I have a friend who used to talk to me about his aging mother in a disparaging manner. In fact, I’ve had bird dogs that would break on point that didn’t get maligned as badly as he talked about his mom. Sometimes in listening to him I wondered if he might consider buying a shock collar for her for Christmas.
Yes she treated him shabbily as a child (and beyond) and when she got old and in a home for the aged he wanted nothing to do with her. In fact, she treated everyone shabbily throughout her life, and now no one wants to even be around her. She ended up all alone, sick, miserable, and still full of venom; no doubt a victim of herself and her own actions.
He seemed to view it as: His mom was mean to him and as far as he is concerned she can just sit down there all alone and die. From a human perspective it may be tempting to think like that, but God’s laws are not from a human perspective, and He will not bless that kind of thinking.
I reminded my buddy that honoring your mother and father was in the “Big Ten” and he needed to think about this. I told him that I’ve always viewed the Ten Commandments as the “meat and potatoes” of how we should lead our daily lives. I believe the closer we can come to observing them, the happier we will be.
Not long afterwards the Holy Spirit got hold of him and he got to feeling so guilty about it that he now goes to see her at least a couple of times every week. She still treats him like a redheaded stepchild and her venom is no less paralyzing, but “he” seems happier now.
While this is a paradox to the unbeliever, it makes perfect sense to the believer because we understand that God’s laws supersede human frailty to include even our “eye for an eye” mentality. In the end our obedience including forgiveness is not about the other person so much as it is about “us”, and God’s peace of mind. We cannot find it, if we disobey God’s laws, (especially one of the Big Ten).
Peace is often a missing ingredient in lives all over the world. The most heavily prescribed medications in the United States are anti-depressants and society spends billions on them.. I, Dr. Bob, prescribe the “Big Ten Commandments” as the most effective anti-depressant of them all. Take them each and every day and your depression will be gone in no time, and you can live a joyful, peaceful life full of hope and love.
WARNING: For best results take all ten each day. Remember New Testament believers are freed from the bondage of sin through the love espoused in the Ten Commandments. Loving a nasty mean old mom has an antidote that leaves us refreshed and feeling good. Jesus reiterates this for us in the two great commandments. It is for us and our good that He did so.
Matthew 22:36
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets”