Let The Strongest Man Win
There is a particular coffee shop I like to go to downtown. The other day as I'm turning the corner to walk in the door, I notice there are no chairs or tables outside. The windows have been covered up from the inside. It was closed. I wondered if they were doing some kind of remodeling. So I reluctantly cross the street to go to the huge corporate coffee shop we all recognize too well. After speaking to other customers that have also come across the street, I learn that the lease had expired. The landowner now wanted $8,000 a month. The previous lease was for $4,000 a month. Nice job.
I am in downtown to meet a good friend for our weekly communion. We sit down, sometimes get something to eat, and talk about our lives. We talk about married life and how better to lead and love our wives. We also talk about our struggles, our aspirations, our walk with God and talk about His mysteries. I look forward to this time with my friend / brother every week.
After my time with him, I look for a table near an electrical outlet to get online and get some work done. I ask to share a table with a gentleman who I earlier heard talking politics with someone. This topic always grabs my attention. So I sit there quietly and get to typing on my computer. This man and another man are talking about how everyone who was going to the coffee shop across the street are now funneling into this one. My mind begins a journey of thought. I mention quietly that the rent was doubled. This sparked a good hour long conversation about money, politics and religion... the three main topics of this blog.
My new friend and I journeyed through most of the phrasing and framing spoken on the mainstream media. I pointed out to him that much of what he says is exactly what is said on teevee and radio. It is difficult, for me included, to look past what is told to us as 'news.' It is very difficult to look at the world in any other way. It is called programming for a reason.
After some time talking about world powers and how one man always wants to dominate another, he says "Jesus said 'let the leaders of both nations battle it out and let the strongest man win...'" Say WHAT? I asked where exactly in the Gospel does it say that? He didn't know but he said he was sure that Jesus had said this. I had to tell him that in over 20 years of reading the Gospel I have yet to come across those words or that notion. Perhaps he was speaking about the parable about a king with 10,000 men going to war against a king with 20,000 men and that the king with less should ask for terms of peace. The 'let the strongest man win' is something quite unfamiliar to be understood from this parable and the Gospel in general. But I did remember somewhere where this notion was played out.
I asked him if he knew the story of Cain and Abel. He knew it and he pretty much spelled it out to me. I asked him if he realized that Cain was most likely stronger than his brother. He was older. I mentioned that Abel's blood seeped into the ground. This means that it was brutal, most likely not just a choking death. It was a fight / attack that eventually cut the skin which made his blood pour out into the earth. I pointed out that they were both giving portions of their work's effort to the Lord, but Abel gave his best while Cain didn't give his best. I mentioned some real world analogies. Prior to anything bad happening, the Lord Himself spoke to Cain and asked him "if you do what is right, will you not be accepted?"
It came down to doing the right thing. It comes down to doing the right thing Today.
Cain heard from the God of all creation what the solution was. Yet Cain allowed himself to become embittered due to his own lack of effort. He became jealous when he had no right to. All he had to do was to also give his best to God, just as his younger brother had done. But he didn't choose to do this.
He made a choice which has forever been repeated by men who think their might, their strength, their ego and their boasting is good enough to be a winner. But, to you who 'see,' you know very well these are the losers. Although these types swallow up the entire world, killing all who are in their way of quest, they only fill themselves with things which are worthless in God's sight.
The landowner who doubled the rent most likely has their eyes on their personal financial interests. They may be ignorant or immune to the reality on the street. They may care less about what other people go through... and that is their choice. What they have done is further empower an already over ambitious business model. They caused the laying off of several committed employees. They removed the business of a small business owner. They disturbed the meeting place of many happy and loyal customers. They brought another turn over on that downtown street that experiences vacancies and business turn over like a blighted ghost town.
The strongest man wins again... while those who make up society and support the strength of the strongest go about searching for means and meaning again. The strongest man won while they are still considered the loser.
I am in downtown to meet a good friend for our weekly communion. We sit down, sometimes get something to eat, and talk about our lives. We talk about married life and how better to lead and love our wives. We also talk about our struggles, our aspirations, our walk with God and talk about His mysteries. I look forward to this time with my friend / brother every week.
After my time with him, I look for a table near an electrical outlet to get online and get some work done. I ask to share a table with a gentleman who I earlier heard talking politics with someone. This topic always grabs my attention. So I sit there quietly and get to typing on my computer. This man and another man are talking about how everyone who was going to the coffee shop across the street are now funneling into this one. My mind begins a journey of thought. I mention quietly that the rent was doubled. This sparked a good hour long conversation about money, politics and religion... the three main topics of this blog.
My new friend and I journeyed through most of the phrasing and framing spoken on the mainstream media. I pointed out to him that much of what he says is exactly what is said on teevee and radio. It is difficult, for me included, to look past what is told to us as 'news.' It is very difficult to look at the world in any other way. It is called programming for a reason.
After some time talking about world powers and how one man always wants to dominate another, he says "Jesus said 'let the leaders of both nations battle it out and let the strongest man win...'" Say WHAT? I asked where exactly in the Gospel does it say that? He didn't know but he said he was sure that Jesus had said this. I had to tell him that in over 20 years of reading the Gospel I have yet to come across those words or that notion. Perhaps he was speaking about the parable about a king with 10,000 men going to war against a king with 20,000 men and that the king with less should ask for terms of peace. The 'let the strongest man win' is something quite unfamiliar to be understood from this parable and the Gospel in general. But I did remember somewhere where this notion was played out.
I asked him if he knew the story of Cain and Abel. He knew it and he pretty much spelled it out to me. I asked him if he realized that Cain was most likely stronger than his brother. He was older. I mentioned that Abel's blood seeped into the ground. This means that it was brutal, most likely not just a choking death. It was a fight / attack that eventually cut the skin which made his blood pour out into the earth. I pointed out that they were both giving portions of their work's effort to the Lord, but Abel gave his best while Cain didn't give his best. I mentioned some real world analogies. Prior to anything bad happening, the Lord Himself spoke to Cain and asked him "if you do what is right, will you not be accepted?"
It came down to doing the right thing. It comes down to doing the right thing Today.
Cain heard from the God of all creation what the solution was. Yet Cain allowed himself to become embittered due to his own lack of effort. He became jealous when he had no right to. All he had to do was to also give his best to God, just as his younger brother had done. But he didn't choose to do this.
He made a choice which has forever been repeated by men who think their might, their strength, their ego and their boasting is good enough to be a winner. But, to you who 'see,' you know very well these are the losers. Although these types swallow up the entire world, killing all who are in their way of quest, they only fill themselves with things which are worthless in God's sight.
The landowner who doubled the rent most likely has their eyes on their personal financial interests. They may be ignorant or immune to the reality on the street. They may care less about what other people go through... and that is their choice. What they have done is further empower an already over ambitious business model. They caused the laying off of several committed employees. They removed the business of a small business owner. They disturbed the meeting place of many happy and loyal customers. They brought another turn over on that downtown street that experiences vacancies and business turn over like a blighted ghost town.
The strongest man wins again... while those who make up society and support the strength of the strongest go about searching for means and meaning again. The strongest man won while they are still considered the loser.
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