A few days ago, one of my children was “having a bad day.” She had tried to play with her sisters, but no one could agree on a game and so it descended into a heated debate. She then tried to draw a picture, but it did not turn out as she wanted and this led to further tears. It all became a bit overwhelming and we agreed the only solution was a short nap to reset.
Such “bad days” are not limited to 7 year olds however…
Truth be told, I woke up in a bad mood today. I had not slept that well and then my youngest woke me up early, refusing to settle back to sleep for even a short time. I got up with her, and she scattered cereal across the floor and covered items in orange pen that were perfectly good the colour they were. I let these things feed into my mood and it is not unfair to describe me as “grumpy!”
Ever had a day like that?
If I am totally honest, the source of my grumpiness is really just plain old selfishness. I didn’t sleep well… I woke up early… I didn’t get to start my day the way I wanted… Count the “I”‘s here…
Selfishness is about looking inwardly, and it means our focus is solely on ourselves and not on anyone else. Now it is perfectly fine to take care of yourself at times, but sadly most of us are addicted to comfort and getting what we want. If we do not get what we feel we should have, then we throw an adult fit of one kind or another. For me, this often looks like a fraying or shortening of the temper. I sit down to do something, and life (or children) have other plans and I react badly, feeling hard done by.
It only takes a short time of reflection to realise how good I’ve got it. How many couples would dream of being woken early by a child, and do not have the chance? How many homeless men and women would dream of having a living room to clean? When we fix our eyes on what we do not have, we end up feeling like we are somehow missing out. Yet when we focus on what we do have, it leads us down a path of gratitude.
Yesterday I was thinking about Paul and Silas in Acts 16.
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:22-25 (NIV)
Paul and Silas had become involved in something of a controversy. They had cast a demonic spirit out of a slave, and she could no longer perform the fortune telling her owners required. This led to an uproar, and as we see above, Paul and Silas were in trouble.
They were stripped before the crowd, which was a major humiliation. Then, they were beaten with rods. These were not a gentle correction, but a severe beating. It is likely they were bruised, bleeding and probably with broken bones. The pair are then thrown into the “inner cell.” This was perhaps the worst cell in the jail, and being in the middle of the complex, had no windows and hence no daylight. Paul and Silas would not have been able to tell the time, and this alone would have been torturous. Lastly, we they are put in stocks. Again, these are not the ones you might have seen on TV, but equipment designed to stretch and contort the body in painful ways.
Now that’s “having a bad day!”
How did this Christian pair react? They sang hymns of praise to God! Even in that dark and painful place, those two focussed on what they had and not what had been taken away from them. My grumpiness pales in comparison to what they were facing, yet they acted far more godly than I did.
What are we willing to put up with for the sake of the Gospel? What discomfort are we willing to undergo for the benefit of our families? What are you willing to sacrifice for the need of someone else?
I confess my bad start to the day and ask the Lord to forgive me. I also ask Him to help me get my mind off of myself and on to how I can be a blessing to someone else. The cure for selfishness is selflessness. That’s something of a mouthful! Ultimately we replace one thought with another, and that means we replace thinking about ourselves with thoughts of other people and what we can do for them.
As Jesus hung on the cross, He did not think of Himself but on those He was there for. We see that from His words asking His Father to forgive them.
Let each of us follow Christ’s example today and be willing to suffer – even in small ways – for the sake of other people. What does that look like for you today?
Andy Brown 