Here is a GREAT Topic for you! Since my little bro is in the hospital and is having to change his diet, its got me thinking. Many years ago...Wait that isn't a good opening line. I can do better.
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far far away... (now that's more like it!)
I had some digestive problems and had to have some surgery. The Drs told me that I would have to change my diet. Basically what they told me is that I couldn't eat anything that I liked and had to eat lots of rabbit food. No more spicy food, no more greasy food, no more unhealthy food etc.
This is the same speech that my brother got this week. The difference between he and I is that he has decided to follow the diet. (I know that the consequences if he doesn't follow the diet are harsher than if I don't but lets just say we are even for the sake of my blog.) I told the Docs while I was still in the hospital that I would not follow their diet and would eat what I wanted. My brother said, Ok if that will help me, I'll do it.
Here is where I started the wheels turning. What if this was a spiritual matter? Would I say, sorry but I'll follow my own "diet" and do what I want, or would I say ok I'll cut out the unhealthy parts in order to live better and longer? I am notorious for saying, I'll eat what I want and deal with the consequences! I mean what if that was my attitude toward sin? I'm sorry God but I'll do what I want and deal with it later!
I would never dream of saying that! Well at least not out loud or intentionally anyways. But I do it none the less. That is another topic for later, maybe. What I really think I really want to deal with is expectations.
1. Why do we expect other people to act like us even though we don't think the same way about it or believe the same things?
2. When can we expect someone to act like us?
I have a problem with people that expect me or others to act like them when we don't have the same position as them. Case in point... When a Church raised person expects a person that has never set foot into a church to know all of the "rules" of the church and how they are supposed to act. We wouldn't dream of asking a German person to act like a Chinese person, or a Chinese person to act like an Eskimo so why do we do that in our churches?
I gave up a long time ago on thinking that the world should act like those of us in the church. In fact I get Righteously Indignant when people start doing this. Where do we get off thinking this way? Weren't we just like them at one point in time?
Lets track the progression. Step 1. We are lost, confused, sinful, and wondering. Step 2. We have to realize that there is something wrong. Step 3. We look for change. Step 4. We either find it or keep searching. If we find the life change that Christ offers things really change, but it doesn't change all at once. Somehow we got this idea that once they are believers then all things are homogenized and we all become alike. HA! AS IF.
Isn't that a pharasitical way of thinking? I mean I've realized that my diet isn't what it should be but I still don't want to change it. I'm not willing to give up the food that I love just to make a few less bathroom trips. I want to enjoy life and for me that includes food. Maybe one day I will come to the point where I want to make a change and will seek that out. BUT for now I am perfectly content in the way my life is and I don't want to change. Isn't it the same with Sin? I have to understand that what I do isn't healthy and then desire change?
How about we stop getting offended, upset, or angry when people that don't believe like us don't act like us? Shouldn't we expect it, even anticipate it? Can we just be ready, accept them where they are, and be happy for them and ready to show them the way when they are desiring change? Isn't that the better way?
PS. I need to learn to express my thoughts in fewer words! HA HA.
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