Maslows Heirarchy of Needs

The other day I found myself in a high school health classroom.  On the board was a triangle divided into some parts and each one was labeled with different various things.  This Triangle was labeled as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  It looked similar to this following illustration.

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist who became known for this Hierarchy of needs,  a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Maslow was a humanist.  In 1963 he was nominated for president of Association for Humanistic Psychology at its founding meeting.  in 1967 Maslow was named humanist of the year.


Humanism is a philosophy, or world view, based on belief in the dignity of human beings, informed by science, and motivated by human hope and human compassion.   Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of "self-actualization".
 

Self-actualization involves fulfilling your human potential and becoming all that you can be.  The focus is on the self.  It is about advancing the human race, intellectually and evolutionally through the perfection of self and raising oneself into the state of self actualization to best benefit human kind.  The Hierarchy to achieve this is all about meeting ones own personal needs and developing those to a point of fulfillment.


If that sounds a bit religious, it is.  Many religions, especially the eastern religions are all about the self disciplines to achieve an ultimate human state.  Some would call it Nirvana, and others would call it something else.  Peoples of India actually believe that you can work on your perfection over many lifetimes until you reach that ultimate human goal.  Whether it is self actualization, self awareness, achieving nirvana, or whatever you call it, self is the main focal point.


Christianity is unique among the belief systems of the world in that it does not teach anything about the self.  In fact, it says the self can do nothing.  While the Humanist believes that self actualization comes through the meeting of personal needs on various levels to attain self actualization to then reach out to others, Christianity says that we are to set our own personal needs to the side, and focus on Jesus Christ and surrender to His will and He will then use us as an extension of himself to reach others, not to have a better life in this world, but to have eternal life in Heaven with our creator.


Let's take a little look at the Hierarchy of needs and compare them with scripture.


First off, at the foundation of Maslows humanist theory, a person has to meet their basic needs; food, clothing, shelter.  As the theory goes, if your basic needs are not met, you cannot advance and be any success in any higher levels of understanding.  In Christianity, Jesus teaches us just the opposite.  Matthew 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  He concludes by saying, 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Immediately we see the foundational difference right off the bat.  Humanists say my own needs are preeminent, where Christ says He is first.  1 Corinthians 3:11 No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.


Second on the Maslow hierarchy is safety and security.  The personal safety and security is in making sure that the personal physical needs are to be met without worry.  If you can have a stable secure source to meet your basic needs, only then can you move on.  Again, this is all about self, and securing material needs in physical ways.  It could be considered that this is the level at which a gold digger operates.  They want to gain enough security and stability to meet their wants and needs through marrying into enough finances to secure those personal needs.  Christianity again is just the opposite.  God makes no promises to the believer about personal safety or security.  In fact, persecution is promised.  2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  But, Christians don't find their safety and security in physical things.  Again, it is found in Jesus, and it comes despite what is happening to us physically.  Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Maslow says that once we have our physical needs met, and have secured them and feel safe that we have them, then we can move along to personal relationships, friendships, love interests, family, and the like.  Others come in third behind our own personal needs, and are in fact only meant as a means to meet our personal needs for relationships.  The argument would be that good relationships cannot be had or maintained if we have not met our needs and feel safe that we will have those needs met continually.  Christianity again, looks to Jesus.  It is only through the Holy Spirit He gives at salvation that gives us the capacity for true love.  If we have Jesus as our foundation in all things, we find that the love He gives will lead us to meed the basic needs of others even at our own expense.  Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) takes the focus off meeting our own needs and places it on doing for others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31).  Because we know God meets all of our needs through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), we can then go about meeting the needs of others.  Our relationship is with Jesus, who leads us to love others the way He loved us (John 15:12).


Next on Maslows Hierarchy is Esteem.  When our needs our met, and secured, and we have good relationships, we can then start feeling good about ourselves.  This here is really about pride.  You become proud that you have met and secured those needs, have stable relationships, and have accomplished things in life.  You are now a self made person who has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made a name for yourself.  Hard for others to speak ill of you when you have accomplished so much.  Again, The Bible says just the opposite.  Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.  For the Christian, all personal achievements in life are counted as nothing.  We know that pride comes before a fall (proverbs 16:18).  Mark 7:21-23 lists pride as part of the evil things that defile a man.


