July 12, 2005
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Eze 16:44-48 As is the mother, so is her daughter. People tend to compare themselves to others. “I’m not as bad as him or her.” What’s the result of doing that? It may make us feel better. Since the people were into comparison, God compares them to each other. Why would God do that? He wanted them to think. The problem with these people is that they didn’t want to consider the words of their creator. It’s the same today. If there is anything that is not peace within our lives; it’s because Jesus is not fully developed in it. Are we going to get Jesus into it or are we going to comparatively evaluate. The first will change us for eternity the latter will give us a temporary good feeling.
Comments (4)
Maybe the saying “keeping up with the Jones’” is the modern version of this verse. Do we do this as a society or do you think it’s a world “epidemic”?
Amen. Good word.
I believe the only One we can compare ourselves to is God. Comparing ourselves to other people doesn’t really get us anywhere except a little puffed up with pride sometimes or depressed other times. Where as when we compare ourselves to the Almighty in our attempt to become more and more like Him, then we’re getting somewhere. Do you remember that saying, “Imitation is the greatest flattery”? Hmmm… that just popped into my mind… We are supposed to imitate our heavenly Father, but when we try and do it badly, is it still flattery? Idk, mindless rambling I guess…
thanks for the comment or question that you posted. you asked, “How would you deal with evil leaders that oppress their people if you couldn’t use a military to enforce what’s right?” i was trying to comment on the things we do in God’s name and do so to somewhat evade responsibility for our actions. i don’t deny that something needs to be done about oppression, but i wonder what God would do. would God bomb the innocent in order to remove the oppressor? is military force and bloodshed the only way to remove someone from power?
so, how would i deal with them? i would first seek counsel with the Word to see what it says about oppression. ok, oppression is clearly wrong and we are supposed to be champions of justice and freers of the oppressed, so we have to do something. how did Christ deal with oppression? did he fight against it through more violence? i think if we are using Christ as our model there is no way we can use any violence whatsoever. to combat oppression we need to help the oppressed through aid, assistance, prayer, etc. i know that doesn’t get to the root of the oppression, but i can’t think of a biblical way to kill of or remove someone from power. i suppose if the people who were oppressed were helped enough that they then felt empowered they might rise up and overthrow the oppressor themselves, but that could be wishful thinking!