As we approach the dawn of a new year. Let us attempt with every fiber of our being. To first and foremost award ourselves grace in everything we do. When we look outside ourselves or search for happiness in elections or in attempts to control measures beyond our powers, our joy and peace are breached.
Let us instill within us the discipline required to be the change we want to see in the world. For in doing just the very act of looking within ourselves. We have the power to change the world around us. By not drinking as much, by not smoking as many cigarettes, or by lessening our gambling bets, or by such simple acts as holding the door open for a stranger or our spouse.
We each have the power to recognize that the change that needs to take place in our lives begins inside us, not outside of ourselves or from others. Before any of us can truly attempt to make a change on a grander scale, let us first look within. For change begins inside of you, and it is seen by others on the outside.
For one alcoholic who quits drinking, it showcases the strength or the power to change the lives of many through the courage sought within.
When we blame and point fingers at billionaires, religious groups, or the powers that be. Yet we ourselves do nothing in our power to become less angry, less argumentative, or less aggressive in the way we speak, and more doers of the Word. We individually have the power to be the person we want to see in the world.
For we have no control over what goes on behind the Iron Curtain. But we do have the power in our everyday lives to become better people.
Do we see mass hysteria in the world? But yet, we do nothing to lessen the impact by becoming gentle, becoming listeners, and becoming disciplined in our daily walk with life.
We may express deep hatred for the billionaire class. We may even blame public schools for their lack of attention to our basic needs. Yet it was this very act of blaming one group that caused Adolf Hitler to exterminate and eradicate millions of Jewish lives. It was this very act of blame that led to the Japanese concentration camps during World War 2. It is the very act of blaming that has led many of us to have deep-seated hatred for immigrants all over the world.
The Word has given us countless verses on how to deal with our problems. Through the acts of forgiveness of debts after 7 years, to sheltering the needy and homeless, to giving your bread to those who have none.
The world will not change unless we change. Yet if we individually become victimized in all our affairs. We will continue down an argumentative path that will only lead to more oppression, more debates, and more chaos mixed with confusion.
It was JFK who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Yet the more we continue to argue with each other over who is more American or who is more deserving. We will continue to defraud ourselves and our individual minds through such a waste of energy. For one person in 350 million, it is just an opinion, as much as these words are as well.
Have we yet to try being more compassionate and less argumentative, just because of the color of our supposed political alignment? Or have we not become readily and willfully more inclined to record every single event on our cell phones, and even more inclined to post every victimization we feel online? Further feeding the algorithms that take complete advantage of our victimization, only to feed us more hatred through such means of media content?
In other words, we individually cause our own demise, not anyone else. For Jesus Himself said, “A house divided against itself will not stand.”
Would our hope not come from our works? These include learning how to budget and resisting the urge (if we can) to spend money on things we don’t need. How can we become better citizens if we do not spend less time on social media and more time learning and growing by reading books, talking to each other about our feelings, and becoming less angry at what we see on a screen or in media we find online?
The more we continue to film and record every act of atrocity we witness. The more we give algorithms the ammunition they need to feed us content that deteriorates our perception of the world. In doing such things, the more divided we feel, and truth be told, from the rich or the poor, we are not much different from each other. (Proverbs 22:2)
We must, with every fiber in our bodies, become the citizens that we want to see in the world. The more power we give to the entities in which we are powerless, the less we discover the power within us. The more we discover the power within, the more we will discover just how impactful one person can be in our lives, even if you yourself become that one person you need. However imperfect that one person may be.
We must become that one person in our lives, even if it means we no longer cling to old fetishes. That one person who remains sober, who does everything in their power to live a life within the confines of their finances. Not overindulging, not making war with the world, loving themselves even though they make mistakes, by doing everything in their power to become the person they want to see in the world.
When we blame others, we become no different than Adolf Hitler, who used blame as a way to exterminate any person whom he felt did not align with his agenda.
For the Word says, “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him- how can God’s love reside in him?” (1 John 3:17)
Yet again, “You must not go about spreading slander among your people, you must not jeopardize your neighbor’s life.” (Leviticus 19:16)
“Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
For Jesus spoke such commands as being important. Yet we often neglect such commands because our flesh desires to hate, to gossip, to slander, to conspire, to point and blame at every atrocity we see in the world, and record it with our cell phones.
We’re giving technology everything it needs to further divide human beings. Although we are not that different from each other, on the inside, both biologically and spiritually.
We simultaneously ignore the notion that, by becoming a judge, we deem ourselves perfect. Yet we do nothing in our immediate vicinities to become better people, better mothers or fathers, better grandparents, or better human beings, better neighbors, or better citizens.
We must be willing to admit to ourselves, in secret, our own faults and hypocrisies, and, in doing so, become more aligned with the will of the Father in our lives. For when we are in alignment with His commands, our lives will become less chaotic, more at peace, and we will surely be blessed in all aspects of our lives.
But how many of us truly embody His commands with all our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits? Without judgment or blame or finger-pointing.
For it was Isaiah who said, “If you get rid of the yoke from those around you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, and if you offer yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness and your night will be like noonday.”
In our anger at this world. The blame does not lie with billionaires for this world’s problems. For it was James who said, “What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you?” (James 4:1)
Yet we become no different than Hitler or any other dictator before him and after him, who used blame as a way to terminate any dissenters who didn’t agree with his worldview and for his agenda. But from a perspective, the source of all wars in the world is simply cravings that are at war within us. For as much as the Buddhists understood, it was attachment to such cravings that causes our suffering.
We must with every fiber of our being. Continue to look within ourselves. For Jesus was just one man, Muhammad just one man, Rosa Parks just one woman, Buddha just one man, Mary just one mother, Esther just one woman.