At the top of the Maslow Hierarchy is self actualization, the successful human being.  Everything along the way, physical needs, security, good relationships, positive self esteem, are all tools to be used along the way to reach the highest state of human person-hood, the alpha being.  It is all about me.  Jesus tells a story about such a man who had reached self actualization.  Like 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  Here, self actualization is put into perspective.  All that we can gain or do or achieve in this life is a big nothing.  James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.


1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.


Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.


These are the things they are teaching our children.  The religion of Secular Humanism, man without God, is what is being taught our children.  Then people want to wonder what is wrong with this nation and why we are no longer the great nation we once were.  Well, everyone is to busy being taught to look out for number one, themselves, instead of looking out for each other as God teaches.  We are taught that we can ourselves become a self actualized being instead of being taught that we are sinners in need of a savior, Jesus Christ.  Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?



Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Drama in the Weather

I suppose the world of weather is not unlike the rest of the world.  There are always people ready to criticize, ready to pounce on an error, ready to believe that their own knowledge or skill is superior to that of another, and that others don't know what they are talking about.  Maybe it is just a sign of the times, or of the upcoming generation, but it feels like that this is getting worse and worse as time goes along. 

In the weather world, this sort of criticism is far more critical.  People get upset because a forecast did not occur exactly as predicted in their driveway.  It doesn't matter that the forecast was right for the region and occurred exactly as expected, if that rain did not fall on their yard, you are an idiot.  Most of these types of people really don't know anything about the weather to begin with.  They don't understand that predicting the future isn't exactly easy.

The ones that are worst though are those folks who think they know something.  Well, they do know something about weather and have experience and training, but, they don't seem to think they have the same predictive limitations that face us all. 

About a week and a half ago, for example, someone had made a report to the local weather service office of observing a rotating wall cloud.  Another amateur meteorologist jumped all over the report and ridiculed the person because they thought the conditions were such that this would not happen.  They figured it had to be some idiot who had no clue what he was looking at made an erroneous report.  Oh and did the people pile on their FB post all piling on the stupid person who made that report.  There was one problem with this...  The person who made the report was correct.  I had observed and filmed it prior to the report. 

There also seems to be a rigidity in folks that expects other people to be perfect.  Good example happened to me last night.  I was going through weather data for the upcoming weekend and based on what I had observed and read put out my forecast.  Within a number of minutes I was getting more feedback on that one post than I had gotten in weeks of correct forecasts. One of the pages I was getting info from had not fully updated their information when I viewed it so I saw two days of weather information that was supposed to be one.  It was changed after I had viewed and gone over the info.  Ooops, I goofed  (or they did), and the forecast 3 days out was wrong. 

That one minor and correctable error brought people out of the woodwork with criticism.  Why?  People are so quick to criticize others while excusing themselves.  People need to recognize their own imperfection and extend the same courtesy of excuse to others that they claim for themselves.  It is a principle that extends beyond weather and into every facet of life.

Jesus Christ had put it this way in Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.  I don't think most people like to be criticized, or made fun of, or have the inevitable mistakes pounced on.  I think we would like people to gently point out and/or correct our errors, be forgiving of the gaffs we may make, and to be praised for the good work we do.  What a monumental world changing thing it would be if people would follow that one simple verse.

Dear Diary

I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden something caught my eye that seemed out of place.  Indeed it was something that was out of place.  It was some sort of binder that had gotten left behind by someone.  Forgetting that I had been minding my own business I began investigating the object.


The outside was covered with doodles and band names and such.  There were little flowers and puppy dogs and the like drawn randomly around.  It seemed pretty obvious that this belonged to a teenage girl.  Upon holding the item, it appeared to be extra heavy to one side.  Feeling around it seemed like a small book size.  I was thinking maybe something like an ipad; something of value.  I probably needed to find if there was some sort of lost and found nearby, or some sort of official place for this to go.  Curiosity got the best of me though and I thought I had better look inside to confirm my suspicions and see if there was any sort of identification that would reconnect this lost item with its owner. 


I unzipped the zipper and opened up the binder thing.  Sitting there staring at me was a little red book with silver edged pages titled with big bold letters....  My Life. 


Ok, so what would you do?  Of course I totally abandon the "minding my own business" and opened up the book and found myself reading the diary of a teenage girl.  For some reason I felt a little giddy about the possible entertainment I might come across.  Stories of puppy love?  Perhaps a little juicy gossip about a cheerleader?  Or how boring the history teacher was?  That is not what I found.


