Like "The Incredibles," the scene has turned on the rescuers. Around the Band of Christian Brothers and Sisters, a rescuer is someone who swoops in, because they feel value when they do, to enable someone to continue in a destructive, dysfunctional behavior. Bad rescuer. Go away.
One of the costumes I've worn as an imposter, is the hero. I can rush in and fix this situation that has reached critical. But that grows tiresome when it was because of my inattentiveness that the situation went awry. In the Royal Rangers ( a boy scout like organization me and my son do), they have a life saving merit. The only thing though is that you can't earn the merit if you were the cause for the life threatening situation. Say you pull your buddy out of a burning tent on a campout... you can't get the merit if you were the one who caused the fire.
So as you can imagine-- rescuing is somewhat a dirty word.
But my wife made a comment today that I'm chewing on. Jesus was a rescuer. God rescues. Peter and John outside the temple didn't have money, but they rescued the paralytic who was begging. I get so caught up in the "dysfunctional rescuer" that I can get a bit twisted. In other words, I'm with Peter that day, saying "look at that guy... he needs to just get a job. Wait... Pete, what'cha doing? Aw man, if you do that, you'll just enable his 'victim' mentality!"
I have no doubt that Peter walked past lots of people who were in need of rescuing. But on that day, he said "silver and gold have a none." What this says is that I'm not God... I'll let Him decide what to do. I will just be a willing vessel. There might be times when He impresses on me to take some action. Other times He might say leave alone.
This requires a little work on my part-- I need to make sure my communication lines with Him are up and working.
I hope you don't get tired of me commenting, but I like your posts. You make some good points.
ReplyDeleteSince we're already talking religion, forgive me for throwing in a little politics. I -think-, based on this blog of yours, that you're probably a republican. I say this because that concern about rescuing people seems to be a common thread among republicans. Sometimes I think they are so worried they've forgotten the difference between handing a dollar to a beggar and throwing a lifeline to a drowning victim - or maybe they just want to be sure they'll get paid for the rope. ;-)
It's easy to stand there puzzling over what to do. It's hard to make a decision and act. But, if you're willing to own your mistakes, action is a lot more productive than waffling over who deserves, or who needs, or who is going to die if they don't get help. It all depends on what you're willing (and able) to sacrifice for another's life.
Good luck with your quest.