December 19

“He was willing just to be another member of the human race again, doing what everyone else did and requiring no more special attention.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 12/7

Eugenia is talking about the lame man who wanted to be healed.  We wonder, “Why wouldn’t someone want to be able to get around freely?”  Eugenia, I believe, has rightly pointed out he wanted to be healed because he no longer desired special attention.  How often do we hang onto an illness or even a sin because it gives us special attention just like a child who misbehaves when they feel neglected? Perhaps anything we justify by the fact that it’s due to a weakness is actually an attempt to feel special.  Even if we do not receive attention--as so many homeless people can attest to--perhaps the reason we do not accept God’s help is because we would then be just like everyone else.  This should give me pause the next time I complain about anything.  Have I not received what I desire because I do not ask?  And do I not ask because then I will no longer be special?  We’ve become a society who makes it our business to seek attention.  The reality programming on TV, I think, proves this.  It seems half the nation wants their 15 minutes of fame.  Our children are being raised to desire the limelight.  We must be very careful, then, that the example we set does not further this desire.  In fact, we should go even further and tell our children what they should desire and that is to seek to be humble.

“Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”  Hebrews 2:1, 3a