Discipline on the Highway of Life
House Church Theologian
I am assuming that I am doing this right. We will soon see. I figure that I better get this up before church tonight in order to avoid any rebuking...or at least admonishing :). I have had many thoughts lately, so I think that I will post them each individually. Where to start? Let's just go in chronological order of when I thought about them (all of my thoughts tend to come to me while I am traversing the Lansing area in my extermination truck...it's like a little monastery, really). Anyway...
I just happened to be trapped in traffic on I96 yesterday and, as usual, was critiquing the manner in which Michiganders drive (badly). This situation entailed a sign on the side of the 3 lane highway that informed drivers that the left 2 lanes would be closed in a certain distance. Now, common sense and thoughtful driving would dictate that everyone should slow down (gently), move into the right lane and establish a safe following distance. This would cause for the most efficient and expediant passage through the upcoming construction zone. Needless to say, however, I immediately found myself sitting in the right lane watching as the left to lanes rapidly filled with traffic. I, who was waiting to get to an exit that was, perhaps, 100 yards away had to wait for 30-40 minutes while traffic came to a complete stop in order to start letting the selfish and inconsiderate members of left 2 lanes merge into the right lane.
This incident led me (as a criminal justice degree holder) to dwell on what the official response to these activities should be. I came up with a simple solution: the police should show up in a big van full of officers, park it across the highway (since traffic is stopped anyway) and begin writing tickets and distribute them to all of the drivers in the left 2 lanes. Do this around construction zones on a regular basis and in would quickly stop the selfish actions of other drivers.
We could obviously argue/devise all sorts of law enforcement policy and the pros and cons of each, however, the policy issue is not what I am concerned with (I am afterall the House Church Theologian, not the House Church Politician...though some of my thoughts on politics may come out at some point in this blog). The issue I am concerned with here is human nature. Let me backdrop this a bit further.
My wife and I recently became the proud parents of a young black and tan coonhound named Penny. She is a wonderful dog and we love her very much, but she has a habit, like all dogs (young ones expecially), of testing her bounderies--She'll do things she knows that she is not allowed to do in order to see if she can get away with it. If I am feeling lazy, or not paying attention, or she is home alone, etc. and she gets the freedom to get away with what she is not allowed to do, she quickly develops a bad habit that requires even stricter discipline to break--it becomes more painful for both her and I. I feel bad that I have to discipline her more strictly and she feels bad when she is disciplined.
In that light, I return to our conversation on human nature. I need to search the book of Proverbs to see if there is one similar to this one, but I have come up with one of my own:
"An undisciplined person is no better than a dog"
Prefaced by my two stories, we see that as Christians, our God gives us a great deal of freedom. It is not hard to see that freedom and choose to do what we know is wrong in any aspect of our lives. By disciplining ourselves, we please our master (a decision dogs are not always capable of making, but we are) and in doing this our lives will, in some way, be smoother and better, even if that "better" is just a clear conscience. Often, however, that "better" is strikingly obvious when it rolls around. In the case of my I96 story, it is the difference between slowly but smoothly moving traffic and a dead stop. And it will probably me the same thing in your spiritual life.
I am assuming that I am doing this right. We will soon see. I figure that I better get this up before church tonight in order to avoid any rebuking...or at least admonishing :). I have had many thoughts lately, so I think that I will post them each individually. Where to start? Let's just go in chronological order of when I thought about them (all of my thoughts tend to come to me while I am traversing the Lansing area in my extermination truck...it's like a little monastery, really). Anyway...
I just happened to be trapped in traffic on I96 yesterday and, as usual, was critiquing the manner in which Michiganders drive (badly). This situation entailed a sign on the side of the 3 lane highway that informed drivers that the left 2 lanes would be closed in a certain distance. Now, common sense and thoughtful driving would dictate that everyone should slow down (gently), move into the right lane and establish a safe following distance. This would cause for the most efficient and expediant passage through the upcoming construction zone. Needless to say, however, I immediately found myself sitting in the right lane watching as the left to lanes rapidly filled with traffic. I, who was waiting to get to an exit that was, perhaps, 100 yards away had to wait for 30-40 minutes while traffic came to a complete stop in order to start letting the selfish and inconsiderate members of left 2 lanes merge into the right lane.
This incident led me (as a criminal justice degree holder) to dwell on what the official response to these activities should be. I came up with a simple solution: the police should show up in a big van full of officers, park it across the highway (since traffic is stopped anyway) and begin writing tickets and distribute them to all of the drivers in the left 2 lanes. Do this around construction zones on a regular basis and in would quickly stop the selfish actions of other drivers.
We could obviously argue/devise all sorts of law enforcement policy and the pros and cons of each, however, the policy issue is not what I am concerned with (I am afterall the House Church Theologian, not the House Church Politician...though some of my thoughts on politics may come out at some point in this blog). The issue I am concerned with here is human nature. Let me backdrop this a bit further.
My wife and I recently became the proud parents of a young black and tan coonhound named Penny. She is a wonderful dog and we love her very much, but she has a habit, like all dogs (young ones expecially), of testing her bounderies--She'll do things she knows that she is not allowed to do in order to see if she can get away with it. If I am feeling lazy, or not paying attention, or she is home alone, etc. and she gets the freedom to get away with what she is not allowed to do, she quickly develops a bad habit that requires even stricter discipline to break--it becomes more painful for both her and I. I feel bad that I have to discipline her more strictly and she feels bad when she is disciplined.
In that light, I return to our conversation on human nature. I need to search the book of Proverbs to see if there is one similar to this one, but I have come up with one of my own:
"An undisciplined person is no better than a dog"
Prefaced by my two stories, we see that as Christians, our God gives us a great deal of freedom. It is not hard to see that freedom and choose to do what we know is wrong in any aspect of our lives. By disciplining ourselves, we please our master (a decision dogs are not always capable of making, but we are) and in doing this our lives will, in some way, be smoother and better, even if that "better" is just a clear conscience. Often, however, that "better" is strikingly obvious when it rolls around. In the case of my I96 story, it is the difference between slowly but smoothly moving traffic and a dead stop. And it will probably me the same thing in your spiritual life.
posted by Ross at 2:54 PM
2 Comments:
Yup, my blog should be the "Housechurch Politician" ha ha
true dat!
Post a Comment
<< Home