Through most of high school, I worked at a Marathon gas station down the road from my home. The law in Michigan at the time would only allow me to work 18 hours a week. Because of my schedule with school and church, I took most of the Saturday morning opening shifts.
Okay, so, it's high school. Getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning took a little effort, so I had to come up with ways to motivate myself. One routine involved playing a James Brown's Greatest Hits cassette I picked up at a truck stop. I'd sing every one of the songs while sweeping the floor, brewing the coffee, and filling the soda fountain ice dispenser. One morning, while singing For Goodness Sakes, Just Look At Those Cakes into the broom handle, I turned around to see an ancient old woman standing at the door. Admittedly, I gasped a little out of fright. This old lady wanted her very special brand of cigarettes at 6 in the morning and watched my Mr. Good Foot as she waited for me to unlock the door. From that day on, we had an understanding: if she didn't tell anyone about my stiff, suburban "dancing", I'd open the shop early and sell her cigarettes whenever she came to the door.
Well, all that to say, I listened to that cassette a lot. One of the songs had a chorus I especially liked (although I only today learned it was a cover song), Sayin' It An' Doin' It. I like that mentality. Do what you say. Talk the talk and walk the walk. Integrity. But it's a hard thing to decide sometimes, are we always willing to live by what we say we believe?
I think Nehemiah had this conviction. He seems to have demonstrated not only biblical knowledge, but also the courage to follow through on what he knew was right. People often talk about the book of Nehemiah in terms of leadership and serving. I wonder if all that can come under an over-arching theme of following through on what the Bible commands.
What about you, what do you think? Do you sometimes have trouble following through on doing things biblically even when you know the truth? Do you make excuses or say that it was only for a certain time and a certain place? How thin do you slice that slice?
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4 comments:
rhetorical question. of course we all fall short of the glory of walking our talk.
first, it might be noted that in the case of certain beliefs, the walk is insurmountably different than the talk. To actually live up to the example of Jesus, for example, is no small thing.
second, some folks' talk is just for show, and their subsequent failure to walk is likely more a product of their inauthentic talk. for these individuals, we shall have no mercy.
Now, I'm not even certain that the good Lord designed us to be able to accomplish this task. This is all assuming one accepts the basic idea of christianity. I have very real doubts (after years of truly struggling with these ideas) about the basic proposition of the gospel.
assumptions: (1)God created people. (2)these people have free-will. (3)God requires these people to live up to certain standards, we're talking BC here. (4) not a single one of these people is able to live up to these standards. (5) God sends Jesus to die, in order to make up for these people's shortcomings. Now, here's my issue: we're all supposed to crap our pants with gratitude and adoration for Jesus having done this... when we were never equipped to meet the original demands. perhaps an analogy? If I paint my living room with blue paint, it would be silly of me to expect my living room to be green.
I don't know, i'm rambling. please sink my battleship here and prove me wrong... you're smarter than i am anyhow.
-the judge-
I think this follows your last post well (to which I hadn't the time to respond).
I try to keep myself in line (in all sorts of ways). One of the basic ways, which seems harder, is keeping out of gossip. In your last post, you'd asked what we'd do if someone in a conversation mentioned they'd been cheating. I'd say it was uncool, and I didn't want to ba a part of that conversation, and ditch them.
Same goes for my own decisions that go against where I should be headed. I try to keep up the good work, and as a human, sometimes I do backslide a little. But I try to live the way I know I should be living. One of the easiest ways to check myself: If I were considering doing something that I would not do in front of my child...then it's probably not something i need to be doing in the first place. (Like smoking a cigarette, etc.)
Maybe that's a bit simple, but it's one of the easier ways I try to keep myself on the right path on my relationship with God. ANd it works for me :)
And it can be hard to do the right things (biblically, as you say). It's not often the "coolest" way to make decisions (well, it is for me, but I don't care about popularity.) But it's definitely the most enriching. And I've noticed the better my decision-making process becomes, the more help I receive along the way.
Just knowing that God is with us makes my heart swell with happy love. And I think that's the best part of being human today :D
Thanks, Julia. Here's a way I used to confuse people and stay out of their gossip all at once.
Them: "Did you hear about... What do you think about that?"
Me: "Well, I don't know. Let me ask you a question. If you wanted a fire to die, would you keep putting wood on it?"
Think about that. See if you don't snort a little.
+10 for James Brown love. Next time we meet up we're gonna dance to "give it up or turnit a loose."
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