Allen is frustrated with cleaning up. He just recently washed a PILE of dishes and he's just about to dirty one again...
He ends up taking a dirty one from the sink. What can we see about Allen in this decision?
Are there little decisions you have in your life that you find hard not to compromise on?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Guidance Notes
A key think to identify about Allen is that he's trying to do the right thing. - He's trying to clean things up. But the constant effort it takes to maintain this, is too much for him. It's much easier to fall back into compromising habits than to step out into something new that requires effort. (I'm backed up on this statement by the annual proof of millions of new-year's resolutions that never come to anything but a mediocre attempt on a good idea… I know. I've had a few of those myself.) Maybe you are different. But all bets on the table, I think everyone of us have experienced this.
What I find fascinating about the idea of compromising on what I know is right or following through on a decision I've made, is that it rarely happens to me on large decisions. Right now, the chances of me trying to hack into an on-line banking system to steal money are much smaller than un-rightfully keeping the extra change that the lady behind the Walmart till accidentally gave me. Or buying my own Starbucks on the company credit card… It seems to me that there is a morality check "program" at work inside my mind that kicks in once I'm faced with making a decision that would greatly be wrong from previous ones I've made. Yet, this morality check does not seem to kick in that strongly on small compromises and grey area decisions. The previous decisions I've made really becomes the platform for the next ones that I'm likely to accept without that conscious morality check process firing off in my mind. That means, over time, that this continuous process of deciding and acting really becomes a journey that, little-by-little, leads to great impact decisions without us even realizing that we have made those decisions. - Not by a single break-point decision, but over hundreds of unnoticed little decisions over time. It's like stealing a million dollars by taking half a penny at a time over a lifetime.
Jesus spoke about being "faithful with little things" and that it leads to "being faithful with much." (Luk 16:10) I think I get that now. & In his letter to Timothy, Paul speaks about our conscience being calloused. I think he got it right. In this light, that makes very good sense to me. (1 Timothy 1:19).
How do we change then?
There is a law in bio-chemistry & physics that states that all forms of matter will naturally go to a state of lowest energy - which is the highest level of chaos. This is true in all physics and chemistry, except for the occurrence of life. The moment life is present, one of the most basic and fundamental laws of the universe is miraculously defied and order is created at the expense of energy. Once life leaves the matter that makes out the physical body of a living being, it goes back to it's state of decay and chaos...
Somehow, that physical law applies to our souls too. Spiritual death (which is the default state we all come into this world) leads to chaos in our souls and there's no way to pull out of that no matter how we try. Except for finding the Source of Life and having our souls become connected to it. Jesus is that source of life that gives us the power to leave the path of least resistance and bring life-changing order out of chaos. If we walk away from Him, our souls will return to a state of decay and disorder. - I have felt that before and I hate that feeling. I am so glad that the opposite is true too.
