On the news we’re hearing that the floodgates on the Mississippi River are
being opened in an effort to prevent flooding. I was reminded of an incident a
couple of years ago where a local political activist threatened to open the
floodgates of opposition if elected officials ignored his demands. I never quite figured if the activist
misjudged the political water depth, or if he had the wrong key to the gate. “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 measure of faith
God has given you.” (Ro 12:3 NIV)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----There is a lot of power and authority in people coming together. Whether granted by God or usurped by the mob, other people can be forced, coerced, or inspired by collective power and authority to do things they would not otherwise do and think things they would not otherwise think. God made man a social being, so this is a natural process that emerges from any group of people, no matter how small or great it might be. Some aspects of it operate for the good of survival and pleasantness, because many forces in this chaotic and destructive world are far greater than the individual and will consume him in an imperceptible instant without the aid and attention of others. But more of its forces work for evil, because the heart of the individual is consumable by selfishness and the minds of a few are crafty enough to control collective ambitions toward serving their own personal ends.
-----God’s Word can be the corrective factor amongst any collective group, reducing the evil in its forces of selfish ambition and increasing the serving forces of its mutual benefit. But more often in history it has better catalyzed evil forces than it has inspired beneficial ones. My own personal interest mourns the loss of the Alexandrian library to flames set by Christian mobs at Cyril’s imbecilic inspiration. For the several following centuries it was a dangerous endeavor indeed to express your faith other than through Catholicism. Then for a few more centuries everybody had to keep their heads low because one marauding army after another swept back and forth across Europe exacting blood from anyone misaligned with its own belief and ambition. Everyone seemed to fight for the Word they knew; no one seemed to read the Word to know it.
-----It is the same inability of the individual requiring surrogacy for survival which abuses the surrogacy of the collective. Did you fashion the bridge to the Father and eternal life? No. Christ did that for you. Did you raise the steak on tonight’s dinner table? No. Someone else raised it for you. Most likely, someone else built the table it will be set upon. Surrogacy is major for survival. You had to do something as a surrogate for someone else in order to have that steak and a table from which to eat it. But enjoying the surrogacy of others done for you is easier and more fun than being a surrogate for them. So you can imagine why surrogacy flows better in one direction than in the other.
-----This is why Paul said to, “... not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Being constrained by our own inabilities, we each can only do what we can do, and that is just a piece of what needs done. Likewise, being constrained by our own lack of knowledge, we can only know what we do know. It is not for the leader of God’s people to be the surrogate knower of God’s Word and director of His church‘s doings. For God’s Word to elevate collective power to the doing of good, God’s leaders must teach and inspire His people to individually know His Word into their personal doings. For only by the rising of His Word into the doings of all His individuals does He become the actual head of His church, rather than some high-minded surrogate.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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