ABOLISHING BAD TRAITS

We live in a world where narcissism, greed and abuse of power are more or less the norm in society. We see it everyday in politics, in business, in church and more often than not in our homes.

It seems that the people that succeed in life are mostly guilty of at least one of these counts. We can identify quite a few people without having to put much effort into it. The sad thing is that the guilty persons don’t realise that they are guilty and others may know it, but they refuse to do anything about it.

We can trace these traits back to Biblical times. They are definitely not something new. There is Saul who abused his power; Herod who promised his guests something that wasn’t his to promise; Salome who used her beauty to get what she wanted and also her being abused by Herod and her mother; David who killed a man so he could take his wife and the list goes on.

What are we to do with such blatant abuses in society? We feel powerless against the enormity of the problem. Even if we did stand up against the abuse, we know we run the risk of being victimized. We know full well that people are being persecuted for simply being who they are.

We as followers of Christ are obligated to react against all forms as narcissism, greed and the abuse of power. We are prompted by God in His

Word to love all people and care especially for the oppressed. We are continuously reminded to stand up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves. We read the following in Micah 6:8 -

“Human, the Lord has told you what goodness is. This is what he wants from you:

Be fair to other people. Love kindness and loyalty, and humbly obey your God.”

In following these three simple requests from God we can go a long way in standing up against those that are bound to infringe on the lives of others in an extremely negative way.

If we walk humbly with God as well as others the desire to abuse power will dissipate. If we are fair to other people, we will refrain from letting greed get the better of us. If we really strife to love kindness and loyalty we might just get rid of narcissism and selfishness.

May I challenge each and every person, including myself, to live according to Micah 6:8?

May we always love kindness.

May we remain loyal.

May we be fair to ourselves and especially to others.

May we always walk humbly with God and others.

Love in Christ

Margaret Halgryn