"Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren."
1 Corinthians 6:7-8
Why don't we take wrong, or let it go? Why don't we suffer ourselves to be defrauded? That's hard... I know that some things have happened to me in the past where I was clearly cheated or taken advantage of financially. And I have let some of those things go, but it was really, really hard. I'm thinking about why, and maybe it is just because I felt gullible, or mocked, or stupid... believing the "taxi" driver on my first trip into Manhattan from the airport for instance. I thought that I was cheated because I seemed like/was an obvious tourist. Targeted. And other things seem to have that in common. The situations made me feel stupid or vulnerable. ... And maybe that is most of it. We want to be smart and cool, and when people make us feel dumb and stupid, we want to fight back. Pride, mostly. Maybe, if we could step back with a little more humility, we'd see that the wounds to our pocketbooks were minor, but to our egos quite large. (I'm definitely not saying that anyone should stay in an abusive relationship, by the way. I think that is beyond the scope of this verse.) And even when there is more damage than just ego, this is still an interesting question that is posed to us. Why do we go to law with one another? Why don't we accept wrong, and fraud? ... and in the second verse, why do we do the same things to other people? These are our brethren... our neighbors. They are part of our Zion society that we are trying to build.
In some cases, there might be a valid answer to these questions. But before we go out and start a lawsuit, or treat someone poorly, or cheat... today, let's answer these questions for ourselves, with God's help. Let's not treat each other as strangers. :) Let's treat each other as siblings and friends.
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren."
1 Corinthians 6:7-8
Why don't we take wrong, or let it go? Why don't we suffer ourselves to be defrauded? That's hard... I know that some things have happened to me in the past where I was clearly cheated or taken advantage of financially. And I have let some of those things go, but it was really, really hard. I'm thinking about why, and maybe it is just because I felt gullible, or mocked, or stupid... believing the "taxi" driver on my first trip into Manhattan from the airport for instance. I thought that I was cheated because I seemed like/was an obvious tourist. Targeted. And other things seem to have that in common. The situations made me feel stupid or vulnerable. ... And maybe that is most of it. We want to be smart and cool, and when people make us feel dumb and stupid, we want to fight back. Pride, mostly. Maybe, if we could step back with a little more humility, we'd see that the wounds to our pocketbooks were minor, but to our egos quite large. (I'm definitely not saying that anyone should stay in an abusive relationship, by the way. I think that is beyond the scope of this verse.) And even when there is more damage than just ego, this is still an interesting question that is posed to us. Why do we go to law with one another? Why don't we accept wrong, and fraud? ... and in the second verse, why do we do the same things to other people? These are our brethren... our neighbors. They are part of our Zion society that we are trying to build.
In some cases, there might be a valid answer to these questions. But before we go out and start a lawsuit, or treat someone poorly, or cheat... today, let's answer these questions for ourselves, with God's help. Let's not treat each other as strangers. :) Let's treat each other as siblings and friends.
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