Friday, the 10th of
October – already! Still have so much to
do before winter sets in.
Looking out the windows I can
barely see the hills around us as they are cloaked in fog, rain has been
forecast, we shall see.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our
God is one Lord:
5 And thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might.
6 And these words, which I
command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
KJV, copied and pasted from
BibleGateway.com
“I’ll show them!” has probably
been uttered by every person at one time or another. We are upset because someone has put us down
or hasn’t given us the respect we feel we deserve.
It helps focus our anger.
Some people go on to accomplish
things that they probably never would have done if it hadn’t been for that inner
drive, that anger, so they could wave their success in the distained naysayers’
faces.
Others focus their anger on
revenge and a desire to destroy those that would cause them such distress. A lot of violent crimes start with that
statement.
Still others utter that
statement and when they can’t live up to their own expectation they falter and
look upon themselves as never-do-wells; failures. They often use alcohol or other drugs and
other ‘crutches’ to help them through their self-loathing and push them farther
down into despair.
Others realize the foolishness
of doing something to spite others and put aside the anger; to go about their
lives in a more positive manner.
Single mindedness can help a
person reach lofty heights. It doesn’t
have to be anger that drives them, it can be a desire to be the very best at
something – those who participate in sports often get that feeling. Whether as an individual or as a team they
have a ‘competitive spirit’ to win.
Single mindedness,
unfortunately, for some people, in and out of sports, can be such an
overwhelming need to succeed that winning is the most important thing and it
must be done at all costs – if cheating is the only way to succeed in their
endeavors they will cheat, or lie, or steal.
I once listened to a person
talking about his interview for a position of importance. He said he looked around the room of the
other applicants and tried to figure out who his toughest competition was – he
located a man who he felt might be that person and learned his name as he
engaged him in conversation.
During his interview he worked
in a comment or two of the incompetence of the other person. He lied, he didn’t even know the man before
meeting him that morning.
He was quite proud of his
thought process. He didn’t get the job.
I don’t know who got it. But as I reviewed, in my mind, this person’s
actions as I knew him as I worked with him, I realized that this was how he
lived his life – always trying to find a way to make himself look better even if
he had to lie to do it.
He was a superior; we didn’t get
along very well. One time he told me
that he just couldn’t figure me out, yet.
No wonder.
What drive us? What makes us do the things we do?
Part of it is to survive in this
world. We must provide for our own
wellbeing as well as those that are entrusted to us.
But how do we go about doing
that? How do we seek a better life
without compromising our values?
First we must follow God’s
command that we love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Then we
must seek Him out so that what we are doing is in obedience to Him.
Mathew 6:33 But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
We cannot make room in our minds
for an “I’ll show you!” mentality.
It changes the mind’s focus to
anger, and away from the love of God.
Instead, with God’s help – and
usually that is the only way we can
do it – we must say “I love you and want the best God can give you and I will
pray He does that for you.”
Being a Christian is not
easy. We are expected to be perfect and
held to a high standard by God – and man, not to mention ourselves. Both God and we know that we are striving for
that perfection that will only be reached by eternal life with Him.
Man, on the other hand, likes to
judge us as hypocrites, pointing at us and our behavior as an example of why
they don’t want to have anything to do with Christianity.
But we cannot allow their
derision or distain to change our focus on the desire to follow Christ. Instead of trying to ‘show them,’ we need to
turn our minds and deeds to pleasing God.
Colossians
3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as
to the Lord, and not unto men;
Later, Art :-)
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