Skip to main content

Called So That You....

          Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (I Peter 3:8-9)

Let’s pretend that you answered the door yesterday and found officials from some lottery. They told you that you had just won 8.28 trillion tax-free dollars.[1] They handed you the check, you deposited it, and the bank has verified that the check is good. It’s yours. I’m not going to ask you what you would do with it. Instead, I will ask what it would do with/to you. Perhaps an even better question is what you want it to do with/to you.

Would it matter more, or less, when someone disagreed with you or called you something offensive? Perhaps an even better question is what you would want it to do you? Perhaps it would be even clearer if your neighbor won it instead of you. How long would it be before you thought, “He has all the money in the world, and he gets upset over that? Really?”

Even if the money were held for six months before we could actually spend any of it, wouldn’t it – shouldn’t it change our perspective about the world? I’ll grant that some would be crushed by the money. They would turn into Gollum, always going on about their precious and prickling about everything. But how many would want to turn into such a being?  Instead, the person who is “wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice” (with thanks to Samuel Johnson or Edwin Moore for the phrase) is expected to not be bothered by petty things. Even if they are upset about something they should be upset about, we’re likely to think that with all that money, they could do something about the situation beyond whining and complaining.

And in today’s passage, we read (again) that we were called so we may inherit a blessing. That blessing is God Himself. In other words, we’ve not been given all the money in the world. We’ve been given something that makes all the money in the world look like less than a quark. As fallen human beings, we’re likely to be upset by attacks made by others, but I think we need to keep asking ourselves, “Is the attack true?” and “Given my inheritance, is that attack really worth getting upset over?” If the answer to either is “Yes,” then we might need to consider what to do, but otherwise, perhaps we should remind ourselves that “It’s really not that big a deal.”

 


[1] One estimate online of the value of all the money in the world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 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) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more