Finally…Me
If you have to force your way with others to get what you want- you don’t. One of the undeniable truths of life is that you can’t control other people. It’s not easy to accept, but it’s true, nonetheless. People don’t always do what is right or appropriate. For goodness sake, they often don’t even know what is right or appropriate. As a matter of fact, people can’t even be trusted to act in their own best interest. What I have said of “people” is also true of myself and you. We’re all sinners bumping up against one another in the struggle for life and trying to maintain control. Folks have to cooperate with you and you with them to get anything done. Free will.
One of my college professors summed it this way. He said that people are different from machines in that machines operate on cause and effect whereas people operate according to influence and response. Machines don’t have minds of their own, but people do. Generally, a cause will bring the appropriate effect in an inanimate object, but we never know if any two people will respond in the same manner when subjected to the same influence. Iron and steel don’t carry emotional baggage, harbor ill-will or have hard feelings. They are also not very good at giving advice. Sometime I have trouble dealing with others, but they also have trouble dealing with me.
I was recently reading of surveys given to newly-minted teachers in which they were enthusiastic in the opinion that their college training had fitted them for the classroom. I thought it would be more appropriate to ask them later because learning is different than doing. In the same way, I have seen many Bible college students and seminarians rhapsodize over their training for the ministry. I got it, too, and I did it, too, but I have learned over the years that people are harder to conjugate than Greek verbs. I believe in education, but there is more than one school. Life lessons are not easy to relate because they can’t be learned until they are lived. Regrets- I’ve had a few.
I think the hardest thing for me in the ministry was deciding where I fit in. And I tried. I don’t think I was even aware of the fact that I might be stretching to conform to someone else’s mold, but, occasionally, I would remember who I was and yearn for a former day. People were trying to control me with the vise of advice and the pressure of good intentions (some of which I later found out were not good at all). I am a compliant sort (though I can be combative at times), and I wanted to do the right thing so I mostly went along. When people are controlled, it keeps them from being themselves, and that’s a shame. It is also not the will of God. I did my share. Let’s call it even.
God can use us best as He made us. It is our responsibility to conform to the image of Christ, but not necessarily the to image of some else. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe in shoving your individuality in people’s faces. There’s a ditch on both sides of the road. As one who has been in both of them, I’d like to encourage believers to be centered in Christ, conservative in commitment and content in their calling. Looking back over the years is, sometimes, sad. To think, I did all that. Today, I’m doing it my way. Rather, I should say, in the way that God has best suited me. And I am happy. I’d like to wish the same for you. You’re only dancing on this earth for a short while.
Sterl
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