Looking out for others!

 

I’ve recently been reading through Genesis, and something that has surprised me is the amount of scheming that is present. Some of these guys (and girls) were like professional-level tricksters. From tricking people in to giving things, to tricking people in to bad deals, to a shocking number of tricking people in to sleeping with someone other than who they thought, I had forgotten how much Genesis reads more like some kind of mix of a Soap Opera/Shonda Rhimes drama. This morning, I was reading yet another messed-up story—actually, it was a messed-up story inside of another one—I was going through the story of Joseph, whose brothers sell him in to slavery, which actually pauses for an aside about how one of the brothers ends up being tricked in to getting his daughter-in-law pregnant because he doesn’t treat her fairly and she decides to correct matters herself.

As I was reading, I began thinking about why all of these stories are in Scripture, and what God is wanting us to take and learn from all of these schemes/schemers. To me, it seems like even though these are the people of God, many of them are lacking an acute awareness/compassion for others. They have a goal for their life, something happens (often, another person does something unfair) and they feel like it is now up to them to right the wrong. This predictably ensues in an almost unending cycle of revenge. It’s just one upmanship carried down from generation-to-generation, where brothers, uncles, fathers, daughters—you name it—are continuing to put their own interests first, and seem to be willing to use any means necessary to get to their desired end. Lying, tricking, stealing, blatant manipulation—as long as they get what they want, it seems to all be fair game.

That’s kind of the thing about putting ourselves and our needs above those of anyone else. If we are all looking out only for ourselves, the one who “wins” is the one who is the most cunning, or the one who is the most willing to engage in less than good behaviors. However, Philippians 2:4 reminds us that we are not to look only to our “own interests, but also to the interests of others.” That doesn’t mean that we have to completely neglect ourselves, but it is also certainly not license to treat others unfairly or in a way that is less than. In fact, Christ himself reminds us in Matthew 7:12 to “Do unto others what you want them to do to you.”

I was pretty happy this morning to feel quite content that I was not a schemer like all of these early Israelites, but then I slowed to think about my day yesterday, and the sheer number of times that I put my needs first. Not in major ways, in fact, in pretty minor ways that may not have even been that noticeable, but still ways in which I could have chosen to put what someone else wanted first, and I instead chose myself. One of my prayers for myself for this new year has been that I will be a better friend and family member. However, as is so often the case, I feel like part of the answer to this prayer lies with me. I need to actually BE a better friend and family member.

I say all of this not as indictment on anyone (or even on myself), but more as an encouragement that it is still early in the year. We all still have a chance to be more like Christ and less like the families in Genesis. We can choose to put the needs of others first—often in small ways, and occasionally in big ways. Maybe that looks like taking out the trash or unloading the dishwasher (AGAIN), like giving up control of the remote for a night, or like helping with the horror that is math homework. Maybe it looks like giving up a cozy night and exchanging it for showing up and being the listening ear that you know that person needs. Maybe it looks like choosing to forgive, even when its not asked for or deserved.

My prayer for each of us this year is that as we continue on in to 2021, we will be a people who love other people. May we choose love. Love instead of manipulation, love instead of our own ways, love instead of comfort, and love instead of selfishness. May we choose love.