Share this Post
I recently sold my 2002 VW Passat Wagon named ‘Sweet Lucy’. She had been a good friend for a long time. What she afforded in consistency, memories and savings, she lacked in modern amenities. I now have a newer car with an air conditioner that offers different climate zones within the car. Often as I drive it I start thinking about the whole concept of ‘personal climate zones’ and I begin to chuckle. To believe that I can crank the air conditioner on my side of the car without affecting the person sitting 18 inches away from me is ‘cute’. I believe it says so much about our culture, our expectations and our deception. It reminds me of the ‘smoking sections’ in restaurants that are all but gone. I remember puzzling at the notion that I could be seated in the non-smoking section 4 feet away from the smoking section and, somehow, I was supposed to believe the air was going to be clearer. My eyes are burning just thinking about it.
This idea that ‘what I do doesn’t affect anyone else’ is both ignorant and arrogant and has permeated our society on every level. “What they don’t know, can’t hurt them.” “What I do in the privacy of my own home isn’t anyone else’s business.” “To each his own.” “This is a free country, I can do what I want.” Phrases like these show up in the vernacular of those who believe we are all living on our own islands. The problems with these ideas are nearly identical to the problems of the ‘non-smoking section’ in the 1000 square foot diner or the car climate zones. We’re in this together! (Click Here to Read ‘It’s Worth The Weeds’)
The Cruel Reality of Cause and Effect
I’m all for unique expression and I’m certainly not a communist. However, if our idea of freedom and independence is that the laws of cause and effect do not reach past the end of our noses, we are living in a fantasy world. I sat with a man recently who recapped the effects his mother’s adulterous affair from years prior had on him, his Father and his siblings. Maybe she just wasn’t happy back then? Maybe she felt unloved in that season? As challenging as those emotions can be, the lasting effects of the decisions made during that time are still wreaking havoc in the lives of many several years later. Some may say that’s harsh. I agree. It’s harsh on those that had no say-so whatsoever in a choice made without their input and without any consideration to its long-term affects. I believe in redemption, forgiveness and restoration. I also believe in consequences (which literally means ‘with the sequence of events’). No amount of forgiveness, redemption and sorrow will undo what that family was robbed of for years. Now, a new chapter can be written, and I pray and believe it is being written because our God can make beauty out of ashes. Praise God! However, the sequence of events that took place as natural cause and effect cannot be undone. And that is my point. (Click Here To Read ‘Being Authentic Might Be Ruining Your Life’)
What I do affects you and what you do affects me. When you smoke five feet away from me I breathe your air and if I crank the heat on my side of the car, after a few minutes you’re going to sweat. Like it or not, we influence and affect those around us everyday. Cause and effect. You can’t simply turn it off because you don’t want any consequences.
All The Help We Need
If we didn’t have the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and instruct us, this could be a paralyzing thought. However, we’ve been promised his help and direction if we will humbly submit and ask for his leadership. As we are lead by The Spirit of God, our decisions can bring a positive, lasting blessing to those around us. Additionally, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to confess and repent of our sins if and when we don’t use His wisdom and our best judgment, minimizing the negative effects or our poor choices. He is so good and His grace is sufficient!
Sometimes when our buddy is cold and we’re hot, we just have to deal with the tension, find a compromise and accommodate each other as much as possible. We’re better people when we work together toward a solution as opposed to ‘taking our ball and going home.’ No matter how good the Simon & Garfunkel song “I am a rock” is, it’s still not true. Remember, we’re in this together and when we capitalize and not minimize that reality we’re better for it. Know that God is for you today and so am I. (Click Here To Read ‘Mind the Gap’)
From the Bible
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24-25 (NIV)
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:17-19 (NIV)
Share this Post