Thank you for allowing me to recommend a few everyday-life teachers to you. If you have not yet read part 1 of this post, please check it out here for a good background.
Mrs. Disintegrating Families. There are numerous pieces of broken families in Mrs. D. Families' classroom for anyone to examine and learn from. Many families are broken because each member of the family had "I-don't-care" attitude(s). The husband, wife, father, mother and children were always right all the time. So everyone did their own thing and no one told anyone what to do. At first, they called it 'individual freedom' and 'personal space' until they realized that everyone cannot be right every time but it was too late. The family disintegrated and the members fell apart. Doesn't the rising number of disintegrating families teach us that you may be right most of the time but you can't be right all the time unless you are God? Doesn't it teach us that children who are left to themselves eventually become terrorists to their families, nation and world at large? While "having your own way" is not the only reason families fall apart, it is a major one.
Mr. Greedy Potbellies. Whether the greed is for food, money, sex, power, position or fame, the lesson Mr. Greedy Potbellies teaches is the same -if you are greedy you will get busted. Many people have vomited their ill-gotten gains and they stand to teach anyone who is prone to greed that greed gets people busted.
Mr. Correction Prisons. Mr. C. Prisons is of few words. He posts a short note on his door "Don't Come to My Classroom". The greatest point Mr. Correction Prisons seeks to make is that you do not have to come to his classroom within the prison walls to learn. You can learn from old student and it is better to learn all you need to learn in the comfort of your home. Mr. Prisons teaches us all that if you do not correct yourself, someone else will and more so in a hard way. While there are some innocent people behind bars, the original intention of prisons is to restrict and rehabilitate people who would not accept correction from normal people.
Mr. Political Wars. Mr. Political Wars teaches us that no one is above the law. He stresses that wars are inevitable where any individual or group of individuals believe they are above the law. Don't we all see this play out in the corruption and chaos in some third world countries today? Mr. Political Wars often quotes Cecil de Mill, "You cannot break the law you can only break yourself against the law". If we consider the poverty, senseless killings, insecurity and sometimes irreparable brokenness arising from corrupt politics and the larger than life attitudes of those who practice them, we will all agree that Cecil de Mill was spot on. The law is that no one is above the law, no one!
Mrs. Religious Correctness The church is not left out of the question of correction unless those who make the whole counsel of the Bible their code. Denominations, Theologies and our desire to be the happening church in town may be pushing us overboard. Have you noticed that in this dispensation of grace, some of us tend to take grace for granted and live outside the grace boundaries? Grace has boundaries for sure but some of us may have gone as far as convincing others that "God is too nice to judge and that no matter what they will ever do God has forgiven them in advance". I do not believe in legalism and certainly do not believe that a person can necessarily earn God's favour by doing right things. However, I believe the laws of God are important and the specific instructions in the Bible are meant to be adhered to. An unregulated life is not worth living.
The Christian life is regulated by instructions and the Bible is our book of instructions. ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right (2 Tim 3:16).
Imagine a Pilot who feels too smart to obey the flight instructions. He would destroy himself and everyone on board the airplane. Life is like an airplane, you and I are like pilots and the people that are connected to us are our passengers. We cannot afford to disregard God's instruction for living and expect to land safely. Not only would we ruin our own lives but the lives of others as well. Grace is never a licence for reckless living but a privilege to responsibly enjoy. We don't have to be tough on ourselves either. We just need to live in the freedom Christ gives and remain teachable by living within the boundaries of the scriptures. While the new covenant is better than the old, Jesus clearly stated that he did not come to abolish the laws of the prophet but to fulfill it. (Mathew 5:17-20). That makes sense. The whole Scripture is relevant. No true Christian group, as far as I know, has yet claimed the old testament is irrelevant and needs to be abolished. The old and the new make the complete manual for enjoying our everyday life.
Dear blog reader, as you go about your business this week, pay attention to what others might have to tell you. We grow by learning. It is wise to ask the authentic people around us "how am I doing?" at least once in a while. When they tell us, let us be willing and ready to apply lessons. An unregulated life is not worth living.
Enjoy your week!
You can reach me at everydaylifeblogging@gmail.com
