The election is over (finally!). The results are in. And America is now looking around at the debris (to some, the holocaust) and wondering … what’s next?<\/p>\n
I, for one, am shocked and (tbh) pleased. I have been a #neverHillary for 20 years, long before hashtags were even a thing. But I honestly didn’t think she could be beaten. And yet, somehow, she was. So today, my first emotion is relief.<\/p>\n
And my next emotion is uncertainty. I did not vote for Trump, and\u00a0I really didn’t want Hillary. (I voted for McMullin because it became most important to me\u00a0that I\u00a0respect the person I asked to lead us.) But Trump is in. And I have absolutely NO idea what that means. Will he rise to the occasion? Will he show a maturity that we’ve only seen glimpses of? Will he inspire the hatred and vitriol he’s accused of pandering in?\u00a0I just don’t know. Trump is…all of this is…a whole new ball of wax.<\/p>\n
And as we move forward, life will continue. Pundits will talk. Trump will take Obama’s place in January. \u00a0Life will move on.\u00a0But the important question is…what about the rest of us? How do we proceed? What will the next day, month, year look like? For us? Individually and as a country?<\/p>\n
For me, it’s this. I hope it looks an awful lot like this (skip to the 4th paragraph from the end if you don’t want to read it all):<\/p>\n
NOTHING WORKS BETTER<\/strong> (James MacDonald\/Walk in the Word email 11\/9\/16)<\/p>\n Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves<\/em>\u00a0(Philippians 2:3,\u00a0NASB<\/span>).<\/p>\n Are you having a tough day today? Been a little down in the dumps lately?<\/p>\n There\u2019s a way to fix that\u2014but not by \u201cworking on it.\u201d The way to increase your joy again starts by doing\u00a0\u201cnothing from selfishness.\u201d <\/strong>…\u00a0Selfishness leads to every sin, and every sin invariably leads to discouragement, disappointment, disillusionment, and eventually to misery. Never to joy. …\u00a0if you truly want to capture the joy that\u2019s been so deftly escaping you lately, you must\u00a0\u201cdo nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Nothing.<\/em>\u00a0Nothing from\u00a0\u201crivalry,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>as one translation says (HCSB<\/span>), or from\u00a0\u201cselfish ambition,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0as another puts it (ESV<\/span>).\u00a0Nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n This includes anything you do, whether intentionally or reflexively, to promote yourself and impress other people in hopes of getting them to see how great you are, how cool you seem, or how many good ideas you come up with.\u00a0\u201cDo nothing\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0to make sure your contributions at work or church or even just around the house are sufficiently admired and appreciated.\u00a0\u201cNothing\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0to seek acknowledgement for yourself out of fear your talents will never be noticed if you don\u2019t somehow point them out to people.\u00a0\u201cNothing\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0to manufacture your own acceptance, promotion, popularity, affirmation, or happiness.<\/p>\n God\u2019s Word would teach us that this grasping after self-promotion leads only to misery.\u00a0But you can break out of this type of misery\u2014you can choose to live in joy\u2014right now, today, by doing\u00a0\u201cnothing from selfishness or empty conceit.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Choose instead to live in\u00a0\u201chumility of mind\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0by regarding other people as\u00a0\u201cmore important than yourselves.\u201d <\/strong>…<\/p>\n So instead of seeing people as a frustrating waste of your time, consider their need for being heard right now to be of more importance than what you\u2019d otherwise be doing. Instead of making demands and asserting your rights, consider that what others need for doing their job or improving their skills takes precedence right now over whatever you were hoping to do for yourself.\u00a0\u201cLet each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0(Philippians 2:4\u00a0ESV<\/span>).<\/p>\n You can\u2019t be\u00a0forced<\/em>\u00a0to live this way. You have to choose it, and most people don\u2019t. So you and they can just keep sitting there under that oak tree, shaking your branches and trying to stand apart from the rest and from each other. But you will never live with joy if you continue to stay rooted and planted in selfishness.<\/p>\n Choose self, and choose misery.<\/p>\n But choose humility\u2014choose others\u2014and expect the leaves to start falling off that tree of sin and discouragement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The election is over (finally!). The results are in. And America is now looking around at the debris (to some, the holocaust) and wondering … what’s next? I, for one, am shocked and (tbh) pleased. I have been a #neverHillary … Continue reading