Gee, you all are going to think I’m some kind of raging wacko… but now you can add angry to my list of tired and discouraged.  Although, praise God, He is lifting out of the discouraged part of it.  And that’s the worst.  Remember in the Christmas classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, when Gabriel calls Angel 2nd class Clarence to give him instructions, Clarence asks about the problem with George Bailey: “Is he sick?”  Gabriel replies: “Worse… he’s discouraged”.  The most true and profound words in that entire movie, although often overlooked.  Our enemy knows what saps our will to do what we need to do, so he uses that weapon often.  We need to see it as that.

So now I’m angry.  Easy enough to happen when someone wrongs me and treats me poorly.  But today, someone wronged my wife and treated her poorly.  Thus angry is not really a strong enough word if I let my instincts take over. 

But that is not God’s way, and I have no excuse for that reaction, or to feed my natural emotion.  Jesus told me to love my enemies, to do good to those who intentionally, spitefully do me ill.  WHAT!...  WHAT!  Not just to find a way not to stew over it, but to DO GOOD to those who intentionally do me ill.  Just one more reminder of a biblical theme that should have so many implications to us every day, every moment.  Our lives should not make sense to the world.  If we act like Jesus did, if we act like he commanded us to act, the world should be SHOCKED at our behavior.  If those around me think I am normal, I believe I have a problem with God (by the way, on the surface I am very safe here - no one has EVER thought I was normal - although not always for the right reasons).

We should not fit in.  Our giving, our compassion, our forgiveness, our grace, our self-sacrifice, should stand out to the extent that we look like we’re certifiably insane to the world.  Jesus’ grace toward me looks like that.  And when asked how to pray, Jesus included the line “...forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…”.  This applies to our lives at work, at home, and in the context of KnownToMe, it applies in the arena of giving of our time and our money.  If my financial plan, budget, expenses, savings, giving, etc. make sense to the world, fit in any way into the world’s range of “normal” scenarios, then I beleive I am failing to meet God’s extraordinary calling to those who follow Him - all of us - it’s in His Word for all of us, not just a special calling for a select few. 

Good news - He promises extraordinary joy and blessings in return to those who follow him in this way… things good beyond our comprehension such that they make even less sense to the world around us.  His way is not the world’s way.  Those who would be first will be last, and the last first.  He turns all of this around for our benefit in glorious ways if we allow ourselves to become the last… true servants to others.

This makes you way more of a hero to me than if you had come home and choked that guy out.

Send the guy a cookie bouquet or something! Don’t they sell those at the Burning Coals Upon Their Head Boutique??

Really, this response blew me away! That Jesus and His LOVIN’is so RADICAL. Thankfully.

Barbra, you have the best business ideas.  If we had more time…!  Maybe when the kids are older and can make deliveries for us. 

Barbra, I do need to be honest. I wrote about the response I know I should have… not about the one I actually did.  At least I’m working to turn that response around.

There’s a long list of scripture that lead me to my general conculsion, but one good point in the list: I think we’ve watered down the command “do not be conformed to the world…” to mean: don’t drink, sleep with your girlfriend, do drugs - generally lead a moral life”.  But doesn’t it really (semmingly obviously) mean that our lives should be tangibly distiguishable from those around us?  If our lives are not really different in any tangible way, haven’t we been conformed to the world by definition?  True nonconformity is something very different than simply leading a moral life.

When I was a ‘teen’ I used to make fun of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  But now it is one of my and my wife’s favorite.  Our family watches it every year now as a Christmas season tradition.  Now that you mention the line that Gabriel says about George being discouraged, I remember that line does have a profound impact when I hear it each time.

Thanks for your blog post.  It’s a good reminder and encouragement to give loving responses that have the power to encourage people and improve circumstances.

A few more blog posts like this, and you may get your wings…

While your inward response might have been anger, you handled the little episode really well in all practical respects.  Then you wrote your, Biblical reflections on what our inner response should be.  I think that is pretty good myself.  I am the one who almost took him out.  What’s with me?!

Something I saw today for Jim:  “Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”—Albert Einstein