The chapter speaks specifically about responsibility toward society. Paul is giving God's command as to how our society should piece together and operate. How no member of any society is any better and how we should all be working together for the common good.
God has given each person a gift, or maybe a few gifts. Because this is a God given gift, he expects us to use the gift to glorify him.
So right away I see a HUGE problem with the way I experience life. If I'm reading this scripture correctly, some people will be born to be teachers. Some protectors. Some givers. Some people will be born with a talent to lead or write or sing or create beautiful works of art. Some will be born with an innate ability to build or calculate or discover. God has created just enough people to do the right amount of work according to their God-given talent, and once a person discovers what that ability or talent is and can begin using it to glorify him - alignment and ultimate bliss becomes the norm.
If this is the case, how did our education system get so screwed up? How are we not looking into the Bible to realize that even two thousand years ago Paul was telling us that all men are not necessarily created "equal". We are created equal in God's eyes and are all loved unconditionally - but we are all vastly different, and therefore we need to experience life differently - including how we are educated. What we need to have is a system that helps us to discover our God-given talents and abilities and then helps us to develop them.
Instead what we have is a system that is broken and has been broken for hundreds of years. A system where we make an attempt to fit billions of square pegs into round holes for the sake of "equality", "opportunity", and "citizenry". I call Bull.
We have broken billions of people because we have tried to undo God's plan for them.
Years ago I read Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh. I cannot, for the life of me, find my copy of that book, but I recall a question that God answered about humanity and his plan for how we should live, and God specifically speaks about how he envisions life to be. He, again, speaks of people's true talents and abilities as the way they should be living life. That if each of us used what God gave us first, the puzzle would piece together, and there would be enough people doing each and every job that we would never be without.
But instead we start teaching our 3-year-olds how to read by memorizing words and pictures so that they can "get a head start" on the others. We reward those who excel at reading, writing, and math with art, music, recess, and social time while those square pegs get their talent areas taken away so they can develop in areas they have no business developing because they are not cognitively ready like their peers are.
All children are not created equal. They are all beautiful and important in the eyes of God, but listen to me when I tell you that we have created a society that has destroyed itself because we have forgotten that we have claimed to have been created by the grace of God. If God's grace gave us this promised land, then why have we used man's will, greed, and need for power to destroy it and the people who populate it? Every. Single. One.
As an adult I chose my livelihood partly on what I wanted to do, but when it came down to it - money, benefits, outlook, and chance of advancement were my ultimate goals. And I began to crash about fifteen years into it.
What did you love as a child? What passions did you have? What were you really good at? How do those things weave into your life today? If they don't, think again about where you should be. Is this really your place, or does God have a different plan for you? I know I've been praying for guidance and will continue to pray as the beauty of my life finally begins to unfold.
Perhaps you should too. For what better model for your children than to allow them to see you be what God has created you to be! Namaste.
