By: George William
If one looks at our culture today, he sees that it is filled with grown adults behaving in the same manner for which we’d discipline a child. Specifically, a child who’s entered the phase that we as a culture have affectionately termed “the terrible twos.” We have named this stage of life as such because, around this time, the child thinks everything is about him and that everything is his. It’s all about me, me, me, me, me.
This “terrible twos” phenomenon in adults is most evident in certain cultural/political movements and on social media.
The LGBT movement has always been about one’s own self-gratification and forcing the world to accommodate that gratification. For the longest time, the movement’s slogan was “Why do you care what other people do in their bedroom? It doesn’t affect you.” But that was never going to be enough. Next, the activists wanted such legal accommodations as hospital visits and property transfer when the partner dies. Society acquiesced. But they still wanted more. Next came the demand that same-sex unions be recognized as totally indistinguishable from a normal marriage. But even after that was granted, they still wanted more. Now, men who make zero effort to make themselves look like women want to be recognized as such and have the same legal protections as women: play in women’s sports, have access to women’s only spaces like bathrooms and spas, and even be housed in women’s prisons. And if you have anything to say against it, you’re banned on social media or even, in some countries, arrested.
No-fault divorce was another policy pushed under a false slogan, in this case, “What about women who are abused?” But, in all reality, it was just another move for self-gratification. If you no longer feel happy or loved, you can just get up and leave, throwing your obligations and responsibilities to the wind.
Because of no-fault divorce and the broken families it has left behind, there is now a counter-culture movement commonly referred to as the Manosphere. This movement borrows biblical language, such as the man being head of the house and leading the family, to justify some men’s desire for women to serve them hand and foot.
Now, we come to social media, which has led people to believe that the world is interested in everything they do. We have people recording themselves in public behaving in the worst ways:
- being an inconvenience to others;
- losing their minds when someone enters their shot;
- women recording themselves in the gym so they can accuse any man who glances their way of being a pervert;
- walking down the street with whole camera crews to catch people looking at them so they can claim it’s because they’re beautiful and not because they have a whole entourage.
All this in hopes of getting the attention they crave.
Well, I have news that is shocking to most people. Your life is not about you. Not in the slightest.
A friend of mine recently wrote an article on this subject. If we look at the Bible, we see that much of it is about putting other’s needs before your own.
For example, in the family, a husband is given several obligations, which can all be summarized as putting his wife before himself. Ephesians 5:25-33 provides the most extensive treatment of the husband’s responsibilities:
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
At first read, people see “and gave himself up for her” and think of Christ dying on the cross. While this is a correct interpretation of the phrase, there is another. It is about the husband giving himself up daily for his wife and leading her in holiness, serving her as Christ came to serve (Matthew 20:28), and satisfying her needs as one would satisfy the needs of his own body.
Of course, wives have their own role of service in the family as well.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:22-24
This is not a command of lower stature, indicating that women are beneath men and meant to serve men hand and foot. Actually, this is very similar to the command that has been given to men, just in a different form.
Let’s look at this from a military perspective. A General is to care for the men under him. He must make sure they have housing, food, and the gear that they need and do all in his power to ensure they get home safely. In turn, the soldier is to entrust his life entirely into the hands of the men above him so that the conflict may be won and they may go home safely. The family functions in much the same way.
A husband is to lead the wife in the spiritual war that is raging in the world and in our souls. God has given this glorious and terribly frightening responsibility to men. We will be rewarded for our successes and responsible for our failures. Likewise, the wife is to submit to, that is, trust, her husband’s leadership responsibility. And as the husband serves her and her needs, she is to do likewise for him.
But what about in the world outside of the family? The Biblical commands in this regard are again about putting others before yourself.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4
Again, we are being called to serve and not to be served. Romans 12:9-21 (a section subtitled as “Marks of a true Christian”) is almost entirely about putting others before yourself, even one’s enemies.
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.[b] Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[c] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Finally, we must put God before ourselves. This is by far the most formidable task.
The clearest example of this responsibility in scripture is simply the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” This command is all-encompassing. It does not specify only pagan gods but covers anything in life we put before Yahweh, including ourselves.
What comes to mind next is Matthew 22:35-40:
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
I could go on and on, for truly, the scriptures are all about serving and honoring God as He is above all, but I will close with one last passage: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Our lives have absolutely nothing to do with us who live them. Our lives are to be marked by serving others, considering others greater than ourselves, and God greater than all. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. We are nothing but dust. How great is it to live a life focused on dust and vapor? Turn your focus outward, towards others, towards Christ, and in that, there will be glory.