Oscar, our cat, drives me crazy. As the picture depicts, Oscar lives entirely for his own pleasure. It doesn't matter whether I ignore him or adore him, nothing changes. Oscar is wired for survival. If I was small enough he would eat me. Since I am too large to eat, all Oscar wants me to do is feed him, change his litter after he deposits his processed food, and let him stay in the house when its too cold.
In some ways Oscar represents the present state of our society. We live like cats. We believe that we are at the center of the universe and everything does, or at least should, revolve around us. We get upset when it doesn't play out that way. If someone doesn't clean out our litter soon enough for our satisfaction, we deposit our refuse on the floor instead of the box. Even if they are diligent in meeting our needs, we, like Oscar, just want more. The truth is, such self-absorption is a miserable existence. We can never be truly satisfied or joyful. The play we use to enjoy as "kittens" disappears the longer we live a self-absorbed life--just like Oscar.
How do we Christians react to such a self-absorbed society? Too often I react like I do with Oscar--I get offended and/or mad. Why is that? I tend to live a cat-like existence--to put myself at the center of the universe. When I give in to that, Oscar--and other self-absorbed beings--rub me raw. I want to lash out at him. Two self-absorbed beings have immense trouble getting along when they live in close proximity.
But what did Jeremiah the prophet do? No one ever listened to him. Nothing ever changed. Like our present society, having rejected God, Israel was living like a cat. They were totally self-absorbed. Jeremiah's message of repentance and restoration of God as king didn't resonate well with their self-absorbed hearts and lives. They not only rejected his message, they persecuted him.
But Jeremiah did not lash out. He wept over his people. That's why this book is called Lamentations. When his people were taken into Babylonian captivity under the judgment of God, Jeremiah lamented. Lamentations 2:22 (NIV) "In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed." His lament reminds me of the attitude of our Savior as he looked over Jerusalem. Luke 19:41-42 (NIV) As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. "O God, give me a heart like Jeremiah, or better yet, like Jesus, that I may lament a rebellious, self-absorbed people, rather than lash out at them." Will you join me in that prayer, not only for me, but for yourself as well?
Do you think that's why God gave me a cat?
2 comments:
I will join you in praying this Tom. You have Oscar, we have Norm, I think we all have at least one self absorbed 'person' to rub against. As you have said here, so we know we are self absorbed too!?
Thanks for the reminder to get out of my self absorbed world! This is something that I have been struggling with, as a selfish person who wants to give unselfishly of my life. My prayer is that I will become more than that "self absorbed person" people in my life rub against!
Jill
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