Still The "Me" Generation

I don't do facebook. My wife does and, so, I keep up with a wide range of folk through her. I admit that most of the comments are funny, interesting, intriguing, helpful, and even challenging. A few reveal to me that some folks have way too much time on their hands. And then, there are others.........

I know that I am getting old. And more impatient (although patience has never been one of my virtues). But I am amazed at the amount of God-talk in which some seem to need to engage through the venue of Facebook and others. It goes something like this: GOD IS SO GOOD (and by implication and context) to ME! God has soooooo blessed me, mine, ours, and even my KIND. When a time of need or crisis comes along, God is there and it all works out. The medical report is good...THANK GOD! My kids are all in great shape....PRAISE GOD! I have a wonderful job.....PRAISE JESUS! Amendment One passed.....THANK YOU, JESUS!

But what about those who don't get a good medical report? Children are a mess. There is no job. Home life teeters on the edge. Friends have stepped away. The money is running out. Everyone knows that there are whispers behind backs. What one sees in public is not what reality is. Secrets are kept deep within out of a sense of defense mechanism. Shame rules the day. All in all, life is falling apart.

Where is this GOOD GOD for those folk? Is God not around because they don't deserve it as a result of something they've done or not done? And again, by implication, are these folk not like ME?

Gratitude is a beautiful characteristic. Would that more lived with gratitude. It is indeed interesting that some of the folk described above and a lot of folk who have next to nothing, still live in gratitude. AMAZING!

The most familiar verse in the Bible, John 3:16 speaks of God "so (loving) the world..." and not just a particular segment of it. The greatest truth breaks through when we understand that God loves all of us as God loves each of us and that God loves each of us as though God has no one else to love.

St. Paul lets fly with a zinger in Romans 12:3 when he says "...I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think,..."

The words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer about Jesus being "A man for others" haunt me. Jesus own teaching about learning how to "deny ourselves" keeps me awake some nights.

Yes, it is wonderful when things work out for ME. But what about those who languish?