Cleaning My Own House First

One reason things don’t work as well as they should is that many people put more effort into pressuring other people to do more than into simply improving their own act. This is to be expected of a young child who is dependent on its parents for everything, but it can be seen in prolonged adolescence when a young adult continues to blame parents for whatever is not working out. It is inherent in socialist thinking where the state is expected to provide whatever is needed. It is seen in our governmental system of rule by media and popular opinion when there is a perpetual demand for more services, and when “something must be done” (ie by somebody else) whenever an injury occurs. It drives union thinking which puts more effort into pressuring management into providing than into what the union should be providing for the business. It is more prevalent in urban thinking than in rural, since more can be done by rallying the community than by just doing it oneself. It is one thing that aggravates people about preachers and teachers who are seen to be telling others how to live rather than showing them, or not heeding the Lord’s caution about dealing with the log in one’s own eye first.

What to do about this? Before getting up and crying about what needs to be done, I can consider what I need to be doing, and be ready to give an answer if someone asks me about it. When injury occurs, I need a repentant attitude to be ready to see how my own action or inactivity may have led to it, or if I was uninvolved this time, how the same thing might happen in my house if I do not change. When I hear others clamoring for how the system must change, I can encourage them to look at what else they are doing to make a change. My prayers can be more about how the Lord is showing me my need to obey him than on what I expect him to be doing for me. philw