Goodness as a Reflection

My husband was just telling me about this article he had read in some National Geographic magazine which intrigued him to no end.  It was about Singapore, a country 1/8 the size of Delaware. It states: "Out of a malarial swamp, the tiny island at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula gained independence from Britain in 1963 and, in one generation, transformed itself into a legendarily efficient place, where the per capita income for its 3.7 million citizens exceeds that of many European countries, the education and health systems rival anything in the West, government officials are largely corruption free, 90 percent of households own their own homes, taxes are relatively low and sidewalks are clean, and there are no visible homeless people or slums.  If all that, plus a typical unemployment rate of about 3 percent and a nice stash of money in the bank thanks to the government's enforced savings plan, doesn't sound sweet to you, just travel 600 miles south and try getting by in a Jakarta shantytown."1  Sounds nice, right?

But when you start to read about their laws and how their enforced policies extend to every little facet of life, you wonder if the price of their prosperity and security is worth it. There are fines for chewing gum, spitting, even bringing durian fruit into certain places.  Littering trash or a cigarette butt will get you a $200 fine the first time; next time you'll find yourself doing community service and picking up others' litter.  If you're found with even small amounts of drugs, you'll be sentenced to a court-ordered caning.  Penalty for drug trafficking is death.   And woe to the foreign immigrants who find themselves in a family way!  Pregnancy means deportation.  Couples are encouraged to marry within their own status so college graduates should marry other college graduates, and the "Two is Enough" slogan gives you an idea of their population control.  The article goes on to explain the minister's ideas on humanity: "'The Confucian theory was man could be improved, but I'm not sure he can be.  He can be trained, he can be disciplined.'  In Singapore that has meant lots of rules - prohibiting littering, spitting on sidewalks, failing to flush public toilets - with fines and occasional outing in the newspaper for those who break them."  According to the minister, the idea "'that man could be perfected...was an optimistic way of looking at life.'  People abuse freedom.  That is his beef with America: The rights of individuals to do their own thing allow them to misbehave at the expense of an orderly society.  As they say in Singapore:  What good are all those rights if you're afraid to go out at night?"

Even if it still sounds somewhat like an Utopian society to you, here's how some of Singapore's citizens summed up their thoughts:  "I do lament our lack of freedom to express ourselves, and the government's seemingly unmitigated grip on power and what appears to be an inconsistent willingness to listen to public sentiment that does not suit it." and another sentiment "Singapore is like a warm bath.  You sink in, slit your wrists, your lifeblood floats away, but hey, it's warm." Utopia?  Hmmm...

I was reminded of the above article when I came across a quote today in a book.  

"I was taught right and wrong as a kid.  But the truth is that I drive completely differently when there is a cop behind me, and when there isn't.  It is hard for us to admit we have a sin nature, because we live in this system of checks and balances.  If we get caught, we'll be punished.  But this doesn't make us good people; it makes us subdued people.*  Just think about the Senate and the House, even the President.  The genius of the American system is checks and balances.  Nobody gets all the powers.  Everyone is watching everyone else.  It's as if the Founding Fathers knew intrinsically that the soul of humanity, unwatched, is perverse."2 

The idea that just because we might know right from wrong and live accordingly doesn't make us good.  It makes us subdued.  Only the Father is good.  Only Christ is good.  Only the Holy Spirit is good.  And the more we give ourselves over to God and allow the goodness of the Holy Spirit to shine through us, the more good we'll seemingly look to others.  But we will never be good ourselves and on our own terms.  Countries can mandate good behavior, but goodness or righteousness can never be attained.  Let us never forget that we are only the reflection of God's goodness to others.  Having no light of our own, we are the moon to His sun.  

1. From the January 2010 National Geographic magazine titled "Merging Man and Machine"

2. Quote from Jazz Notes: Improvisations on Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

* Bold font mine.

Note: Any references/notes pulled from Nat Geo or the book Jazz Notes does in no way mean I agree/believe with the philosophies put forth by either resource.  

Depraved Indifference Short Film

Every once in awhile I check back with one of my favorite websites called Ellerslie.  Occasionally they post  inspiring short films based on a sermon by Eric Ludy, one of the founders of Ellerslie.  You may have already watched this one.  Heck, I may have already posted this one before, but if so, I'm posting it again because if you're like me, you can always use the reminders presented in the messages.  Be challenged!

"Here's the Church, and Here's the Steeple. Open the Doors and See All the People."

Our churches today are filled with the rich while the poor sit on our doorstep.  Where do the poor go when needing help?  Who do the rich give to when writing checks?  Thanks to the welfare system, all involved can now ignore their own spiritual condition.  Those in need never have to step inside a church to receive help, and those inside the church never have to step outside of it to give it.

Let's step out and see who we can help!

It's a Big, Big World - Shrink it!

If you know anything about me, you know I love the internet! I love the around-the-clock access to worldwide events, happenings and knowledge - the scientific papers, the public opinion, the latest news, everything. Having the world at our fingertips is a "privilege" that none others have had before in history. People relied on local gossip and newspapers to find out what was going on in their community. Then came radio and movies to provide news of what was going on in the world. Now we have instantaneous reports on the latest celebrity death, political gaffe and natural disaster. We are bombarded with photos of war, statistics of crime and tragic death toll counts. The internet has opened up the world to us and created a global community where our neighbor can live 4,000 miles away from us. Though this has its benefits, it can also make us feel very small and very helpless. How does one make any difference in the world when one cannot stave off the spectacular devastation going on around the world? What can one do when it comes to the thousands upon thousands of orphans in Africa due to the AIDS epidemic? The millions of starving mouths to feed in [choose any location around the world]? The untold number of Christians persecuted for their faith? The tragedy visited upon us by Mother Nature? The abuses done by man upon their children, spouses, family, friends, animals and earth?

Sometimes the bigger the picture, the less equipped we feel. Though it is proven that one person can impact the entire world by their actions and efforts, it always begins simply by taking one step. It requires a singular focus, not on saving the entire world, but on saving just one someone or something. If we were to mentally shrink our world back down to what's just beyond our doorstep, we would essentially be opening our eyes and seeing things we've never noticed before - that homeless man who sleeps on your city's sidewalk, the dog chained up across the street without food or water, the single mom next door who just had another baby, the neighbor who needs some help fixing their car, the elderly woman who never leaves her house... There is always someone in our own little world that needs us - maybe not us so much but needs the love of Christ inside of us showered upon them. As parents, there is no denying we have our very own mission field within our own home. But take a look outside your window every once in awhile and see how that mission field expands beyond our home as well. There are great teachings about how loving our neighbor isn't necessarily confined to your next door neighbor - our neighbors can be in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, China and North Korea. But it also means loving your next door neighbor or your neighbor two streets down or one town over. We will naturally be able to have the most impact on those within our own community and especially on our own street. Don't discredit that daily witness on those around you!

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-33

Shrink your world and see with new eyes your own community. We may never have a worldwide impact by our actions, but we can significantly impact someone else's world.

Nickelback - "If Everyone Cared" Video