Many of my friends believe that you and I are not complete without our aggressive and evil side. The premise follows logic based on success and survival on the world’s terms. I find ample evidence that if one measures one’s life using the value system of the society in which we live, then a combination of good and bad is probably necessary. The world states that we need a drive that operates on the ends justifying the means. Survival dictates that we eliminate our opposition to stay alive. Capitalism by definition includes words like exploitation and resources. We treat people, supplies, and nature as ingredients measured and controlled to achieve an anticipated and leveraged amount of profit. This is the way of achieving our potential.
Do we really need oil and water in our souls to survive? Is it necessary to have mercenary characteristics to achieve the maximum?
I see God offering us a different value system. God’s bases his value system on the foundation that people are his children and are priceless. We choose to explore our own ways; meanwhile, he continues to offer us a way into relationship with him, promising that we will realize our destiny and experience everything life can and will offer.
The tension between God’s way, the world’s system, and our way plays itself out in the tension of our soul on a daily basis. I find the world’s value system, and mine, based on the foundation of individual achievement and self-realization. God’s premise lies in faith (trust), doing things for others (love, unconditional acceptance), and walking in partnership (trust again).
I want to follow God’s way but “I” gets in the way. It is as if “the moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.” (Romans 7.22)
The answer lies in God’s grace to deal with it all.
