Sept 22nd, 2020: A Broken Spirit and A Conceited Heart
Have you ever tried to fix your appliances at home? I did this past weekend with my OTR microwave. The problem was with the touch control panel. It was not fully responsive. It was not a hard problem to correct but to get to it was another story. To make a long story short, I did fix it.
When we consider things that are not going well or not happening in our life, we might discover the real issue is not a complex one. We need to be able to identify the issue and put our fingers on it. That demands more time and attention. Let us have a look at some of the significant events since the first shut down due to COVID 19.
A) The mistreatment of our seniors: We have been aware of this problem for many years and COVID 19 simply brought it to the forefront of the news. Somehow the value of being human is slowly downgrading because one can longer work. We have become so superficial and shallow in how we view the worth of a human being. We fail to appreciate the contribution seniors can have if we know how to engage them. We have lost a tremendous amount of wisdom by allowing that to happen. We fail to see the meaning image of God in them in many ways.
B) The abuse of the poor: New York State and New York City were the epic centers of the pandemic. When we study the stats, we know that the majority of cases happened among the poor. As the wealthy and the rich left New York for the neighbouring states and cities, the poor were left in overcrowded and unprepared hospitals. Many might not even have insurance. This is simply one of the gross manifestations of the disparity of wealth and the growth of poverty. Once again, the problem has been there forever and there are no moral and political wills to face it. The poor have become a lesser form of human being and somehow that is acceptable.
C) The history of racial discrimination: The many protests that took place during June and July confirmed to us that we have not dealt with our racial and discrimination all that well. It is something that needs to be addressed more than just symbolic gestures, policy statements, or public display of regret. If "systemic" means to be rooted in evil, then I would agree with the terminology. It is more than just about one racial group abuses another one. These are just symptoms. Racial discrimination is a universal expression of human sins because of our fear of existence with those who are different from us. We make a judgment and become indifferent toward their suffering. We justify that by our false belief that they are not equal to us in God's eye. What's a blasphemy!
To be short and concise, we have failed to see one another as God's precious creation. In His act of redemption, Jesus was willing to identify with us and lost all of his privileges by being one among us so that we can have the freedom to be with God. What privileges are we willing to let go so that others might get a chance to experience life the way God intends for them? Have we ever thought that there might hatred in our hearts, the hatred that has been disguised by our own deception?
Philippians 2: 1-8
"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
