I've only met two men during my lifetime who epitomized a steady, consistently happy demeanor. That proves that this temperament is a rare find. And I'm not referring here to happyish men who're not bright enough to recognize the realities related to the unhappiness of this life. No. Not those. Instead, these are intelligent, godly men who're articulate and quite devout (yet not earnest in the least) who're always, always in good spirits - no matter what.
One of these I see every week at our church. He's an elder who's just a few years my senior, and I deeply respect this man, particularly as it relates to his compassionate, selfless heart as a Sunday School teacher, leader, husband, father, and amateur missionary.
Therefore, when I recognize that his demeanor has shifted from typical to atypical (for he himself), I grow deeply concerned. For it's unusual, and though a lot has become unusual these days, this still is quite unexpected.
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I've read about marriages being torn asunder relative to politics, but mostly, despite the implied risks, it comes down to willful respect if faced with opposing points of view. In fact, I worked with an architect years ago who used to decree that his vote "cancelled out" the vote of his spouse during each election - year after year after year. And he'd say this smugly yet with nobility / respect towards his wife.
Today, political points of view are becoming identifiers. Identity is the word I'm focusing on right here. Like sexual orientation or race is tied to identity. Religion, even. And you wrap that up inside the auspices of the pandemic that we've been experiencing, and it promulgates this notion of identity through politics that much further. And the weird thing is, this is happening to really smart people. Not just the dumbasses who have not the grey matter to think outside of their (incessantly overbearing) feelings.
Therefore, my aforementioned always happy friend, whilst faced with the emotions of this private, relational defeat (as I've implied above), has definitely lost his happiness. And it's all centered on his wife situating her identity outside of her relationship with Christ. For this is a binary move. There's no co-mingling. It's either 1 or 0. You're either in Christ or not.
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Years ago, I had a pastor friend whose wife stopped attending the church that he pastored in lieu of her decision to frequent her best friend's ("her soulmate" - his words) church down the street. Needless to say, this brought on much negative speculation which eventually boiled over prior to my friend resigning his position at the church.
But his wife was "following her heart" or somesuch, therefore this was no doubt a weirdmo isolated incident.
Today however, this kind of weird relational shit is prevalent. Prevalent.
Now, for me to say that means the following: Christians are relinquishing their true identities for something else. Something rooted, I believe, in emotions - namely anger / outrage.
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So what's the root of all this anger / outrage, and are these emotions worthwhile?
Let's talk about the meaning of the word worthwhile, and from there, I'm going to segue into how this pertains to the benefits of being involved within the Samson Society. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.
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