This may be a negative post--or a realistic one. I'm not sure.
As I lingered in the "fast" lane behind someone who couldn't get traction and move ahead of three semi-trucks on the interstate this week, I found myself chanting, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." It wasn't particularly productive. Getting frustrated wasn't helpful. All I could do was wait and pray.
And as I followed, 10 cars behind, I began to wonder if maybe the person in front was an optimist and I was a pessimist. The longer it continued, the more I realized it's an American problem called "delusions of grandeur," maybe greed, maybe pride. We all struggle with it to one degree or another--and it stands in stark opposition to Jesus Christ.
In the good old days, perseverance led to progress. The goal wasn't self-directed or self-realized; it was achievement for the everyone's benefit. The little blue engine was delivering good things to the boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. He wasn't in it to say he made it to the top; it was a service for others.
In a feel-good, self-esteem-led society, individuals have taken the mantle of "I can be whatever I want" or "I can do whatever I want," at the expense of others. And, guess what? We can't--not without consequences, regret, and destruction.
On the interstate, a car can only go so fast. Each driver has experiences, capabilities, fears, and inhibitions that affect his or her driving. Each driver's choices affect others and an inability to gauge reality puts others at risk. When a person puts him or herself at the center; his or her desires ahead of others, the result is chaos, confusion, and every form of evil (James 3:16)--i.e. school shootings, suicide, self-harm, murder, the opioid crisis, domestic violence, the list could go on.
Reality, to the contrary, recognizes limits, abilities, resources, and opportunities. We are who we are--physician, mechanic, teacher, musician, farmer, secretary--where we are, doing what we do. No one has more or less value. Jesus, (God), considered each of one of us ahead of Himself and that's a very different kind of reality--one that only God can accomplish.
To be like Christ is to value those around me at the cost of His life--and mine. The call is to be who I am for the glory of God; to serve those around me, loving them, for the glory of God; to live in a way that values and benefits others to the glory of God.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing... (Philippians 2:3-14 NKJV)
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
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As I lingered in the "fast" lane behind someone who couldn't get traction and move ahead of three semi-trucks on the interstate this week, I found myself chanting, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." It wasn't particularly productive. Getting frustrated wasn't helpful. All I could do was wait and pray.
And as I followed, 10 cars behind, I began to wonder if maybe the person in front was an optimist and I was a pessimist. The longer it continued, the more I realized it's an American problem called "delusions of grandeur," maybe greed, maybe pride. We all struggle with it to one degree or another--and it stands in stark opposition to Jesus Christ.
In the good old days, perseverance led to progress. The goal wasn't self-directed or self-realized; it was achievement for the everyone's benefit. The little blue engine was delivering good things to the boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. He wasn't in it to say he made it to the top; it was a service for others.
In a feel-good, self-esteem-led society, individuals have taken the mantle of "I can be whatever I want" or "I can do whatever I want," at the expense of others. And, guess what? We can't--not without consequences, regret, and destruction.
On the interstate, a car can only go so fast. Each driver has experiences, capabilities, fears, and inhibitions that affect his or her driving. Each driver's choices affect others and an inability to gauge reality puts others at risk. When a person puts him or herself at the center; his or her desires ahead of others, the result is chaos, confusion, and every form of evil (James 3:16)--i.e. school shootings, suicide, self-harm, murder, the opioid crisis, domestic violence, the list could go on.
Reality, to the contrary, recognizes limits, abilities, resources, and opportunities. We are who we are--physician, mechanic, teacher, musician, farmer, secretary--where we are, doing what we do. No one has more or less value. Jesus, (God), considered each of one of us ahead of Himself and that's a very different kind of reality--one that only God can accomplish.
To be like Christ is to value those around me at the cost of His life--and mine. The call is to be who I am for the glory of God; to serve those around me, loving them, for the glory of God; to live in a way that values and benefits others to the glory of God.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing... (Philippians 2:3-14 NKJV)
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
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