that the wrong choices seem better than the right choices?
that it’s really easy to be selfish even though you know it’s wrong?
that you know you can choose to forgive and move on, but still hang on to past hurts? even though you know you’ll be so much better off if you just let go?
common sense eludes me often.
you?
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14 responses to “why is it…[common sense]”
I can’t wait to talk.
let me know when you get some answers to this.
sin. sinful nature. fallen creature.
DaveAllen got it.
letting go of pasts hurts has always been super difficult for me. i’ve never looked at it from a perspective of common sense. when looking at it that way, it is such a duh thing for me. still hard, but duh. i so desperately want to get it right.
got any good resources or links on temptation? we are talking about that in my youth group for the next month and i get to lead the girls small group this wednesday. small groups in that context are not my gift…but i am giving the gift of time to our youth minister who has several major projects due this week for school….any thoughts would be more than appreciated.
I think the apostle paul say it beautifully…”That I don’t want to do I do”…
too often…
Self desires to be lord.
I’m right there with you. It’s so crazy. Logically, letting it all go makes perfect sense, but it’s not that easy.
I think it is easier for us to feel sorry for ourselves and think about what we deserve than thinking of how much God loves us, has done for us, and that we are called to turn around and do the same. It’s a tall order, but it makes us feel better to blame others, think about all that’s wrong, or complain, than to go forth and love. It’s horrible really!!!
I hear ya. Wow, do I.
On the forgiveness piece, I’ve come to realize that what God does for us isn’t an arrangement ? an impersonal cosmic policy for absolving us of what we’ve done. It’s actually a relational transaction, a spiritual exchange that happens, like pouring dirty water out of a cup and being refilled with the good stuff. One of the root words for ‘forgive’ means “to pick up and carry away.”
All we have to do be real with either our guilt or anger, depending on the issue (vent it), and give Jesus permission to pick those nasties up and carry them away. Then we ask him to come and do just that, believing he’d love nothing more. And he does it (though I’ve seen that many of us need another person to help us with this, like in a confessional). I have never once prayed this way with someone and seen them either feel guilty or still angry afterward. Not once.
But yeah. This doesn’t fix my fickleness. It just helps clean up the mess.
Because it’s easier to stand still than to push forward. Because maybe we feel a little safer playing the part of the screw up. I, for one, never like the pressure of living up to expectations… what better way to get rid of that pressure? Lord help me, I’m in this mess right now…
Because it’s not really common sense … it’s uncommon sense, which is why we don’t always follow it.