Who's to blame?

On Wednesday mornings my wife gets up good and early to go to her Rotary club meeting. (A poor mans Kiwanis meeting!!) Occasionally she will bring one of our three children with her, a treat that each enjoys. This morning Michael, our 8 year old son, was the lucky child, a decision my wife made last night. When I went into my 9 year old daughters room this morning she was very grumpy. She made that clear to me by her pursed lips and firmly folded arms which were her way of saying, "ask me why I'm mad" I obliged to which she responded, "I'm mad at Michael. He said he would let me go to Rotary but he still went with Mom."

As she was preparing to leave, I had heard Michael say to Christi (my wife) "Hope really wants to go to rotary, I think she should go instead of me." Mom said , "No. Hope is not ready and the clothes I have put out are not nice enough." So Michael went with Mom.

I explained this to Hope, an explanation that did not satisfy her. Later, on our way to my wife's office where I was dropping Hope and Christian (our 5 year old) off Hope said, "I'm going to get Michael!" "Why", I asked. "Because he said I could go to Rotary and then Mom wouldn't let me". "So why are you upset with Michael" I asked, "It seems that you should be upset with you Mom" "No. I'm mad at Michael"

That exchange made me think about how we get stuck in mindsets and attitudes. To a staunch Conservative, the best policies offered by our Democratic President will always be wrong, just like the best offered by President Bush was always wrong. Each side has it in their head that right or wrong doesn't matter...if the opposing party came up with it, it is my job to disagree with it. I feel the same has happened with Christianity. So many people view us as uneducated, extreme, delusional, hateful...but, no matter what good Christians do, our opponents have it their heads that there is something very wrong with us. So what do we do.

The great thing about Scripture is that it has the answer to all of life's difficult questions, and this question is best answered by Jesus when He says, "...if you are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies". It doesn't matter who you are or what you think, this agape love, if truly shown by all Christians, would revolutionize the world and its ethics. The problem, however, lay in the first 6 words of that quote...if you are willing to listen. The message here is that this command would involve a dramatic change in the way people live their lives, and many are not willing to make that change. Jesus, however, is saying if you want to change the world, you first need to change yourself.