[Note: The picture to the left is of a fountain just outside Pike's Place Market in Seattle. It has nothing to do with the post below, but I think it looks cool. You've been informed.]Since I got married, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of life. I guess that’s natural because, prior to being married, the biggest thing I wanted out of life was to be married to a beautiful, intelligent, caring, Christian woman. I realize that seems a bit shallow, but it’s the truth. Sometimes the truth is shallow. There’s really nothing I can do about that. Now that I’m married to that woman (feel free to groan in disgust, but it’s my humble opinion that I’ve married the greatest woman to ever walk the earth), I’ve been searching for what it is I want to search for… if that makes any sense.
I’ve come to the following conclusions: I don’t want to be rich. I don’t want to be famous (well, sometimes I do, but not when I’m thinking clearly). I don’t want to be important in most of the ways the world thinks I should. What I want is simple. I want to make the world a better place.
I haven’t quite nailed down all the specifics of exactly how I’m going to make the world a better place yet, but I do have a place to start. In order to make a good start, I need a good foundation. That foundation is as follows:
1. Never lose sight of my Savior. It is Christ, not me, that will provide the motive force for any good I can work in this world. The New Testament states repeatedly that it is the power of God, not the power of man, that changes lives. On a practical level, this means that I have to get over myself. It takes a humble man* to attribute God’s good works to God instead of trying to take credit for them.
2. Be a good husband. I haven’t been married very long, so I can’t claim to have this whole thing figured out. But I do know one thing, if my wife feels unappreciated, unloved, and unsafe in her home when all things are said and done, I have failed as a husband and a Christian. I could bring about world peace, but if I do so at the cost of my wife, then all that good is tainted. I know that sounds a bit extreme, but marriage is a pretty extreme commitment.
3. Be a good friend.** A brief skimming of the Bible will reveal the fact that God’s people do not live alone. The idea of a hermit living in the mountains and finding God is not endorsed by God’s word. Instead, you’ll find that God is quite concerned with us living well with the people around us. One of the things my dad taught me growing up is that you appreciate the people God puts in your life. In other words, don’t take the compassion of your friends lightly or you won’t have friends for very long. At least, you won’t have very good friends.
So that’s it. That’s the foundation I plan on using to make the world a better place. The discerning reader will notice that I haven’t actually laid out a coherent plan for this grand world-making-better expedition. All in good time, my dear reader. I’ll let you know my plan just as soon as I know what my plan is.
Tune in next week*** for Part 2 of the practical fallout of non-standard life values: Humility in Practice (or: Why telling your boss he’s a raging moron in un-Christian).
*Please note that humility is not, as so many people believe, self deprecation. Woody Allen (at least the characters he plays is movies), for all his self debasing talk, is not a humble man. The fact that his speech so often centers on himself is evidence of that. True humility is forgetting about yourself enough to see the wants and needs of others. It is clearly and powerfully looking outward rather than inward.
**You could read that as good neighbor. I didn’t use “neighbor” because the connotations of the word are a bit too small. You can have friends all over the world, but too often we only think of our neighbors as the people living next to us.
***The management of IKCRN makes no claims as to the timeliness of the next post. Since marriage, the author has been more apt to spend long hours mooning over his wife rather than writing. All attempts at reprimanding him have been met with long monologues on the wonders of marriage. It’s all rather nauseating.
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