From My Perspective - - -
Do you ever have a sense that no matter what you attempt to do you seem to be on the losing side? Do you ever feel that you are part of a cruel culture that seems to be headed on a crash course with history and destiny? Do you ever think that no matter how generous you are and regardless of the good you try to do that reciprocally - you rarely experience similar treatment or consideration? There are times when it seems as though we are living in a “dog-eat-dog” world where the sense of equity, fairness, kindness and generosity are diminishing rapidly.
The words of Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 5:7 - “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” - are so obviously ignored by a culture and generation that is becoming more and more both narcissistic and nihilistic. Matthew 5:7-9 in The Message Paraphrase - “You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'careful,' you find yourselves cared for. You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.” A question one can ponder: In a cultural drift towards decadence and personal demands is there any room left for Mercy to emerge and for the Mercenary Mentality to decline?
On a website called The Mercenary Trader, Their posted motto is: “A Community Of Ruthless Profiteers.” Their Mercenary Creed is also posted (and explained): “1) Thou shalt heed the price action; 2) thou shalt respect the risk; 3) Monitor thy equity curve; 4) Thou shalt go for the jugular; 5) Thou shalt focus on making money; 6) Thou shalt go short as well as long; 7) To thine own self be true.” With regard to Creed 2, there is this statement of purpose given: “When I was a child, I traded as a child, not giving proper respect to risk. But now I am a Mercenary, and so now I trade like a Mercenary, giving risk its proper due. My trading capital is my life force; like an aviator’s fuel or an ocean diver’s air supply, I shall monitor it with passion and precision. First I shall survive, for only then can I thrive; as Sun Tzu instructed, I shall wait by the side of the river for the bodies of my enemies to float by. In respecting the risk, I shall continue on as my enemies falter… and in surviving my opportunities shall multiply.”
The above creed is a very different attitude and purpose than that shared in II Corinthians 8:1-5 (NIV), “…we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.” At this moment in time, it appears that the days immediately ahead are trending toward being more bleak than bright. Our culture has grown more accustomed to things and personal possessions or assets. For us, it may mean greater difficulty to adjust to less.
Our perspective as a people has become too myopic. Rather than a broad perspective, we have allowed for a narrow focus. Other nations in our world have coped with less and considerable hardship. How far have the American Churches drifted from the Macedonian Churches and their commitment to a higher purpose and a greater good? How many churches are we aware of who live by the model of II Corinthians 8? As part of your thinking, consider the size of the Church Buildings and Complexes that have become part of the religious climate of our times, and the “bragging rights” that seem to come from what has been built? Were the buildings erected to the Glory of God alone, or subtly, to the praise that comes to man/men? Was this done on the basis of The Mercenary Creed or on the basis of The Beatitudes? Consider these things with me.
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