Stephen
Terry, Director
Wisdom
for Righteous Living
Commentary
for the February 24, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
"Blessed
is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that
sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law
of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night." Psalm 1:1-2, NIV
As we travel through life, we
meet people. When we do, we have a choice. We can meet them as an adversary or a
friend. Some we meet will leave little doubt where they stand from the very
first moment, declaring their intent toward us. They do not care whether we are
strong or weak. Some will immediately assault our person or our character. Sometimes
they are like wild animals putting on a fierce display to dominate or
intimidate. Life has taught them to see every person as a threat. Fear leads
them to seek control in every confrontation. If we also default to that perspective,
conflict will result.
Others we meet may hide their
fear and cover it with a veneer of camaraderie while they probe for weaknesses that
will allow them to assert control when the time is right. These are worse than
the direct individual as when their companion is at their weakest, they will
betray them to the enemy. At least the direct confrontation is honest. Only one
who lies about being a friend can be a betrayer. Whether the person physically
stabs them in the back, or simply assassinates their character to those who are
willing to listen, the intent is the same. They seek power over others and will
lie, cheat, and steal to achieve that end.
We may also meet someone willing
to be a genuine friend who will grasp our hand in a manner that tells us they
have our back. We will have theirs as well. A unison of purpose, a similar
moral code creates a bond that is not easily broken. It is a blessing when such
a friendship is born. The strength of that union will overcome hardships. Such
friends do not need to be alike. They can be as different as Frodo and Sam in "The
Lord of the Rings" saga, but like those Hobbits, their friendship can see them
through to the realization of common goals, each providing moments of strength when
the other is weak. And miraculously, when both are weak, somehow summoning what
little strength remains to keep moving forward together. It is those moments
that forge relationships of iron, for as iron sharpens iron, they build each
other up.[i]
Not everyone finds such a friendship.
Other relationships, like the two dysfunctional ones already mentioned, seem to
be more common because there are so many who have been scarred by the trials of
life. They find true friendship impossible to achieve. That failure affects
every aspect of life. It affects our work relationships. It affects our ability
to thrive. It affects our ability to have a successful marriage. It affects our
ability to enjoy familial ties. It affects all of these because trust is
essential to those relationships. Trust does not seek to dominate. It does not
manipulate. It seeks the good of the other and knows that the other will seek
their good as well. When miscommunications happen, and they always will, the
assumption must be that the other person meant whatever misunderstanding happened
for good and desired to build the relationship and make it stronger. This produces
friendships and marriages that last for many decades, "until death do us part."
How does one find a friendship?
It is simple yet hard. Become the kind of friend you seek. How can we do that
when we have not yet made a friend? The answer is that we already have that
kind of friend in God. Through interaction with him, we grow to become like him,
to become that kind of friend ourselves. We can interact with him through
reading the scriptures, through prayer, and through listening for his voice
speaking to our heart. Unfortunately, many voices will compete for our
attention, and recognizing the voice of God may be hard at first. That is why
reading scripture is important. It helps us to recognize that voice. Prayer is
important because it invites God to speak into our lives. When he does, we want
to be open to what he is telling us.
God is love.[ii]
Therefore, his voice will speak love into our lives. If the voice we hear is
speaking fear, we can know it is not from God, for love drives out fear.[iii]
Fear and love cannot coexist. Therefore, if we do not feel love for others, we
should ask ourselves of what we are afraid. Until we confront that fear and
overcome it, we cannot be made perfect in love. Fortunately, God will speak
into our lives opportunities for growth, to confront those fears, grow beyond
them, and develop the loving character he always intended we should have.
For many, obedience becomes a
great obstacle in this process. They place obedience before love. Their fear of
what might happen if they fail to obey overcomes love's desire to grow in their
heart. Afraid themselves, they use fear to manipulate others into succumbing to
the same fears they have. They feel that love is fine, but if obedience is not
primary everything will go to pieces. They will lose control over their destiny
and will fail to cross over heaven's threshold. However, as Paul wrote in his
letter to the Romans, "Love fulfills the law."[iv]
Jesus also pointed this out when asked about the commandments, he summed them
up as love God, and love our neighbor.[v] And
when he verified this to a young lawyer, it was for a love that was so full
that it left no room for fear of God or our neighbor.
We are not taught that kind of
love by this world. First, we must find God. When we do, we will have our first
taste of that love. That taste will create yearning for more of God's love, and
as we experience it, we will begin to change. One day, we will look back at our
lives and where we are now and realize the change has been real and dramatic.
We will arrive at a life more real than anything we might have expected if we
had followed the path that many follow through life,
guided by fear and uncertainty as waves of strife wash over our world and
through their lives. Inundated with reports of evil taking place far and near,
they cling to that fear and the anger that it produces as the only thing they feel
is real. They stockpile weapons to try to find release from the fear that is
driving them, fearing things that year after year and decade after decade never
really materialize in their own lives, but they are ready if it ever does. Guns,
security systems, dogs, everything speaks of the fear that fills so many. If I
live in a city of a million people and I arm myself to the teeth because someone
in a shady part of town was murdered in a drug deal gone bad, which is more
real, the actual threat to me or my family or my fear that is driving me?
We succumb to such feelings because
we feel powerless. Mao's "Little Red Book" taught that power grows out of the
barrel of a gun. Is that really the answer to feelings of powerlessness? We see
when nations go down this path, a nation will develop a new weapon, striking
fear into the hearts of citizens in another nation. Driven by that fear, they
will then develop a counter weapon, passing the fear back to the first nation. So,
the cycle goes with no one finding a way to escape the fear that drives them. The
potential for those weapons to be used grows as the need to justify the expense
of building such an arsenal also grows. We have seen the unholy hell that those
weapons unleash on men, women, and children who simply want to live a normal
life free of fear. The same thing happens with individuals. A man with a gun is
far more likely to murder a teenager syphoning gas out of his car than he would
be without the gun. Ending a life over a few gallons of gasoline is not loving
our neighbor no matter how much we might try to justify it. It is not defending
our family from harm. It is not growing in love through the presence of God in
our lives. It is a frightened finger twitching on a trigger that should never
be pulled. And what of the other party, the one siphoning the gas? They are
also afraid and may also have a twitchy finger with their own gun trigger. If
he is faster or has a better aim, how will his gun firing lead into the body of
the homeowner make it worthwhile for the fearful homeowner to confront him and
die over those few gallons of gas? Will the man's family feel that he did the
right thing, trying to save that gasoline? There is a better option than fear
as the guiding principle of our lives. It is love.