On the first page I opened to, I began reading about a friend of this girl...  how she had been bullied by others in the school...  how she had committed suicide because of the bullying.   I began reading about the pain and confusion of this girl trying to figure out why bullies could be so mean to drive someone to kill themselves.  I read of the loneliness and emptiness this girl felt by her friends absence, and the anger at those who could not leave her friend alone. 


I closed the book.  I could not read any more.  I cursed myself for having let my curiosity get the best of me, and cursed the bullies who could cause so much hurt to others.  I said a silent prayer for the girl who wrote out her feelings there, never expecting that anyone besides herself would ever read those words. 


It hit me hard too because I could relate to this story.  I was once a victim of bullies, and their relentless attacks.  It ruined my middle school years all the way until late my sophomore year.  I hated going to school to have to face it every day.  No one seemed to understand.  No one was there to support me.  Day after day, the jokes, the pranks, the physical abuse....  I did not think it would ever end.  That is where that girl was who committed suicide. 


I wish for her that someone had known.  If there had been someone who would have helped her through, helped her to feel loved, helped her to feel she was not alone.  Did her parents know?  Or did they just seem to pile on top of it?  Did her friends know?  Or did they just seem dismissive?  Did anyone try to share the love of Christ with her?  For me those were all no's as I went through my own private hell.  She could not take it anymore and snapped, ending her life.  I snapped too, but lashed out on the bully.


We need to watch out for others.  We never know what a person is going through.  We will never know if a kind word or gesture in a given moment could be a life saver.  We never know if showing and sharing the love of Jesus might at a moment be preventing another suicide.  If you see bullying say something.  Don't be afraid to step up and defend the person being bullied.  It is never cool to call people names, or belittle them, or abuse them in any way.  It is evil. 


Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 
Love others in the same way Christ loved us, putting them first, and ourselves last.
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, only that which will lift others up.
Don't be selfish.  If someone has a need, meet it if you can.  If they are hungry, feed them.  Thirsty? Give them a drink.  Need clothes?  give and share. 
Love is patient, kind.  It is not jealous.  It does not boast of self, or brag.  It does not act badly, nor is it selfish.  It is not easily provoked.  Love thinks no evil nor has fun in doing wrong, but instead rejoices in truth.  It bears all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.  Love never fails.
Those are all scriptures and are bully beaters.  Do good to those who use and abuse you.  Let God take your vengeance, for it is His.  Pray for the bullies.


How is that possible?  You don't know what they have done to me?  Maybe not, but there is one who does.  His name is Jesus.  He was bullied, beaten, abused, mocked, made fun of, and chased away.  And He was God.  He could have at any time called down legions of angels to stop others.  He did not though.  He still loved those who hated him without a cause.  Jesus had done no wrong to anyone, but was hated so much he was put to death.  He did this to save you.  He knows just what you are going through.  Believe on Him and you will be saved.  Trust in Him and He will enable you, through His spirit, to be able to be obedient to loving your enemies and doing good to those who persecute you.  And you have His promise that you will never be alone for He will never leave you nor forsake you.
 

So Frustrating!

Something just isn't right.  For the past several days, in fact, nearly a week now, I have been feeling very unsettled.  Things have been bothering me, annoying me.  My patience is very thin.  I have been finding myself going around upset.  This is not like me.  Normally I am a very positive person, upbeat, happy, and making jokes.  What is going on?

Seems like lately I have been bombarded with stupid.  Not just your average everyday stupid, but some real hardcore stupidity.  I got people who don't care about their job, doing things wrong and it doesn't even concern them.  I've got vandals messing up my work area.  Things are breaking and not getting repaired.  I have multiple bosses giving conflicting orders and me taking the blame from each for doing what the other said do.  People are acting like jerks for no reason.

Recently it has just been like a tsunami of stupid has flooded into my life and I seem powerless to be able to do anything about it.  I'm being battered by the idiotic debris and sucked under by the turbulence of imbecility.  I'm trying to gasp for air as I bob above the surface for a moment only to be pushed under again by some other ridiculousness pushing me down.  HELP!  Dwayne the bathtub!  I'm dwowning!

Psalm 46:10 (a) Be still, and know that I am God:

Amid all the turmoil and craziness that continues to overwhelm me, I took my 15 minutes break, grabbed a chair, and sat silent in a closet, praying and thinking.  No great revelation came to me, but a peace came to me that I had mot felt in a while.  I was calm again; relaxed.  I felt some of the joy return.  I was energized.  The weirdness no longer worried me.

