September 10, 2010
What You'd Have Me Do
Recently one of my aunts told me that we needed to go visit an estranged cousin because, “It is what mother would want us to do.” Not that I don’t respect grandmother’s wishes, but she has been dead for seven years. Who would have thought that even from the grave grandmother still had the power to keep all of us doing what she would do…and to feel guilty if we didn’t do it. But, in a moment of Biblical reflection I have to admit that’s exactly what happens when we belong to the Lord. Jesus still has the power to keep us doing what He would do - though not from the grave, but from the right hand of God.
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Gail;
-----Part of fellowship is honor. Honor involves respecting the sensibilities of others, even when they conflict with your own sensibilities. That is Romans 12:10 “...outdo one another in showing honor,” Romans 14:5, “Let everyone be convinced in his own mind,” Romans 15:2, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him,” and II Cor 13:11, “...agree with one another.” While the grandmother was alive her wishes were certainly a part of the system of incentives and restraints upon the decisions of her loved ones. So a person would think that after grandmother’s wishes had passed with her, they would no longer take part in that system of incentives and restraints. But that idea might be a bit premature. Her wishes may live on in two real ways.
-----The first and most obvious way is where her wishes were in alignment with Scriptural principles. Actually, this way is less that they were grandmother’s wishes living on, and more that they are Scriptural principles living on, which grandmother’s wishes happened to support. The love and honor of grandmother is merely called forth as lending affectionate weight to Scriptural principal.
-----The second way her wishes live on can be a little annoying. Even her wishes that may have not had direct support of Scriptural principles could become embedded in the wishes of others whom your life effects. Although Paul bemoans the necessity of someone else’s scruples effecting one’s own decisions, for the sake of avoiding spiritual damage to those others, they become honorable in their own time and place as well. Outdoing one another in showing honor and pleasing a neighbor for his edification becomes important behavior towards that other person for what remains in his own mind as convincing. Love is often difficult. Although it is said you can not buy love, and that it is free, it is actually expensive. Annoyance is just one of the many prices a person must pay for the love he has towards another. And it can not be refuted that when a price is paid the love another has back towards you increases, too.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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