April 16, 2012
Natural Disaster
Some areas
are just prone to natural disasters and when I hear of devastation the first
thing that comes to my mind is, ‘Thank
God where I live is not like other areas.’ That phrase has a familiar Pharisaical
ring to it, “…God, I thank you that I am
not like other men…” (Luke 18:11b NIV) Whether it’s the weather or one’s
righteousness, it’s seems so easy to slip into comparing ourselves with others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----The mind just keeps grinding forward. It doesn’t stop. And elemental to the way it works is comparison. So it does that all the time. In fact, comparison is basic to knowledge. We know the apple from the orange because of their differences. And we’ve noted those differences and made mental categories for each one. Then things similar get dumped into same categories for which words are applied, and away we go to being human!
-----For anyone, everything will sort into three useful categories. The self is one category. And since there is only one self which you can experience and explore like you can yourself, there is only one in that category. You. Everything else you must experience differently, being unable to think the thoughts in their mental libraries or feel the feelings tied to their hearts. Oh, for sure you can think and feel similar ones, and you do, but those are your thoughts and feelings, not theirs. That is definitely a different category, and everything but you goes into it. But wait! There is one amongst all those others of whom we notice a difference that fits neither of these two categories. God can think every one of your thoughts and feel every feeling you have. And He can all the thoughts and feelings of everyone else, too, even though neither you nor anyone else can His. So He sorts into a third category, also alone. So there are your three categories: God and you, each alone in your own categories, and everyone else
-----So what? We can now see the fundamental pathway of what immediately follows comparison: relationship. The moment the separateness of a thing is noted, relationship is created. Two things relate to one another differently than one thing relates to itself. I love people who draw the cross by showing two of the relationships existing between these three categories. But there is another relationship this metaphor misses. As God relates uniquely to you, so He also relates to each of everyone else with as much responsibility, with as much desire, with as much attention to uniqueness as He does to you. That third relationship demands consideration of how valuable others are.
-----Knowing that I am not the only one noticing people’s differences presents me with the conclusion that my perceptions formed by comparison’s have the competition of His perceptions formed by His comparison’s. Knowing that I also desire to relate to Him then concludes that wherever there is actual competition between my perceptions and His there is need for my perceptions to change. Since He is not going away, the substance of the three relationships will eventually become only what is true and loving, only what He is.
-----So, since I have mind I will compare. Having compared I will relate. And desiring God, I will relate for the reasons of discovering truth and applying love. Comparison really is not bad; it is the process of knowing. It is knowing that can be bad if it’s processes are not true and beneficial from His perspective. The problem was not that the Pharisee noticed he was not like other men. It was that he thought God agreed upon how he was not like others. It was that he failed to eliminate God's competition.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment