Our country is obsessed with the “quick fix.” From a pill to make it all better and fast food to satisfy our hunger, we Americans love to have it now.
The challenges of life are seldom solved with the immediacy we might desire. It takes time to overcome and heal our issues. Faith in God, the Universe or a master teacher can help with finding solutions, but what happens when the object of our faith is reduced to being nothing more than a “magic pill?”
I thought about this last Sunday morning while listening to a sermon on the radio. The evangelist was preaching about having faith in Jesus to reach the reward of heaven. But little if anything was said about enjoying life to the fullest while still here on earth. Any pleasure, any satisfaction, any fulfillment was delayed until being united with the Lord. Everything that happened was up to Jesus. It was as if we had no say whatsoever in the outcome.
Jesus never taught us to sit back and wait. He was a man of action. When he prayed he expected results, as should we! The evangelist I listened to was quick to blame the Devil for everything that we judge as bad, or that if things didn’t turn out to our liking then it was not God’s will for us to have whatever it is we desired. Feeling like we have no control over our situation makes it easy to ignore the present “hoping” for a better future. We fail to appreciate the gift of the present.
If a woman is in her third abusive relationship it isn’t the Devil’s fault and God certainly didn’t create the situation for her pain. That’s like blaming Mother Nature for us being wet if we choose to venture outside in the rain without an umbrella. A little common sense goes a long way to right the wrongs in our life, but this requires that we change our attitudes and actions. In the case of the abusive relationship, there is something familiar about repeating the mistake. Familiarity means “I know how to do this because I’ve done it before,” so we tend to repeat the mistakes of our past expecting different results. It doesn’t work.
Blaming of others and relying on the mood of a divine power is not what Jesus taught. It is, however, a great way to live life as a victim. By taking responsibility for our actions, and taking action that is in accord with the greatest good for all concerned, we move forward in faith so that our desires are made manifest.
It is through our faith, in whatever we believe, that we are empowered to affect change in our lives. Though we cannot change someone else, we can change our attitude about the situation. By doing so, we will not fall into the trap of searching for a magic pill while life passes us by.
In Spirit, Truth and Playfulness,
Terry
4 comments:
Exactly! There's a woman in our church that meant the same thing when she said,"People give the devil too much credit!"
He really doesn't need to come and mess things up for us; we're experts at doing that ourselves! We also are experts (though I'm working on deleting these from my thoughts) at talking ourselves out of doing the brave thing, the thing that scares us, the hard thing, or the confrontation with THAT person that will finally set us free, etc. And we're expert at talking ourselves right into inaction!
How about some responsibility and civility people? I'm responsible for me, you're responsible for you, and by the way, say please and thank you, and I will too! If I cut you off in traffic, then smile and wave, I was probably thinking about something else so please don't shoot me the bird.
Stepping off my soapbox for now, with love...
Oh! One more thing! Pull up your pants - nobody wants to see what you're showing and turn down that road thunder! I may not be an old lady but I'd like to keep my hearing for as long as possible.
Thank you!
Love the comments! As to your lady at church who says people give the devil too much credit I give you a conversation I had with my mother, one of Jehovah's Witnesses. She was lamenting one day about how much power Satan has in the world. "Things really have changed in the organization since I left," I said. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Well, when I was a Witness Jehovah was the Most High God and All-Powerful. If Satan's got so much power now, apparently Jehovah's lost some of his thunder!" She didn't much like that...until she realized that I wasn't dissing God. Rather, she was giving Satan a lot more credit than he deserved. (P.S. That pants thing really grinds my near-near, too....)
Hi, Doc Terry!!
The difference between Angels and Humans is that Humans have free will. Folks tend to forget that the Devil or Satan is a "fallen Angel" - he was ordered to defy God, because he doesn't have free will himself...
Blaming crap on the Devil is a lame excuse for most Humans and their own inabilities and insecurites.
Have been enjoying your posts!!
Lord Fairy Bottom
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