All people think differently, feel differently, handle things differently. There is no one way for things to go, there are always choices.
We as people believe in our choices, fight for our freedom to make them, and ultimately desire to make the right choices. Other than ourselves who is there to tell us we made the right choice?
Our parents, our friends, the people we work with, highly intelligent people that we don't know but see credentials to show that they know what they are talking about. Work leaders, political leaders, even religious leaders can all be trusted and when they can't be trusted then we can just count on ourselves, right? Because we are a highly intelligent, highly adaptable, and highly intuitive race.
Thinking that we are right has gotten us where?
Look around you.
People are starving, there is illness everywhere, corruption is rampant in our world and not just in politics. We find it good when others fail and make us look good by comparision, we find it interesting to watch other peoples lives unravel on the television. We are continuously saved from being the bottom of the barrel of humanity by setting standards for ourselves that we know that we can meet and then thinking ourselves better than others because we can do them.
We take credit for our own gifts and talents and when something in our life is wrong then we find someone or something (if my parents were more supportive, if only such and such situation didn't happen) to blame for our failures.
We aren't comfortable showing people our real selves. When I say real selves I mean that deep inner part of you that only you and God know exists. That part that cries alone in your room because you don't want others to perceive you as weak, that part of you that is so strong that people are impressed, except it's not really strength, it's bravado or arrogance. That part of you that is afraid that God is real and is very disappointed in you.
Why is there this ingrained thought in ourselves that we think that we know not just what's best for ourselves but for everyone else? Let me tell you, I spent most of my life living by my own standards and for a long, long time that worked. There wasn't anything wrong with it because I knew what was best for me. Except that I didn't.
Answer this question, when was the last time that you made a decision about your own life that didn't hurt someone? You see we live our lives thinking that we live in a bubble," well, if I do this then it won't affect anyone else, I'm just going to do it." And that's on the generous days when we don't just skip to the decision without thinking about someone else's feelings.
I hate to tell you this, but that isn't true. I am a disciple of Christ and I make no secret of that, and I do my absolute best to allow God to dictate what choices I should make in my life because he gave me the Bible to tell me how to do it and the Holy Spirit inside me to give me his strength, energy, and compassion to be a better person. There is this crazy idea out there that Christians are just mindless drones that do whatever they are told. And although that can be true for some Christians, I refuse to believe it for one reason and one reason alone. God's plan always, every single time, works out better than mine.
The bible says put God first and make choices according to his word and when I'm smart enough to choose that, it's true. Here's the tricky part. I don't always know right away that the choice that I made is the right one. I may not know until the day that I die whether some were right or wrong. But I can give you example after example of things that I didn't want to do God's way that benefited me and those around me. My marriage is stronger because I allow my husband to lead our household (feminist friends feel free to gasp) because I trust Eric? Yes. But more so because I trust God. I am a better friend now than I used to be, because I respect my friends opinon, even if they don't agree with mine, but if they are doing something that could hurt them I talk to them about it. Biblically speaking the life of a true disciple of Christ is filled with sacrifice, pain, and suffering. So who willingly signs up for that? All of us that believe that the standard of God is the only one to live by.
Those of us that see that we are blessed and not cursed on a daily basis regardless of the obstacles in our path and the pain that life and the world has dealt us. Those of us who have been alone, prayed and realized that alone is no longer a word that is necessary in our vocabulary.
Don't get me wrong, occaisionally I slip back into thinking that my standards are better and I stomp my feet and demand my way is better. Then I see myself and reconsider. My life devoted to me is short-sighted, and narrow, and selfish and provides no solice, no safety, and no peace. My life devoted to Christ gives me all of those things and much more.
God's standards are meant for all mankind to follow. If you don't believe me, then try it and find out. It's always so easy to say that those standards don't work for you if you've never picked up a Bible, learned about Jesus and chosen to walk in the ways of God. I've done both and I would pick God's way every time.
K
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