The New God

As I started this post, I realized what a small thing ticked me off. It got my mind rolling on such a long train of thought that I think I may have blown the whole situation out of proportion.

As I was driving home in inhospitable weather, I let a guy over who needed to turn left. Less than a minute later, the same guy I let over cut someone off who was trying to get over to turn at the next light. I don't mean without cause, he actually sped up and almost caused a wreck because he didn't want the other guy to come into his lane so badly. What a jerk! Forget the whole Golden Rule thing, he threw that out the window at the same time as his cigarette butt. It probably got crushed by my tires in much the same way.

So I should just write this guy off as a jerk, I know, but it led to this whole thing about how this world has slowly evolved into such a selfish society. I mean, utterly and unashamedly selfish. The media and all of popularity encourages it. Our society, especially American society, has created gods out of each and every one of us. I know this isn't a new idea, but it just floors me every time I think of it. Everything is always me, me, ME. It's an excruciating circle of selfishness, and no one gets to go anywhere. People take everything personally if they don't get their way, and somehow they're being discriminated against, whether it's about their age, race, background, religious, or sexual preference. It never can be the fact that they weren't qualified. Or that they were doing a poor job.

Think about it... a servant's heart is reserved for the Christmas season. We reserve our goodness and our giving for a time when we would become conspicuous NOT to give. For some reason the smell of pumpkin pie triggers a giving reflex. Well, hungry people are hungry all year, not just during Christmas. Bring the guy on the street corner a lunch sack in June, not just in December. Help out a friend when they need it, not because you have some guilty urge to purge your selfishness for one month out of the year!

I know a couple of true servants (I am not one of them, but I'm working on it!). They are there at every turn, helping in whatever way they can, giving and going without so that others may have. They have such hearts in them that I know Christ is smiling. I am stunned by their generosity. I can only hope I can learn to be like them. And you know what? They have no enemies. They only have friends, and everyone they meet is a new friend. This isn't to say that they are always happy, but they are always looking for the positive, and for God's hand in their lives. I want to be like that, don't you?