November 24, 2014
Those in Need
Sunday I visited a church
where empty seating was scattered throughout the auditorium, however none of
the available seats were contiguous enough to accommodate more than three people.
When a family of six arrived after the service had already started and I witnessed
the Golden Rule in action. The whole back row of worshippers, without being asked,
picked up their belongings and gave up their seats to the family and then they dispersed
throughout the auditorium. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor
one another above yourselves. …
Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (Ro 12:10, 13
NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Sometimes I like trying to imagine what it takes to make everyone happy, or like Rodney King suggested, at least all get along. But I quickly realize, if the principle operated in this world to its furthest extent, pretty much everything would eventually starve to death. The very existence of life on this planet is made of things eating each other. Not bad for the eater, but not quite getting along for the eaten.
-----Thankfully, we humans don’t eat each other much, not actually, anyway. But we have a vociferous hunger for each other’s affairs. And it isn’t all just over stuff. In fact, maybe the greed for stuff is greatly overrated in assessing the cause of our ongoing chaos. It doesn’t take much examination to uncover the evidences of men riding herd over other men. The reasons why seem endless. Greed for stuff seems always blamed, yet, even in situations involving just two people, jealousies and animosities over thoughts and ideas and feelings abound. It’s like we wouldn’t even get along if there were no stuff to divvy up. Recognizing that we are more what we think and feel than we are just bodies, we really do eat each other alive, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between.
-----But then, feelings in another person are no more seen than the baby in some one else’s womb. Sure, we know they‘re there by a certain evidence. But what they really are is easy to ignore. So their very essence can be redefined. Our problem is that we push the real meaning of everything, especially of thoughts and feelings, almost entirely beyond our grasp. Then we make up meanings that serve our situations regardless of other people with their own meanings being inseparable parts of our situations.
-----Meaning is a great word for lots of argument. That’s probably why we don’t talk about it too much. But there’s a right way and a wrong way of avoiding argument. Not talking about it is the wrong way. Talking about what’s reasonable is the right way. With meaning, about as far as the talk can go is that in the end, God’s assignment of meaning is the meaning that is. This goes hand in hand with His being I AM. I speculate from His Bible that His meaning might be an essence of everything causing only benefit to anything and everything else, such that nothing exists which will induce any detriment into any situation. That’s other worldly! And quite so, since the creation was subjected to a chaotic disregard for God’s meaning when Eve bit the apple. Since I pray for His kingdom to come, I must also mean what I pray. So in any situation, my mind is first trying to assess to the best of its ability what will cause it the most good with the least detriment by God‘s meaning.
-----But even that practice doesn’t further God’s kingdom a whole lot. I see a pregnant lady; I know there’s a baby. But every baby is specifically itself. Knowing that it’s a baby is nothing compared to knowing all it‘s intricacies. Other people’s feelings are a little less allusive. People do things that somewhat reveal their feelings. Gaining intimacy with their souls is a small, but necessary step towards knowing what God means by our situations. And building righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit for everyone in our situations sometimes means feeding a little of ourselves to others.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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