From My Perspective - - -

There are many considerations that can gain one’s focus. Among them - Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness which demand time, attention and care. In that focus, determination and pursuit one must guard against using others as stepping stones to achieve a personal status and/or goal in life. There is no room for selfishness or self-centeredness; personal ego and pride; or elitism at any cost. It is devastating to relationships, corporations, churches and nations when class-distinctions are allowed to usurp unity of purpose and endeavor.

The one who was called “The Father of Our Country” – George Washington, addressed this in his Farewell Address to the Congress and Nation in 1796. Among his comments were these: “The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also dear to you. It is justly so, for it is the main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point of your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts…The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole…”

In the climate of the times in which we live, it appears there are those who are more focused on “I and ME and MINE” than they are upon the “We and Us and Our.” That which is true in and for the nation, is also true in terms of religion either organized or self-designated. In John 17, Jesus prayed for the unity of those who would follow Him with complete commitment. However, Paul would warn in Romans 16:17-18, “I urge you - note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” Paul could’ve easily expanded his listing – not just the “smooth words and flattering speech” – to the reality of the proud and boastful who require and expect notice for achievement by their frequent use and reference to “I and ME and MY and MINE.” In and for both National and Religious spheres, there is a word of wisdom and caution given in Proverbs 6:16-19 – “These six things the Lord hates…seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.” The Lord has put the Nation and Church on notice – He will not condone what He condemns! In James 4:6, there is this unalterable truth:“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Consider these things with me!