Live Life With No Regrets!Noone One Owes You Anything. Not!
"Noone owes you anything." That's one of the quick rejoinders heard when you get disappointed when things don't go your way, or perhaps there were unmet expectations.
I had to endure this recently when I turned down a job in Jakarta. Then I learned a hard lesson that people when people ask you to do something, it's really for their own interests. Even when you object with your own personal reasons (taking course, pursuing own business, Christmas time is dangerous, etc), they will pursue their requests for their own personal interests without considering yours. I learned the hard lesson that you do have to take care of your own interests and say a firm "No", becuase they aren't looking out for yours.
But Romans 13:7-9 says:
Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
So really "Noone Owes You Anything" is really a teaching from man, not God.
The unfortunate thing is... we are surrounded by men who don't believe they owe you anything.
We owe one another a debt of love. Each one of us. Unfortunately not everyone believes that.
The world doesn't believe that. A lot of cases it's everyone for himself.
"For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." (Phil 2:21)
Paul wrote the above, because he too experienced the loneliness and abandonment from people who thought were his friends. He had enemies, he wept (Phil 3:8). Not everyone in the church eagerly supported his ministry, except the Macedonians. He has experienced selfish co-workers who preached the gospel out of envy and rivalry. He has terrible enemies, whom he calls "dogs".
Yet the book of Philippians shows that he is rejoicing in spite of all this. He talks about humility and the knowledge that "the best is yet to be."
[A thought to ponder: Are we supporting any Pauls in prison? Or are we so busy going about our business?]
"Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips"
(Anne Frank's statement is too often quoted out of context and it is too simplistic. If all men are basically good, what is the point of Christ's redemptive work on the cross? Bruno Bettelheim is quoted: "If all men are good at heart, there never really was an Auschwitz; nor is there any possibility that it may recur" (Anne Frank. Reflections on Her Life and Legacy.)
But Paul writes and encourages the Christians to:
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil 2:3-4)
Galations 6:2 says: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." but at the same time in 6:5 says "for each one should carry his own load."
What can I say for now? Further study and meditation required. So we have to carry our own load and as well as our brothers.
