Anyone who knows me knows that I love comic books. I find it a medium of entertainment that is still light years ahead of books and movies. And most people know that I love Superman comics as well. Superman has always been one of my favorite superheroes, yet for as much as I love Superman I find Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor just as fascinating.
Here is a guy who is easily one of the smartest people on earth and yet he always gets beat by Superman and not because Superman is more powerful but because Luthor has a fatal flaw and that flaw is pride.
What's interesting about Luthor is that it doesn't matter how smart he is or how clever is plan for world domination is. His pride is always the thing that trumps his smarts...every single time.
Pride is so easy to see in others and so hard to see in ourselves. If I'm really honest I can see that there are a staggering number of mistakes I've made that I would not have made if I just would not have been so prideful.
What is it in us that pulls the other way? What is it in us that knows we should react one way but so badly want to react the other? Isn't "getting even" the first thing that pops into our heads when someone wrongs us, Even if getting even hurts us further?
Are all of us mini Luthor's with our own issues with pride? Maybe. I think exposing the pride and owning up to it are the first steps to dealing with it. I know people who can't work for anyone but themselves because their pride gets in the way. I know people who have gotten a divorce because someone in the relationship just couldn't be wrong ever.
I deal with it every day, not just in others but myself. It's an on going battle that doesn't seem to end. Like a comic book, that keeps going with the same Characters, fighting the same battles.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Born
I've been thinking about the reality of God in our lives lately. Actually I've been thinking about the perception of the reality of God in our lives and how it affects our behavior.
A couple of nights ago my Dad asked me If having a microchip implanted in my brain as a baby that would record my entire life for review by him would have changed or would change my actions. This led to a lengthy discussion of how I thought it would affect my actions for only so long, but after I realized that there were no immediate consequences and I had behaved my way out of any previous beliefs that I had, I would eventually just do whatever I wanted to do.
I think this is why relationship is such a critical component to the Christian faith, without it we are just a walking tape recorder gathering data for our heavenly father to review. Even with the threat of some sort of reprisals or punishment for our actions we would eventually just do whatever we want. Basically "Law and Consequence" aren't enough for us to live our lives the way God wants us to. We require something more. We need relationship.
My Dad said this about the subject "I think that if I were God and I let people know that I was watching all the time and they did something wrong anyway, I would be really disappointed"
This is evident in every relationship we are in. We do what we want to please us.
People don't live like there is a God watching them at all times. We just don't. Does this mean that we don't truly believe in Him? I think we find that peoples behavior is the only way to gauge what they truly believe. This realization that the reality of God in our lives is only acknowledged when it's convenient or easy reveals a sobering truth that we are selfish bastards.
Bastard: a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
From the moment we were born we have not truly known our heavenly Father, and yet he makes Himself so readily available. His Grace goes beyond our illegitimacy and He still accepts us for who we are, never wanting more from us, just wanting more of us.
A couple of nights ago my Dad asked me If having a microchip implanted in my brain as a baby that would record my entire life for review by him would have changed or would change my actions. This led to a lengthy discussion of how I thought it would affect my actions for only so long, but after I realized that there were no immediate consequences and I had behaved my way out of any previous beliefs that I had, I would eventually just do whatever I wanted to do.
I think this is why relationship is such a critical component to the Christian faith, without it we are just a walking tape recorder gathering data for our heavenly father to review. Even with the threat of some sort of reprisals or punishment for our actions we would eventually just do whatever we want. Basically "Law and Consequence" aren't enough for us to live our lives the way God wants us to. We require something more. We need relationship.
My Dad said this about the subject "I think that if I were God and I let people know that I was watching all the time and they did something wrong anyway, I would be really disappointed"
This is evident in every relationship we are in. We do what we want to please us.
People don't live like there is a God watching them at all times. We just don't. Does this mean that we don't truly believe in Him? I think we find that peoples behavior is the only way to gauge what they truly believe. This realization that the reality of God in our lives is only acknowledged when it's convenient or easy reveals a sobering truth that we are selfish bastards.
Bastard: a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
From the moment we were born we have not truly known our heavenly Father, and yet he makes Himself so readily available. His Grace goes beyond our illegitimacy and He still accepts us for who we are, never wanting more from us, just wanting more of us.
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