Tag: needverse

81 – Know Your Reason: Because I Want To

Take ownership of your choices. The best way to do this is to keep your reasons, proofs, explanations, and defensive evidence to yourself. The supreme proof that your choice is right comes in the resulting aftermath.

Those who keep their silence until the ending evidence has the last word—through slander, provocative accusation, gossip, doubt, even coup and impeachment—will be left standing after the dust clears. There’s a time to talk, especially to delineate decisions and implement action, but that is different from babbling on about the justification and rationale for what you do. Of course, a little philosophy about why you do what you do won’t hurt, as long as you’re not using philosophy to build a case in your defense or trying to prove that an idiot is an idiot.

Just talk as you need in order to finish the task at hand. Don’t fall for the trap of someone asking you why you did what you did as a way of convincing you to do something differently. If you are a fool and headed in the wrong direction, listen to the voice of wisdom, but don’t change merely because someone debated your reasons. If you should change, proof that another way will succeed requires no discussion about your reasons for the failed method. That works in reverse as you deal with other people.

Keep your eyes on your own path, never why another path is wrong—and never let others tell you why your path is wrong, but only why another path might be better. Once you’ve heard them out, make your decision and press on. Don’t explain yourself; friends don’t care and enemies won’t accept your reasons anyway.

When you reject “indefinite discussion until others agree with you”, those others will call you “unfriendly”, when the underlying issue is that you disagree. Stay on task. Actions speak louder than words, let them.

Get a reputation so people already know your answer when they ask why you do what you do, “Because I want the results that follow.” Eventually they will stop asking, then you can focus on your task. If you deliberate, it’s because you value discussion more than results.

80 – God with Us

Jesus was born so that God could be with us. In his first life on Earth, Jesus had to die for our sin at the Cross. But, he was with us the whole time. And, he did it so that he could be with us forever. God came down and lived among us so that God could come down and live among us.

He seems far off at times, even though His daily provision and creative wonder nearly drench us every moment of every day. Still, as much as we want to behold God’s face, He wants us to behold His face. But, first, we must know and understand Him, which we can do if we seek Him. This is a temporary process in our growth and development, not God’s permanent plan.

Very soon, likely within a few thousand years, God will show Himself to us directly and we will be with Him forever. He longs for this infinitely more than we do. Every moment until then prepares us for Eternity with Him. This is the meaning of “Emmanuel”: God with us. Jesus is Emmanual.

The Infinite, Eternal, Uncreated, Inapproachable God Most High is perfectly known in the man Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When he was on Earth, people could look at him and understand the personality and nature of God and His character—conversing with Him directly, not through a third party—when they talked to Jesus. We will do the same.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus’s Spirit, so we can have conversation and friendship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, yet on a different level of reality. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives in our physical bodies, God is also with us in comfort and meaningful fellowship. The Bible is the Word of God with us, placed at our disposal.

Even simple events that God works through to help us and show us that He is near—even history, in a way, puts us in the presence of God. Paying attention, reading the Bible, praying, worshiping in deed and song, listening to God—all of these things bring us to a place where we interact with the Infinite God Who is with us.

79 – All Ends Judge Their Means

It is said that the ends justify the means; in fact they do, but only ultimately. Many short-term, narrowly-focused, greedy people exploit the wisdom of the end standing in judgment over the path that led to it. They also exploit the need to break eggs for the greater work of the omelet. When used wrongly, the principles still hold, but the application to their circumstance has been counterfeited. Like any counterfeit, the good concept is usurped for a false notion upon a dark purpose. Short term ends do not justify corners cut for fleeting results. But, in the End of All Things we look back and see that whatever road guided us to Life was worth its passage.

The destination of every journey will look back on whatever effort arrived at its result and there decide whether it was good or evil.

Not everything ends well. Dishonesty, theft, opportunism, fake ingredients, faulty materials, and any disingenuous shortcuts fail to produce; they only steal from tomorrow’s profits. Life is indeed a “zero sum game” in a world without morals and standards of equal, two-way conduct. In the End, the zero sum of the zero sum game renders the verdict against itself, that the means lacked the synergism that results from the mutually respectful conduct of a life of morals.

Doing harm in order to achieve some “greater good” doesn’t actually lead to that greater good; it at least detours from it and at most leads to an even greater evil mislabeled.

Levying bribes and shorting quick change don’t lift people from poverty, it anchors them there. Honesty escapes the “zero sum game”. Morals spawn synergy, giving lift to wings. The happy ending vindicates the hard road we traveled. It does not excuse selfish injury of others, but it rewards self sacrifice and delayed gratification, even when circumstances and parents force the fruits of patience upon us.

Glad endings don’t miraculously justify wicked means, but whatever end will stand in judgment over the paths we choose. The end will have the last word. When you live your life in preparation for the end to which you will answer, you set your destination straight and calibrate your conscience.

78 – Trust, Thus Verify

Every claim, every accusation, every critique—listen to the unedited recording, the full interview, read the whole book. Talk to the accused in person. Examine at the facts with your own eyes and hands. Perform an experiment yourself. Never agree with an accusation without seeing the proof yourself.

If you are the one accused, don’t panic, but answer the charge publicly. Tell the truth for all to see without even naming your accusers or even the accusation. Present the proof as openly and availably as possible.

Even if an accusation is true, we must evaluate the evidence to verify that the description of the problem is what it needs to be. Maybe the charge is not severe enough, maybe the defendant will lie—in which case questioning him tells us the most important information! You will never know without examining the evidence for yourself.

