Are you the owner of your life? Do you have the right to do what you want? I discussed this with a coworker the other day. (For now let’s call him Tim.) We discussed the topic of a sports figure leaving his team to go to another. The sports figure had no reason, the team was likable and was on its way to a championship (for all you sports fans this was a rhetorical situation, I am not referring to Lebron James or anyone specific).
Tim defended that this figure had given his time and energy and had no further obligation so what he did was his choice. Trying my best no to interfere I let him continue. Tim said, in his southern accent, ”Whatever is best for you, you do it!.”
I then interrupted him saying “In everything or sports?” wanting to clear up the sudden outburst my co-worker had just declared. I hoped he would say just sports but he replied “In EVERYTHING!”, even slowing the word down for me to understand.
This took me back for a second but I was quick to respond, “What about divorce? If you decide you don’t like your wife you divorce her? Abortion? You don’t have time for a baby so you abort it? How about stealing? You need food, but you have no job cause you’re a bum so you steal? Are these all okay since it’s best for me?”
Tim didn’t miss a beat, he once again said “In EVERYTHING” holding steadfast to his belief.
I can’t agree less with the man. But I also cannot help but admire his faithfulness to his belief. Tim is an atheist. Here is a man who cares as little about Christianity than the next game coming on, willing to defend what he says, no matter what. Much more so as a Christian, shouldn’t I be able to defend my beliefs without fear?
Me and Tim went onto other sports related topics but that idea won’t leave me. Will I continue to stand up for me ideas or beliefs?
Will you?
I’ve totally been thinking about this all week..how it’s SO not my life! The decisions I try to make, the questions I try to answer…they’re not my decision to make, or my questions to answer! It’s not my life!! I’ve always kind of love/hated the Switchfoot song “This Is Your Life”. Yes, I get the overall message of it, but I’ve never liked the main line that says, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?” It’s not your life if you’re a Christian. Nothing about it is yours. Nothing. It’s not about who you want to be. It’s about who He wants you to be. I’m not saying I’ve learned how to walk this out by any means, but it’s a pretty great thing to take the trust (and pressure) off of myself and give it all to Him.
Nice blog Daniel! I like the feel of the site!
I have to disagree with you about the content of this post though.
I think Christians tend to misunderstand the phrase “do what’s best for yourself”.
Is it actually best for you to get a divorce? No. It might feel best for a moment, but it would be an extremely rare scenario where it would actually cause less pain.
When Christians hear the phrase they tend to assume it’s coming from a place of selfishness. It sounds selfish, right?
But what if it’s not meant that way. What if it’s meant to communicate a deep and healthy understanding of yourself, and a willingness to stay true to that understanding.
I think Christians behave by that principle all the time. It’s why many choose not to drink. They believe it’s not the best thing for them to do, and they are willing to “do what’s best for themselves” even if it means frustrating their friends.
But we applaud them for not drinking. And we should. Because in a very real sense they are staying committed to their personal sense of values.
I dunno. Those are just my thoughts. You got me rambling though, so it must be a good blog.
Well Matt I can see your point and I somewhat agree with it.
If Tim had answered my questions in another way than “in everything” I might agree that it was not coming form a selfish point of view. He could have meant what you stated above. But because Tim answered it in that fashion he was stating, that if you’re tired of your wife, then dump her. That is a selfish stance no matter how you look at it.
Some information that I left out of the blog is that Tim actually said “if you get married and 15 years down the road your wife doesn’t please you anymore get rid of her”. That is selfishness to a point.
On the other hand my main point in blog was to show that an atheist can stand by his lifestyle and “beliefs” if you want to call them that. But a Christian is afraid to stand up for his Savior who dies on the cross for him. This in itself is selfish and needs to change.