I think that is just a little mini lesson for me to do what I often forget to do, and that is just to be still and know the God is God.  He is in control of it all.  He knows what is happening always and when we love, trust, and obey Him, He will cause everything to work to our benefit.  So how is all the recent madness going to be worked for my benefit?  haven't a clue.  That is for God to do.

Psalm 28:7  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

I Am SOOOO MAD!!!

Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Boy, this is a hard saying.  Sometimes it just no longer lies within me to keep my peace.  tonight was one of those nights.  My nemesis thorn in the side for the last 9 years crossed the line.  I let them know in no uncertain terms that they had done so.  I asked the boss to intervene and asked that it go up the chain of command.  9 years and nothing has changed, nothing has been done. 

People have praised me for being able to put up with so much for so long, but there are limits.  We all have our limits.  Some days our fuses are a bit shorter than other days and it takes less to light those fuses, and they burn faster.  It was just the wrong day to try pulling passive aggressive stunts on me; the wrong day to swear at me and make false accusations in half under your breath but loud enough to hear tones. 

As I sit and look at these verses in Romans 12, it gets harder though.  What God is asking me to do in the word is beyond me at times.  it is not what I want to do.  It is not what I feel like doing.  I'd like to be able to go back behind the woodshed and open up a can of whoopass.  That is not what the word says to do.  Oh Lord help me in my weakness. 

This little segment of Romans 12 starts out with this admonition, 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.  When we get mad, we are not supposed to act like the world and try to do something to the other person in a sneaky or underhanded way.  No backbiting.  No lying in wait to set them up.  We must be honest in our dealings.  Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:


We go past our opening verse now to verse 19: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.  Along with the part of not returning evil for evil, we should not avenge ourselves.  Perhaps snapping back in anger was a bit of that, I'm not sure.  Telling the boss?  It is what we should do in the situation.  Taking it silently for so long is sometimes beyond me, so I must ask for God's spirit to infuse me the right things to do. 


Verse 20: 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.  This verse parallels the word of Jesus when he said,  Matthew 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  Oh, that is so hard and I try so hard to be like this. This kind of attitude can only come through the Spirit of God.  It does not lie within me to do so. 


This part about pray for them I am hit with in this situation.  This person has been my sworn enemy from almost my first day at the job and for reasons that have nothing to do with me.  In thier head I am somehow at fault for some percieved wrong years in the past that he cannot seem to let go of.  It strikes me at the moment that when we pray for people, especially our enemies, we begin to see them as Jesus sees them, a lost soul in need of a savior just as we were. 


verse 21 concludes: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  This is hard too, but we cannot let evil people and their ways get the better of us.  Being the humans we are, we can only appeal to the holy Spirit to empower us to not be overcome of evil.  It is also the Holy spirit that will reveal ways and empower us to to good to overcome the evil.


I don't wish any ill will toward this person, but I do pray they would just go away or change.  One or the other.  I suppose with Gods sense of humor, I would be the one through which this instrument of change should come about.  Things cannot remain as they are though.  I am at my limit of being able to live peacably with this person.  I've tried the doing good to them.  I'm tired and wanted to rant a bit and end up led into a lesson of how I should be acting in this situation.  Praise the Lord. 

Did God Just Say That? pt 3

A few weeks ago I shared the story of how God talked to me and gave me a parking spot in the front row of the grocery store.  I took a lot of grief sharing that tale.   Some people don’t think God talks to people.  Others think God would not be so trivial.  Still others questioned why me and why not some elderly person.  I could not answer those questions, nor did I even try.  God does what God does for reasons only He knows.  It is not for us to wonder why, it is for us to obey and live.

There was one person who gave an interesting perspective.  They brought up Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  They were thinking that God used something insignificant to see if I was listening and faithful and that down the road there would be something bigger.  They were right.

A little over a week ago, I found a receipt for a certified letter in my mailbox.  It said that I needed to go down to the post office to sign for it and pick it up.  Now, normally I don’t do certified letters.  They almost always mean bad news.  Suddenly I had that familiar thought in my brain.  It was the same way as the parking event.  “Go and pick it up.  It will be ok”.  

 
I gave pause, just like I did before.  Did I just hear that?  Did God just speak to me again, or am I just wishful thinking.  I went back and forth in my head as I drove down to the post office.  Was it me?  Was it God?  But I did know from the parking incident that following through brought a blessing.  Perhaps this too would end up being a blessing?  There was only one way to find out; be obedient and go get the certified mail.

