"Give to everyone who asks, do not turn your back on the borrower."
.
"But people shouldn't ask strangers to help them pay off their debts, or help them pay for school, or ask others to shelter them when they go on a trip, or ask people to help them pay the exorbitant cost associated with giving birth or adopting children."
.
Big But...
.
I've actually criticized people who have done such things, believing people should be more responsible, and that they ought to work for what they get, and so on and so forth. While that may be true generally, who was I to determine anything about how others earned their living or asked for financial help? I was wrong... really wrong... and totally lacked charity. I was acting, thinking, talking-writing, very self-righteously... and I did not even realize it.
.
But - I was wrong.
.
Secret pride.
.
There is a story from the desert fathers how one of the abbas, on his way to a chapter to pass judgement on an errant brother, before leaving his hermitage, took a large basket and filled it with sand. The brothers met him on his way and asked the meaning of the display. The abba explained that he was coming to pass judgement on a brother, while his own sins poured out unknown behind him like sand.
.
Self-righteousness.
.
The downturn in the economy has been a great lesson for me. Once upon a time, I had been so sure I had done everything right - paying off all my bills, never carrying credit card debt, saving a big chunk of my earnings, and so on. And then the market crashed. I soon understood I had placed my trust in the wrong place - money, not God. I was proud of my accomplishments, not realizing I too have been a borrower living on borrowed time. Without going into detail, I have realized the error of my ways, and apologize to those I criticized. Oh, and I'm okay financially - just not the "rich" man I thought I was.
.
"He then told them a parable addressed to those who believed in their own self-righteousness while holding everyone else in contempt..."
No comments:
Post a Comment