Our current Bible study is called Unoffendable, and it's by Brant Hansen. Our Bible study group is both the best and worst because we are real and the same people in church we are out of church and also sometimes we get busy and don't meet for a few weeks. We're not consistent, but...well...it's cool. It works for us.
Anyway, the study addresses anger and the idea of "righteous indignation" and how sometimes Christians think it's their job to be mad about all the stuff that other people do wrong (but really it's not). It's a video series, and Hansen states in the first week that he's on the autism spectrum and also has a vision issue that makes him move his head in unusual ways. This might be one reason I love him so far - he just is who he is.
In week one, he talks about how Christians use the example of Jesus turning over the tables in the temple as a reason we should get super red-hot mad and throw a fit about all the "sinners." Then, in his direct, no-nonsense way, he says, "You're not Jesus." Jesus is holy and omnipotent and has the capacity to judge with anger. We're human, so we just don't.
Sidenote: I put sinners in quotation marks on purpose. I think some people look at others as sinners, but...dude...we're ALL sinners. Don't kid thy-self. ;)
Jesus taught us to love others. Matthew 12:30-31 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these." So basically that's like, our #1 job.
Today's lesson was still about anger, but it was also about stress. How humans are the only species that get ulcers based on some atheist scientist's book about zebras (for real). We enable our fight or flight response about things that may or may not actually happen in the future and then get used to living in that mode rather than just using that response when we really need it. Basically, we stress out about scenarios of what might happen instead of living in the moment.
Ouch.
But the real kicker today was that we become caricatures of ourselves the older we get. We become more extreme versions of the people we are today. So think of who you are today, and picture the extreme version as the old lady or old man version of yourself. It's an interesting thought.
Stated differently, what do you want people to say about you when you're an old person?
Today I said I wanted people to say I am wise. I still want that, but I want to add that I hope they say I have integrity and can be counted on to treat all people with love. If those things are what I want, I need to keep them a priority while I'm still such a young whippersnapper.
I adored this question and wanted to share it. Your Sunday night pondering - what do you want people to say about you when you're an old man/old woman?
