I have alluded in the past to my blog silence having something to do with things I cannot discuss in such a public forum. Lately this has been the case, along with being incredibly busy.
I will not discuss the conflict which weighs on me, as it its unresolved nature makes it delicate and way out of bounds. I can, however, discuss things that I have been thinking as a result of what is weighing on me.
One is a question of trust and submission. If we have perfect trust, then submission is not a difficulty. The problem with submission arises when trust is in doubt. The temptation to be unsubmissive only arises when rather than trusting the authority, one trusts in ones self more. There are two non-negotiables clearly spelled out in scripture that instantly come to my mind. One is wives to husbands (Ephesians 5:22). Duh. The other is in paying taxes to the government (Matthew 22:21). In neither case are we required to trust the authority, but rather to submit to the authority. And in both cases, as mentioned on those verses, it is really God to whom we submit, and not men. Men are not completely trustworthy. Only God is. As a wife, when I doubt my husband, I can trust God and submit to my husband with peace in my heart. The husband is who will answer to God for whatever it is anyway.
Lately I have been in conversations with a non-believer co-worker of mine about Christianity. He is involved in a situation with someone claiming to be a Christian who is not acting Christ-like. All of this cements his attitude that Christianity is just another set of rules like every other world religion. This badly behaving Christian is justifying his bad behavior by "balancing the scale," claiming to have permission to sin in one area because he has done other things that are good to balance it out. I'm only hearing about all this second-hand, and I don't know this other person at all, so I can't speak to his actions and his words. What I do know of Christianity that sets it apart from every other world religion is that Jesus came along to tell us that our sin was not only what did, but in could also include our thoughts. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus explained that it wasn't enough to abstain from adultery. It IS adultery to look on a woman in lust. This is the sticky wicket. We are accountable for our thoughts. This makes people upset. This turns just about all of us into Pharisees at some point or other. We want to point to the good things we do, and the bad that we don't do, and get all high and mighty, boastful and proud, and claim ourselves to be "good enough." This is why Paul declared his righteousness to be filthy rags compared to the holiness of God. Because he knew that he couldn't keep from sinning in his thoughts. God knows that our thoughts lead, guide and direct our actions. Jesus is trying to teach us, to help us, to head off sin before it becomes sin.
So in the case of my unresolved conflict, I am here to confess that I have failed utterly in keeping my mind from feeding a bad attitude. I will likely fail again. But I am sure that whether I am wronged or in the wrong, I am called to the Philippians 4:8 "Whatever."
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8
It is no small task to find that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable, excellent or praiseworthy when in the midst of conflict.
The song in my head is rather embarrassing. I wish is was something else. After a deep post like this, I'm ending with a stupid song that I don't even like... Well, here it is. This dumb song. Ugh. I wish I knew what it meant. From what I can tell of reading the lyrics online, it's about a kid who finds a gun in his dad's closet, and not necessarily about someone on a shooting rampage, which was my first thought when I listened close enough to the chorus to be appalled by it.
Hubby came in while I was writing this post and found the dog tucked under my lap desk, thought it was cute and snapped this picture. The blanket on my lap is one I finished crocheting yesterday. Way earlier than usual, after dinner tonight I got into my pajamas. It was a good choice after stuffing myself with Freebirds. (Why do I have this compulsive need to explain myself?? What's WRONG with me? Why am I so defensive?)
2 comments:
Actually, I personally think that verse in Mathew 22 means, "If you're going to make the government your god, give everything to them; but if you're going to make God your god, render everything to Him."
The reason our righteousness is as filthy rags is because in our natural we can never be good enough without the help of Jesus.
I don't think it has anything to do with making the government a god. Jesus said what He meant - give the government what belongs to the government and give to God what is His.
The point of this post was really to say that the outward actions of submission aren't enough. The attitude has to match or it's not true submission.
Also that submission is not something we all do to all people in leadership positions. There are specific biblical guidelines for submission and church leadership cannot justifiably call for congregants to submit to THEM. We all are to submit to God. At the time when I wrote this post, I could not come out and say exactly where the conflict was taking place. I hope this clears it up a little.
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