I wish I could say that things went as smoothly and quickly as getting a parking spot and whizzing through a checkout line.  It has not.  What was uncovered with that certified letter was years of underhanded sneakiness and deceit that has been going on behind my back.  It exposed some dark dealings meant to rob me of what was rightfully mine.   Those who have been exposed are not just going to step aside either and are digging in to fight tooth and nail. 

Normally, what has been uncovered and the subsequent fallout would be very stressful.  It would be a normal reaction to be angry.  While it is taking some effort on my part to further uncover things and do my due diligence to rectify the wrong; there is a peace in me about this.  The matter is already settled.  God already said it will be ok.  It is already finished.

While I was at work before getting home to write this, God spoke to me in another way; through a preacher.  The program I was listening to came from Joshua chapter 1.  He was explaining how Israel was about to go in and possess the land that was already theirs.  It was already a done deal.  God had already given it to them.  Certainly it was not easy.  Israel fought many battles along the way before they actually owned the land.  But, while they fought the battles, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion.  It was theirs.  They just had to root out those who were there.

Be Prepared

This blog is going to be rather short and to the point.  Folks, be prepared.  

I went to the store this week just before a potential snowstorm.  I went at the last minute, even as the first flakes began falling.  I got off work at midnight and went to my local wal-mart to be sure i had some cat food so I would not run out and have the cat mad at me.  This is what I found.














This was just a simple snow storm.  People ravaged the store of supplies.  What happens if it is a far more serious crises.  Are you prepared for empty store shelves that won't be stocked any time soon?  I was shocked to see this in the midwest, a place known for snow storms.  It is like everyone panicked.  In a REAL national or regional emergency, this is what will happen.  There is no more than a 3 day supply of food connected to grocery stores.  If transport is cut off, there will be problems.  Be prepared.  Learn how to garden, forage naturally, hunt, fish.  Learn how not to be dependent on what a society provides.  Learn to be self sufficient, and in the right ways.  There will be enough marauding bands of starving people willing to take from others.

That's Not Fair!

It was a beautiful Saturday morning so Betty brought over her son Bobby for a play date with her best friend Sherry’s boy Stephen.    The two boys were playing in the yard as the women sat on the porch sharing a cup of coffee and parenting stories.  Right in the middle of a good laugh they were having, a ruckus between the two boys erupted.  Bobby came running to his mother, tears in his eyes.  “What’s the matter Bobby?”  “It’s not fair!”, Bobby blubbered.  The two women gave each other a knowing glance for a moment.  “what’s not fair Bobby?”, Sherry asked.  “Stephen won’t let me play with his truck.”, cried Bobby.  “Well, there are plenty of cars you can play with”, said Batty.  “But I want to play with the truck!”  Bobby screamed.  “It’s NOT FAIR!”

Oh how I wish that this was only the problems of 4 year olds playing with hot wheels on a Saturday morning.  Unfortunately it isn’t.  I hear this same type of cry coming from adults nearly every day.  It’s not fair that they make a lot of money and I don’t.  It’s not fair that they get to get married and I don’t.  It’s not fair…  It’s not fair… It’s not fair…  I could list  a hundred things I have hears in the last month or so that someone argued that something wasn’t fair.  Usually when a child claims something isn’t fair, they really mean that they did not get their way, or get the toy they wanted.  It is no different in adults.  They want to have their own way, or they are unhappy that someone has something they don’t, or they are unhappy that someone disagrees with them.  Then comes the temper tantrum.

The adult children are just like little bobby in the short story above.  You try to explain to them that the truck doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to Stephen, but they don’t seem to hear or care and just scream and cry louder about how unfair that is.  No matter how hard you explain to some adults that someone else worked harder than them and earned the right to have more money, they still feel it is unfair that someone else gets it and not them, even though they did nothing.  Just like the child, many adults want the “parent” to step in and make Stephen share the truck.  This is how people feel justified in taxing the rich and giving it to others who did not earn it through entitlement programs.  I don’t have what you do so I’ll have someone bigger than you take it away and give it to me.

Someone just recently was telling me about how greedy capitalists are and how CEOs don’t need that much money and how unfair it was to workers that they did not get as much as the CEO.  I finally had to ask them; maybe it is you who is the greedy one.  You want what they have, but you don’t want to put in the work they did to get it.  You just expect that you deserve it for no other reason than your idea of “fairness”. 

