The Tyranny of Rioting vs the Rule of Dominion

Man has a built in instinct for survival and existance. That is why death is so fearful. It is the ultimate enemy of our survival instinct. But the instinct for survival is just the start. Unlike the animal kingdom man is more than a bag of instincts. Man has a desire to rule and conquer. This isn't a bad thing if we are to believe what the Psalmist says: God made man to have dominion over the works of His hands; God has put all things under mans feet (Psalm 8:6). According to the Psalmist this desire to be in charge, be in control comes directly from God! How does the Psalmist arrive at this conclusion? He reads in Genesis 1: 27-28 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.".

Man was created to rule, subdue, have dominion. But there is a context. This rule and dominion is not to be exercised as a whim of man. Such whims can be seen everywhere. For a child in the playground it takes the form of bullying. For a group of teenagers it takes the form of a gang. For a wider organised group it takes the form of mindless rioting. On a large scale it takes the form of national dictatorship and aggression such as we saw with Hitler and the Nazis. Yet all these things have one thing in common. They are a perversion of the God given mandate to rule - that perversion is called tyranny. From the school bully to Hitler this is tyranny albeit at different extremes.

There are always options. The bible says of Jesus "in Him all things hold together". The converse of that is true - outside of Jesus all things fall apart. In England at the moment there is a rash of rioting sweeping the country and people see this not as man having dominion but as the country falling apart. Such rioters need discipline and to be subdued by the force of righteous law. But they also need more than that. They need to see that their craving for dominion can only be truly fulfilling when they are in a relationship with Jesus. In Him all things hold together. In Him their lives will be transformed from the ugliness of tyranny to the liberty of godly dominion.

More on this in another post later!

blame is a lazy man's wages

Any parent will quickly discover that one thing you will never have to teach a child is how to be naughty!! The desire to assert ones own will is hard wired even when it means we do wrong. Discipline (or discipling as some may see it) is simply the training of our loved ones to manage their free will to choose wisely in life. But what happens when choices don't seem to go our way? Or when our failure to make right choices catches us out?

Whether we believe the biblical account of Adam and Eve or not it is interesting to note that the first recorded response to wrong doing was blame. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. It was easier to blame than accept responsibility. They chose the lazy way out. It is no coincidence that irresponsibility, blame, and laziness are an unholy trinity that cannot exist without each other. When someone fails to take responsibility for their life by blaming something or someone else they give up their power to change and get stuck in a rut of laziness. The blaming game gives them a false sense of reality.

Failing marriages often fail beyond repair because one partner refuses to accept responsibility for thier shortcomings. They blame and grow lazy. This gives them a false sense of reality as to why their marriage is failing and they have then given up the power to change things for the better. When someone doesn't take responsibility to study for exams, or try and get a job, or even simple things like personal hygiene their laziness instinctively blames someone else - the government, the school, a specific person (normally someone else who they see as successful and therefore 'arrogant'), econmonic conditions etc etc.

There are always options. As stated - when I blame someone else for my shortcomings I become lazy, give up the power to change, and live with a false sense of reality. Lazy people often end up with a low self esteem as well as a false sense of reality - our problems are someone elses fault and nothing to do with our own laziness. Laziness is a cancer that eats at my ability to see the talents that I have. Talents that are exercised and used bring increase and prosperity. Talents squandered through laziness bring poverty. Blame is a lazy mans wages.

But if I choose to surround myself by people who shun laziness then I can begin to realise I don't have to feed on the junk food of laziness but can feast at the table of self worth. As I see their success my appetite to succeed awakens. As I see them take responsibility and enjoy the praise of their hard work I lose the appetite to blame others and develop a hunger to change. Suddenly the curse of laziness is broken. The curse of laziness is nicely summed up in a chinese proverb: "better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness".

The option to everyone today is to light one small candle of taking responsibility for one thing in ones own life. This one candle will bring sufficient light to enable us to see afresh our talents and abilities. The light will also expose the ugliness of blame and illuminate the satisfaction of a high self esteem.