|
It's far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.

- Adlai Stevenson


Principle- Guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct.

I've met many people with great intentions and passionate fervence for the things that are right, but few that live daily for the principled lifestyle. This is a hard road to walk on. Principle doesn't bring glamour, fame or praise. It can seem mundane to our lives filled with excitement, entertainment and distractions. I constantly think about new experiences, new people, new environments, but what about the daily commitments of life? I've been indoctrinated for so long with the concept that I need to "step out in faith" meaning I need to for example:

-Move to a far off land
-Learn a new language to preach the gospel
-Step out of the comfortablility of daily existence

To me these things all sound like a fun adventure in which I would be able to meet new people, enjoy different cultures and constantly be entertained by movement. The hard decision for me would be to find a place or people and settle in there. Moving and learning are a faith building experience but they have nothing to do with the forming of commitment. One with out the other is an excercise in futility. Like I said in the beginning I've met many people who are ready to take on a NEW challenge, but what about the mundane challenges of life? What about serving until it hurts in a place where you get no recognition or praise? I think about the missionaries who have gone before us in such places as India, Saudi Arabia, Africa. Some of these men and women have given their lives to live a daily commited, principled lifestyle. Some have given all of their lives to serve a people without seeing one person come to Christ. Their lives were a seed offering in which somebody else would reap. Are we willing to be those people of principle?

Lord, please help me to become a person of priciple who doesn't cry out for fame or recognition. Set my heart ablaze for obedience, obedience in the mundane and also in the exciting.
"O God, you have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare your wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come."
-Psalm 71:17-18

4 comments:

Allie, Dearest said...

First of all, a quote by Adlai Stevenson? Amazing. Second, Layne-this is still the hardest part of being Christian...staying in one place and just being human. We so want to be exalted to where God is sitting, in all glory and covered in the praises of people. But to stay and serve as someone who simply brings him that glory and praise and takes none for self...how hard!

It's so easy to feel, when one is being praised, that we have finally found the will of God for our lives. But when we are the ones praising, then we have found his will. When we don't have to give the glory but we know how to give it...that's when we're in the midst of his will, wherever that is.

Great blog!

Anonymous said...

This is good Layne. I think we all suffer from the results of a society that is entertainment driven (we pay celebrities and pro-athletes way more than we do teachers, police officers and firemen) and doesn't want to wait for anything (fast food, high speed internet, instant messaging -not that those things are necessarily bad). Thus we live moment to moment and often fail to enjoy the simple and even the mundane. We want things now and forget that efforts made, policies implemented, etc. may take decades or generations to produce that which they were intended to. It seems the generations prior to ours understood this. This is something vital we are going to have to learn or else live in constant frustration. God doesn't work as fast as we want him to and I am sure he never will.

Eric Sidler said...

This is good, and something we all need to hear. Thanks for expressing your thoughts. I think part of what you're alluding to means becoming people that don't feel the need to talk themselves up, but just simply do the right thing. It seems ludricrous that people fight for principles they don't live up to, but I do this all the time. I think part of our struggle as human followers of Jesus is reminding ourselves what we say we believe, and assessing whether we really believe those things by looking at our manner of living. Our actions tell us what we really believe.

Good talk.

Layne Eiler said...

Thank you all for your ellaborate feedback.