Then it hit me.  This is really a problem with human nature, the sinful nature of man.  All of this crying and moaning I hear anbout all of the things that are unfair boil down to this, someone else has something that you want.  It can be something material like money, or it can be something intangible like being happy, or being able to marry, privilidge, power, influence, whatever.  It all boils down to one thing, coveting. 

Exodus 20:17

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Whether it is gays who want to marry, or people who want to raise the minimum wage, or have universal healthcare, or whatever, it is all about being unsatisfied with your own condition and coveting another’s.  The carnal man always wants something more than he has and usually wants what he sees others have.

For the spiritual man it is different though.  And to be clear, by spiritual man, I mean a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior and submitted themselves to His Lordship in their lives.  Someone who has put their trust in God through Jesus does not have these concerns of the material world.  For the unbeliever, here is all there is.  For the believer, here is just a temporary passage and our eternal state lies ahead.  This is what allows the believer to not be greedy and covetous and learn as Paul did,  Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  This is the antidote to greed and covetousness; Contentment that is to be found in Christ Jesus.



This contentment and satisfaction found in Jesus is probably one of the most “fair” things available to us humans.  It is available to any human being at any time during this earthly life.  You have the same opportunity to receive it as any other person on the face of the globe.  You don’t have to worry about being too poor to get it.  You don’t have to be concerned that you’ll be turned away for any reason.  There is no way that would disqualify you from this offer.  There is no discrimination based on any type of division of color, race, creed, sex, disability, age, orientation, or any other distinction one can come up with.


All you have to do is recognize your sinfulness and your need of savior and  believe in Jesus.  Believe that He was who he said He was, the son of the living God, the Messiah, sent into the world for forgiveness of sins.  That He died on the cross in your place.  And believe that God raised him from the dead on the third day, overcoming death so that you too could overcome death to spend eternity with God, in Heaven.


John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

John 6:47

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

Dietary Reaping and Sowing

Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Normally when we think of this verse, we think of people who have done some very bad things.  I see this verse often used with adulterers, or thieves, or some other such obvious criminal or sinful behavior.  This is a principle that goes far beyond just the obvious though and can be very subtle.  Even things that don’t seem so bad can have consequences that are quite negative that sneak up on a person. 

 

One of these things is our diet.  We hear all the time about what we are supposed to eat, but we are bombarded with what we can eat.  For the Bible believer one reads about what to eat and what not to eat in the scriptures, but tells himself that it no longer applies.  We are free from the law and can eat whatever we want to eat as long as we eat it by faith.  I’ve heard that.  I’ve even said it myself a time or two.  We are not as free as one would think though, when it comes to dietary law or principles found in scripture.  We reap consequences from eating unclean things.

Food today is far removed from the food people used to consume even 100 years ago.  It is processed with all sorts of chemicals that are foreign to the natural state of the food.  We even create foods today that do not occur naturally.  All of these unnaturally processed and unnaturally generated foods were not designed to work in the nourishment and strengthening of our body.  The intent may be there, but our bodies were not designed to function with these unnatural items.  

 

Many people today have a McDonalds and microwave diet.  They are in a hurry and just are thinking of filling the belly while they are on the run to do something else.  They are not thinking about the food, what is in it, how it was made, or what it might do to them.  Just fill the gut and run.  We as a people are reaping the results of that in record obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other maladies that is related to the food we eat.  I am not immune myself and am reaping some high blood pressure as a result of years of eating non-foods.

Many of the foods we eat today are not designed to keep the body running so much as they are designed to keep us buying a particular product.  I read an article once that a company researched that best configuration of a sugar molecule that would be the most appealing to people so they could cram their product with it and subconsciously get people addicted to the product.  Repeat sales is the name of the food business.  
 

In recent years, companies like Monsanto and others have even been making unnatural combinations of foods in a laboratory, genetically altering plants and animals in ways that could never occur naturally or even with selective breeding.  They have cornered our market with their unnatural foods that other places in the world will not even allow into their countries.  No studies have been done to see what effects these foods might have on humans.  Looking at the rises in various diseases that were once rare gives at least a clue.


I am going to meet what I have sown by putting my trust in the Lord.  In the Bible is outlines a diet that is good.  God would not order a diet that was bad for us.  God wants the best for us so I am (finally) going to trust Him on His word and learn to eat the way God intended us, and had ordered his chosen people to eat.  Going by the reaping and sowing principle God set, I expect that this change to cure me of my high blood pressure and take care of most any other malady that I may have as a result of poor nutrition.  Forgive me Father for not recognizing this sooner