Self-Examination
Several years ago, we were on one of those long road trips. You know the ones where everyone is asleep except for the driver (hopefully). In order to stay awake, I tuned the radio to a talk show (caution, political example given but not carried forward). The program host was just starting and his intro described his as a conservative first, a patriot second and a Republican third (and he emphasized third).
This got my attention because I interpreted this to be his way of announcing not only what groups he considered himself a part of but there relative importance to one another. I started thinking about how I would describe myself. The highest priority was easy for me - I believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God and my personal redeemer. I determined that nothing or no one could change that as my number one value (I pray that if I ever approach a Job situation I can kept that affirmation).
“Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let thy glory be above all the earth.”
Psalms 57:5 ASV
From that point, I had to think a little more. I knew my wife and son were next but should I rank them? I love both of them and they are immensely important to me. After careful consideration, I determined that being a husband to my wife had to rank above being a father to my son.
“And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” - Genesis 2:23-24
A little more background, our son is in his mid-thirties, married and has his own 2 year old. My rationale was that if I was somehow put in a position where I had to choose, my wife is a part of who I am but my son has his own wife to define who he is. By the way, I’m not sure my wife would decide this the same way showing how hard it is to rank these.
There are lots of other groups that are important to me in life. A relatively new one is our 2-year-old granddaughter. I love her bunches but I know that I’m just her Grandy (my preferred grandfather name) and not her parents. Others, I would categorize them as seasonably important. By that I mean that over my life, these groups have come and gone. For example, and please don’t take this personally, our church family is very important to me but I’ve been a part of other church bodies of believers where I’ve had to leave them because we’ve moved. Even when I consider how much I love my cat, I realize that she is my 4th cat I’ve had and maybe not my last.
In a Bible class this week, I learned a new word - “Multifarious.” Multifarious means having many varied parts or aspects. Fortunately, for me, this was presented as acknowledging that each of us has a multifarious identity and our challenge, and the churches challenge, is to prioritize them in the right way.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33 ASV
