General News
23 June, 2024
In Good Faith
Human nature is a funny thing. Quite often, it leads us to do things we don't want to do, while at the same time stopping us from doing that which we would want to do.
One of the ways this often manifests itself is when people are quick to complain about the things they do not have, while failing to acknowledge the many good things, and the many blessings, they do have.
This strange characteristic - which every one of us exhibits, and which likely frustrates every one of us - is nothing new.
The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Rome some 2000 years ago, said, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.”
As one reads through words like these, one can almost sense the personal frustration that he must have been feeling.
Even as an apostle of God, trying his very best to always do the right thing, he must have felt so conscious of his shortcomings to have even mentioned this in his writings.
Yet he does so out of complete honesty, admitting to his own frailties as a mere mortal.
This tendency also often reveals itself when people complain that things are not to their liking, while simultaneously failing to give thanks for the many blessings which they do receive.
The reality of life is, we are not all equally blessed. There may be many reasons for this: some may be within our control, while others may not be, and, to be frank, some may be the consequences of past mistakes.
In a speech some years ago, it was Bill Gates who said, “Life’s not fair - get used to it.”
After this blunt declaration, one writer then went on to explain, “Self-pity would not pay your bills, support your family, or help you live the life that you have always dreamed about. Setting concrete goals for yourself, and taking the actions needed to accomplish them, would.”
It is all too easy to blame other people or outside circumstances for our own situation.
How often have we all heard, “How lucky is that person to have...”, when we all know we make our own "luck" through the work of our hands.
The book of Proverbs says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
This is just as true today as it has ever been.
But there is also another aspect to this that needs to be mentioned: the effort we put in in this life is seen by God and will not go unrewarded in the next.
The apostle Paul, addressing the Colossian church, said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”