assumptions

Consider, for a moment, the idea of assuming the best about someone else. We are so quick to judge others based on what they look like, what they do, and what they say. (Or this is my problem anyway.) Sure, actions and words may tell a bit about a person, but do we really know the heart of every one? Do we really know the whole story?

Hypothetical Situation #1: A husband promises to have supper started when the wife gets home from her stressful 12-hour day. When the wife gets home, it is obvious that supper has not been started. There is little food in the fridge, the restaurants are closed, and everyone in the house is hungry. Immediately, the wife gets frustrated, and by the time she finds her husband, she's boiling inside.

Hypothetical Situation #2: You're driving behind a very slow pick-up on US-75 between Sabetha and Holton. You want to pass this slowpoke, but a driver behind you beats you to it and passes both you and the pick-up. A natural reaction might be fury.

In both situations, do we ever stop to think that the "guilty" person might have a reasonable explanation? James warned us..."let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger..." (James 1:19). Paul taught us in Romans 12:3 "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" but "in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

Maybe the husband in HS1 stopped to help an old woman on the side of the road whose car had broken down, so he didn't have time to start supper. Perhaps the crazy driver who passed you had a wife in labor and needed to rush her to the hospital. Why do we always assume the worst--that the husband in HP1 is an inconsiderate, selfish bum and that the crazy driver in HS2 is a dirty, rotten scoundrel with a bad case of road rage? Maybe we're wrong!! Instead of harboring anger and counting the maybes as rock-solid truths, why don't we assume the better? Is it wrong to make up a "maybe" excuse for someone else?

I'd venture to say that assuming the best of someone else can turn a selfish, self-righteous, judgmental attitude into a humble one, a gentle one, a patient one, a forbearing one. And this is choosing to love.

ksu vs. ku

Most people around here probably realize that KU and K-State play this weekend.

I can't stop reading sections of Respectable Sins. In his chapter on worldliness, Jerry Bridges writes about possible areas of idolatry - careers, political and cultural issues, and a consuming passion for sports. You may agree or agree to disagree, but for what it's worth, I thought I'd share his perspective on sports.

And here I know that, especially for many male readers, I'm walking into an area "where angels fear to tread." But I don't think there is any doubt that sports, especially football and basketball, have become idols in our culture. High school football is often spoken of as a religion in many states. Many high school coaches make large salaries. One at a suburban Alabama school makes $94,000 a year and puts his players through a training regimen almost as rigorous as that of professional athletes. In fact, this idolatry of sports no longer begins at the high school age. Now coaches are looking down into the elementary schools to find promising athletes whom they can begin to groom as high school players. And the ultra-competitive "winning is the only thing" attitude of many parents of these young players simply feeds this idolatry.

But it is really at the college level that idolatry is such a temptation. And I speak from experience. I'm a graduate of one of the schools whose football team has been a major powerhouse over the years. They have won seven national championships, the first of which occurred when I was a junior in college. I give you this background to explain why my school's football fortunes became something of an idol to me. Even years after I graduated, on Saturday game days I became as tense as if my happiness depended on the outcome of the day's game.

I'm not alone, and it is not just over football. Many fans of the perennial basketball powerhouses experience the same angst during basketball season and especially if their team makes it to the NCAA tournament. I'm still a fan of my university's football team, and I'm pleased when they win. But it's no longer an idol for me. God convicted me of my idolatry, and I now remind myself that football is only a game, and I don't think God is glorified regardless of who wins. The truth is that winning only panders to our pride.

So continue to root for your favorite team, if you desire. But don't get caught up in its wins and losses. Keep sports in perspective. It's only a game.

So at 6:00 on Saturday, I'll be rooting for the Wildcats. And I'm hoping my KU friends and family don't pout when they get beat. ;)

respectable sins

Want a good book to fill your time? Okay, I haven't read it yet (at least not all of it), but Jared says it is a good read. And I believe everything Jared says. Well, usually. ;)

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

by Jerry Bridges

Last night, I was feeling convicted of being too grumpy lately. Stop. Let me back-track. Last week, I started a blog post. The only title that came to my mind was "grumpy." For some reason, I left that page and skimmed through the titles of previous blog posts and drafts never published, and I noticed many more similar titles to "grumpy." I scolded myself and thought, MYRA! What is going on?!? I closed out of Blogger. Nobody wants to read grump-stuff.

Fast-forward to last night and my grumpiness conviction. I picked up Respectable Sins with the intention of reading one chapter that would fix my grumpiness. I skimmed through the chapter titles in the Table of Contents: Ungodliness, Anxiety and Frustration, Discontentment, Unthankfulness, Pride, Selfishness, Lack of Self-Control, Impatience and Irritability, Anger, The Weeds of Anger, Judgmentalism, Envy/Jealousy/Related Sins, Sins of the Tongue, Worldliness. As I read through the list, I planned to weed out the ones that weren't problems.

Jared walked into the room. I'm mumbling to myself, "I'm okay with contentment....don't need to read that....I'm pretty thankful...." Jared chuckled and said something like, "You better just read them and see." I kept going down the list with an increasing realization that I didn't have just one problem.

I needed to read Selfishness. I needed to read Pride. I needed to read Judgmentalism. I needed to read them ALL! I settled for Impatience and Irritability. After I was done, I said, "OUCH." I underlined in pencil, "The actual cause of our impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations."

Jared looked over and said, "I don't like it when you mark up your books."

:) Grrr. ;) I sure do love him!

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"God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Luke 18:13

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:12-17