces officer, as a matter of fact, I don’t even have a child that has gone to school or let alone graduated. There are many things in life I have never experienced and many more that I will never even have a glimpse at.
Hebrews chapter 11:1 says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This opens up another whole can of worms for me. If I experience something and “see it”, then it becomes a reality, not a conviction of things unseen. Hang with me on this for a minute. If I was told that the lake was frozen and it had enough ice on it to hold my weight, I would be a bit skeptical at first. I would understand the statement, but I might not be that confident. Similar to my life when people explain situations and opportunities for me. They are understandable, but I just don’t have any confidence in them being true. Now when I believe that that ice is thick enough, and I step out there on it, that is faith. The assurance of things hoped for. Now, once I step out there and experience it, that becomes a known fact for me, no longer requiring faith. It has been seen.
I will be honest with you. I have seen a lot of things done by people and I discredited them as possible. Even if I had never tried them. There is a story of a guy that mocked Charles and said that what he was doing was simple. When the man was approached and offered a ride in the wheelbarrow, he was silenced. Many times we can see things as possible, but we can not see ourselves as partaking in them. What if the man offered you the opportunity to experience such a feat on his back. Just hold on and he would do all the work for you? That you would get the confidence to do it on your own? Well, Charles offered that as well.
I hit a station and I was taken back to the 70′s. It was a song I remember from a band called Cheap Trick, called “I want you to want me”. I remember it well. It was on a “Live” recorded album called “
See, I was asking for someone to care about me, but I never knew what to do when it happened. I had not clue and still struggle today with the idea of what the heck am I supposed to do in response to someone wanting me, begging me and loving me? I reflect on the times in my life where I was fortunate enough to really have someone care for me, and I just treated it like a new toy. Admire it, enjoy it for the time and then wonder what was next Sort of like that child on Christmas morning that just blazes through the gifts as fast as they can opening them all and keep looking for something better.
Back on this topic of rebel. We discussed previously that a rebel is one that goes against the norm. The one that blazes his or her own path. A rebel is one that has a thought, belief or purpose that they believe in. That sometimes others don’t see it their way. Many times a rebels are against society for the wrong reasons, but many times, they are just standing up for their own thoughts and ideas.
Many people have pulled away from going to church, surrendering their lives to a higher power, taking daily inventory of their life, seeking guidance for better lfie. Many people would rather isolate and not embarrass themselves with sharing their shortcomings. They would rather pretend to be someone that other people expect. When things are not comfortable with them, instead of saying something, they conform and just lower their own standards.
I can remember as a child that a “rebel” was a bad thing. A rebel seemed to be the one that mom and dad said they did everything they were not suppose to. Don’t be a rebel, that is not right. As time goes by and things change in our life, I still believe being a rebel is not high on many people’s goal, but I challenge us on the definition of rebel. Not necessarily the definition of rebel, but maybe the example of a rebel.
There are some easy qualifications that lets us categorize one as a rebel. That would be one that breaks the law. As illustrated in the cartoon. Someone defiantly going against the law. Now if you just simply agree that going against the law is rebellious, what about rules and expectations of society?
I have been working in my interpersonal skills in relating to my co-workers. I always have this desire to strive to succeed and advance. I know that my pay and title really has nothing to do with my real success, but I still have the inner desire to compete and be my best, in whatever I do. This brings me to the challenge I have in envy and pride. When someone else gets a promotion, internally I of course question why I did not get a similar promotion. I immediately compare myself against the person and then remember all the times I felt that I did better than them. I then am reminded of the times they just did not know what they were talking about. How they fell short of my knowledge or performance.
Then, thankfully, I shake off that prideful desire that ends up roaring out of control. I have learned lately that to be a better person, I should be the one to congratulate the person. Wouldn’t I like it if one of my peers came and congratulated me if I got a promotion? I had heard from some coworkers that they were going to get a new boss, and that was one of my peers. Wow, really? Them? Boy I went to judgement and comparison in an instant. Then I remembered the challenge to be a better man…
With this lesson I will work on saying “Thank you” when a compliment is given. I am usually trying to downplay any focus on myself, but now I have experienced where the inappropriate response can do just the opposite of what I intend. Now this person might not have meant to be so arrogant, and I will just look past that in the future, but it is a great lesson to me when someone gives me congratulations and praise. I think I will look forward to the opportunity to say “Thank you, that is kind of you”.
I have been reading a book by Craig Groeschel called “The Christian Atheist: When you believe in God but Living as if He doesn’t exist”. I have not gotten to far into the book and it is a very transparent, honest confession of a well renown pastor. I believe I have truly broken the mold in my life where I believe in God, but act like he doesn’t exist. But in my previous post about The Fear of “No”, I touched on the idea of rejection and the idea of not risking failure. Then as I read tonight I come across this paragraph. It is preceded by the thought that in our minds we know that there is a God and that he can love people, but we question if we are lovable… coincidence? I think not.
I easily step forward with in a group and asked to describe what is on our mind. To offer thoughts to situations. To engage in tough situations, but there is the fine line that a person like me just avoids. It is those situations when we are vulnerable. When we are put into the situation of being accepted or rejected. I have lived many years and that fear of rejection still is so monumental.
Now, I was even told lately when I discussed this fear, that a no, might also be that the lady is shy. That she would really like to do what I ask, but maybe she is shy to the point of reacting with no, but desiring to say yes. There is that whole situation where she might not remember my name also, and that she refuses to do something with someone that she does not even know his name.
I don’t know if you have noticed recently, but there is just a whole plethora of flavors available out on the market now. There are pizza flavors, cheeseburger flavors, lime flavored and I just noticed these yesterday: Enchilada, BLT and Tapitio. These were all strange, but the strangest flavor I have ever experienced was on my recent trip to Colombia. A friend had bought a bag and offered me a sample. I was a bit hungry and it did not seem anything out of the ordinary.
Just to let you know, you can check out the happenings on my latest mission trip to Bogota, Colombia by going to this location: