"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"
Colossians 3:18-23
Living heartily sounds kind of Pirate-ish to me. And I think sometimes we feel piratical trying to do this sort of thing. These are tough things that we are asked to do. Submissiveness is difficult, especially for selfish pirates, right? We want *our* way, not someone else's. Love is also hard... something that we have to work at and maintain, despite the immature fable of modern media. Obedience is difficult, because we can't always see the purpose. Watching out for how we affect other people is challenging, especially when we are used to just thinking about how things affect us. Sincerity and honest effort can be hard when we are doing things that are not what we want to be doing. And it is hard to be happy and hearty about what we're doing if someone else is choosing it.
First paragraph makes life seem kind of bleak, but let's step back from the Pirate perspective for a moment, and think about all of this. If we pull the ego out, doesn't the whole thing become a lot more palatable? It's not that hard to submit to people we love. It shows that we trust them, and it's love when we are willing to compromise because that will make someone smile, and we find that the smile is somehow better than what we wanted anyway.
We can let go of bitterness, we can accept guidance and give encouragement, we can remember that it really *is* our choice to be every place that we are, and make the most of it. We can turn bad situations around, we can make a difference in other people's lives. We just have to let go of that poisonous pirate pride that keeps asking "what's in it for me," and realize that we already know.
God is in it for us. And if we do everything in our lives as though we were doing it for God, he will consecrate everything that we do to our good. We'll probably have to give up the pillaging and looting, but we can still live heartily. :) As we do everything in our lives heartily, as unto the Lord, our blessings will be also be hearty... we'll learn to be better, less selfish and more loving people, and we'll be happier than we could ever be trying to do it our own way.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"
Colossians 3:18-23
Living heartily sounds kind of Pirate-ish to me. And I think sometimes we feel piratical trying to do this sort of thing. These are tough things that we are asked to do. Submissiveness is difficult, especially for selfish pirates, right? We want *our* way, not someone else's. Love is also hard... something that we have to work at and maintain, despite the immature fable of modern media. Obedience is difficult, because we can't always see the purpose. Watching out for how we affect other people is challenging, especially when we are used to just thinking about how things affect us. Sincerity and honest effort can be hard when we are doing things that are not what we want to be doing. And it is hard to be happy and hearty about what we're doing if someone else is choosing it.
First paragraph makes life seem kind of bleak, but let's step back from the Pirate perspective for a moment, and think about all of this. If we pull the ego out, doesn't the whole thing become a lot more palatable? It's not that hard to submit to people we love. It shows that we trust them, and it's love when we are willing to compromise because that will make someone smile, and we find that the smile is somehow better than what we wanted anyway.
We can let go of bitterness, we can accept guidance and give encouragement, we can remember that it really *is* our choice to be every place that we are, and make the most of it. We can turn bad situations around, we can make a difference in other people's lives. We just have to let go of that poisonous pirate pride that keeps asking "what's in it for me," and realize that we already know.
God is in it for us. And if we do everything in our lives as though we were doing it for God, he will consecrate everything that we do to our good. We'll probably have to give up the pillaging and looting, but we can still live heartily. :) As we do everything in our lives heartily, as unto the Lord, our blessings will be also be hearty... we'll learn to be better, less selfish and more loving people, and we'll be happier than we could ever be trying to do it our own way.
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