Once a fellow started crying about his hurts he would never quit. This is a rough country. Nobody wants to hear about your feelings.”
–Ernest Haycox (Free Grass)
“My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
–Philippians 3:10 (HCSB)
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I saw an interview with a person the other day and she was saying that the only real truth is what you feel. Feelings are truth, not logic or reason. It must be remembered that one of the things that separates man from animals is the God-given ability of man’s rationality (even if many times he is as irrational as the woman who said that the only truth is what she felt). How strange it is that in today’s modern and enlightened society do we every find someone who is a rational, reasonable person. People tend to focus on impractical things today. I like what Francis de Sales wrote,
We are critical of our neighbor for little faults while overlooking greater faults of our own. We want to buy cheap and sell high. We want justice for others and mercy for ourselves. We think our ideas are worth attention but place little value on the ideas of others. We are controlled by our own taste and denigrate the taste of others. We prefer to be around good-looking and well-dressed people. We favor the rich over the poor. We make a big fuss over some act of charity we perform and complain that we, in turn, are neglected. We use two different scales. With one that is rigged in our favor we weigh our own behavior. With the other we weigh our neighbors’ behavior and find it lacking.
One of the important things to remember is that we are to serve God where we are and with what abilities we have. For instance, it would be absurd for someone who is in bedrest with a communicable disease to get up and go visit a sick person or do heavy labor. We often desire to serve God one way, but in reality He wants you to serve Him in another capacity. I remember someone saying that where God speaks of “vessels of honor” that they planned on being a beautiful vase (v-ah-se). However, God plans for you do be a very serviceable pot.
If you are chosen, be thankful. Do not resent where God has placed you and do not begin to murmur over little cuts and scraps. People soon get tired of your thankless complaining and then where is your testimony? Don’t whimper and cry, get up and if a bandage is needed, get one and then get back to your duties.
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This Day in the Texas Revolution: Santa Anna arrives at the Medina River.