Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We are conditional people
I have been reminded in the past week or so how conditional we are as people. We are bombarded daily with get this, and it will do this for you. Do this and you will get this. But I think this bleeds into daily life more so than anything. How often is what we do for others based on what we will get in return. It is a really hard thing to look at that in our own daily lives. I challenge you to look at how you respond to things people ask of you. It is pretty crazy to see how quickly our minds go to, "whats in it for me." I know that sometimes we do things because we love people and want to help in a genuine act of kindness. It has just really challenged me as a person when I watch to see what my first reaction is to someone when they ask for something or want help with something etc. We are built on a platform of gratification in our society and gratification is conditional. So how do we fight something that is the fabric of what we live in. How do we fight something that we know is not the "real" way of living. I think that deep down, no matter who we are and what we believe, we would rather not be conditional people.
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This is a good post/topic. It's unfortunate, especially in relationships, that we function in an "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine manner." I would imagine that it is due to our sin nature, and the fact that, in most cases, we view ourselves as the most important person in any relationship. I was talking with my mom the other week and asked her why she thought that she and Dad have had such a long successful marriage. Her answer, I think, was great. She said, "because at least 95% of the time I put your dad first. And he does the same for me." Over the last couple months this has been on my heart. Do we live in such a manner in our relationships, and I think that this should extend beyond marriages, that we view others as more important than ourselves? If we are honest, then we likely have to say no that simply isn't the case in most of our relationships. The question then comes, how as Christ-followers do we do this? Well, I think that, of our own strenght, we can't. We can't pull away the scales of our sinful heart on our own. Those scales run so deep that pulling away one layer only reveals another. We have to count on and in turn allow Christ to do the deep painful work of removing the scales in total. This may leave us raw and tender, but is it worth it? I'd say so.
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