What can we be thinking of when we do some of the things that we do that we should not do at all? Why is that we, as a people, can be so hurtful, mean and petty? We are always looking for faults and for flaws in others. If we come across something admirable in someone, while we may express our admiration, there is some small part of us that is envious and wishes that we were the ones garnering attention.
I’ve had moments where I have put myself above everyone else. At those times, I consider that what I want to do and how I want to do it is more important than what anyone else thinks would be best. It’s as if I believe that I am always right and that everyone else is always wrong.
These episodes rarely end well. It is better to seek the help and advice of others who have more experience than you do than to disregard them. Even when you are considered an “expert” in a field, there is always something new or different to learn from others. There’s much to the saying, old dog, new tricks.
When we stop trying to learn from others and even stop asking for their help on occasion, that is when we, as individuals stop growing. When we stop growing, we then start stagnating and eventually declining.
I’ve been involved with a hobby for more years than I like to think of. I have recently been surprised at innovations that I somehow missed. I have found others who have different ways of working with the hobby that, having learned, now make my life easier. I’m enjoying the hobby more and have found that it is as if I’ve been reawakened from a dark sleep where I only did as I did before without thinking about it.
I wish I could remember this lesson every day and in all situations. I need to admit that I am not the expert that I think I am (by any stretch of the imagination.) However, I do have thoughts and experiences to share along with others. Together we are stronger than we are apart.
That is not to say that every move we make has to be by consensus. Some things are our decision alone to make. It is a matter of learning which decisions and projects are best left to our own selves and which ones can benefit from the experiences of others.
Spiritually, we are also in a state of decline. Our spirits have been broken and are simply no longer alive. This is an area where we must choose on our own and, while others can give valuable insight and experiences, what we do with our spiritual life is ultimately up to each of us.
I remember that my mother began seeking a spiritual life when I was a young teenager. She looked this way and that but studiously avoided any form of true Christianity. She took my younger brother and me along with her as she went from temples to self-realization centers as she looked to find her way.
She had grown up in a “Christian” home. That isn’t to say that anyone there was a Christ-follower (though they may have been.) She just thought she was a Christian because of the holidays they celebrated and the church that she went to. She had never had an encounter with Jesus on a one-to-one basis.
So, when she went looking, she decided Christianity was out of bounds as it had never offered her what she needed. I recall her even trying hypnosis. She became involved, to a degree, with the occult. She had me read her books and articles as she sat in the evenings after work.
I hated it with a passion. While I was not a Christian (though perhaps I was after an encounter with Jesus when I was five years old), I knew in my heart that Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit were the truth. I knew that the things she was following were wrong and broken. When I tried to talk to her and to object to what she was doing, she would silence me and punish me for speaking up.
I’m still glad that I did so. I am also very sorry she made my little brother a part of it, though. I think it may be one reason why he has struggled with Christianity as an adult.
It was her way and she would not accept anyone else’s thoughts or feelings. Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Caycee, yes, I’ve read them all. The Prophet, the Mormon bible and just about anything else you can think of from the 1970s.
My next older sister had become a Christ-follower in her teens. She had lived a wilder life than I at that point and was ready to see that she needed a savior. She would come to our house and tell each of us about Jesus. Even though we would tell her we were not interested, she still persisted when others may have stopped.
In hindsight, I understand that it was because she loved us so much. This was in spite of the fact that we were not very loving back to her. I recall her taking me to a church which I enjoyed but because of all the false teaching and places my mother had taken me, I was reluctant to ever go again. I was afraid something false and strange would happen that would shake my belief that Christianity was true.
When I finally had my emotional and spiritual breakdown, it was my sister’s words about Jesus that made me look to him for his help. I had known him as God but did not know anything real about salvation. She had pointed the way and stepped back. It was her assistance that gave me the information that I needed but it was my own choice and decision to make.
It was a few years later that my mother accepted Jesus. She still had some odd thoughts and beliefs that didn’t ring true. I guess, in the end, we all bring our baggage to God. He is the one that causes us to shift through our thoughts and to discard the false and keep to the truth.
It is an on-going task. It is one that will last my entire life. I still struggle with what I know and think to be true versus what God has stated as truth. When the two don’t match up, even when it is hard, I need to discard my own ways and try to live as he wants me to live.
It isn’t that we are supposed to all be the same. In fact, God states that we are unique. He tells us that he crafted us while we were in our mother’s womb. We are here at a time and place that he has set for us so that we can do the unique thing that we were made to do.
Imagine that, we are so special to God that he knows how many hairs we have on our heads. He knows every thought and feeling that we have. He wants us to find the area in life in which he has especially gifted us and to live our life in a way that is guided by him.
At the same time and as we grow in our unique ways, looking to others who have a solid basis in Christ for advice in spiritual matters, is so helpful. We are here to help one another as well as to love them.
While I’ve found that accepting or asking for help is sometimes difficult and that being admonished is never easy, it is with the help of other Christians that I continue to grow into the person God wants me to be.
Romans 12:3-8
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.