Basic Bible study, journalism, evaluation—anything about life—demands that we examine evidence for ourselves. There is nothing more credible about an opinion than having asked to see the original evidence for oneself, without taking any pre-position whatsoever. There is nothing more discrediting than believing a report without first seeing some kind of proof—at least to understand more. This is easy to agree with in theory, but in the heat of life’s battles, it is easier to forget. Not prejudging in those times when we feel it is right is one mark of a worthy leader.

Ronald Reagan referred to this with the words, “Trust, but verify.” My own words are, “Trust, thus verify.” Trustworthy people seek to have themselves verified. Never trust someone who acts offended at the idea of asking for evidence—whether to produce evidence or to review it.

At the very least, we lose our ability to think critically about the matter when we reach our conclusions based on someone else’s word. Don’t depend on others to think for you. That makes you a slave to ignorance. Verifying facts, evaluating them for yourselves, and developing a unique opinion even when you agree with other people’s conclusions is a central part of critical thinking. Verifying claimed facts is part of human dignity as the Image of God.

77 – Know When to Answer Rhetorical Questions

Every question deserves an answer. This is basic human respect. Never imply that someone doesn’t understand grammar. By not answering a rhetorical question, you do just that. Questions deserve answers.

Answering a rhetorical question does not mean you need to argue with the rhetorician. You can answer rhetorical questions respectfully. Failing to answer them is the disrespect.

People who believe that rhetorical questions are statements—not questions—have trouble communicating their thoughts. Whether they ask the rhetorical questions as a way to make a statement or they fail to answer rhetorical questions, confusing language makes language confusing. No matter how complicated we twist it in order to work it all out in our minds to somehow “make sense”, asking questions without expecting answers is bad practice. Over-complicating things in one’s mind will make communication even more difficult, whether listening or expressing oneself.

Jesus said, “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’.” His literal meaning is to take language literally; that’s wise, smart, and good all around. Not being able to get something off your chest makes like very difficult. When you need to say something, say it! If someone needs to tell you something, listen!

The good practice of answering rhetorical questions will make you seem a little “strong” to people who don’t share the same practice. Be kind to them, but don’t act ignorantly just to avoid confusing the ignorant. Set a good example for people to follow. It’s human nature to complain about a thing we respect the first time we encounter it. Let people encounter your answers to rhetorical questions.

By answering rhetorical questions directly, you will train your mind to see through many passive-aggressive traps. The simple way to slice through squirmy manipulation is to interpret everything literally and state everything literally. It’s not easy for a snake to squeeze a broadsword.

Passive-aggression is like pushing someone through a closed window with a pillow. The aggressor doesn’t have “aggressive form” and holds a mere pillow. But, it’s not form that makes one aggressive; it’s initiating injury. By answering rhetorical questions, people will accuse you of “aggression by form”, but you will both learn and demonstrate navigation through anything.

75 – Lay down God’s Law with Yourself

God’s Word is a book, not a cudgel. It’s guiding principles and lines on the highways of life are not a license to boss others. God’s Word’s rules are for your own self-enforcement.

God’s Word doesn’t have all that many rules, it mostly teaches about understanding how God thinks and works. The more we understand God and His ways, the more we will understand whatever happens in our lives—both why God does what He does and what we can do as His Image by responding in this life. The best way to know what God would do as a human on Earth is to study the life of Jesus. As you slowly transform to understand how God operates, hold yourself to the “God standard” of how to think and operate.

There are rules in God’s Word, of course, but they too must be studied and contemplated in order to be understood. A classroom can familiarize one with the words and their locations in God’s Word, but actually understanding God’s Word is a personal, life journey. This takes time, both regular dripping and intense downpours.

God’s Word’s rules are paradoxically simple; remember this every day. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is an overly simple concept to grasp, but implementing it can never be perfected, even in a thousand lifetimes. You are certainly going to fail and transgress.

Keeping God’s rules does not mean “never breaking” them; it means that we keep pressing toward the destination. God’s Word is an ethics compass, a moral orientation. You know in what direction you must go; go there! When you stumble on the jagged terrain, get up and keep going. Don’t lie down for dead under the misconception that Heaven only accepts those who never fall down.

Heaven accepts everyone who can stand it. Heaven is awesome, partly because everyone loves everyone else as themselves, also because everyone there knows that God loves them. That’s a hard law to lay down. But, if you lay down Heaven’s law in your own life every day—love others equally, worship God only, and keep going—you’ll prepare yourself to enter Heaven, be transformed there, and then usher Heaven throughout the universe.

74 – Lay down Others’ Law with Others

At times, you will need to lay down the law. It’s never fun, especially when the law has been ignored. It makes people feel constricted and oppressed, no matter how valuable the law may be to people who obey it. Painting lines where we once roamed freely isn’t fun.

Some laws, however, should not be implemented. No man-made law anticipates every scenario, this is one reason for courts. The purpose which a law was written to achieve is the common question asked by every judge and debated by every lawyer. Once enforcement of a law serves against the initial purpose of the law, even a hard line judge will want to throw out the court case.

This is much more normal in legal courts than among friends, family, and corporate hierarchies.

Companies will often enforce their own rules long after they have out-served their purposes. Unbending parents will refuse to give circumstantial flexibility to their own rules, even under comparable circumstances that highway patrol would let someone off on a moving violation. Don’t be so rigid in enforcing rules that you rule yourself a fool.

Sometimes, the hard line law to lay down relates to basic respect to humanity. Those are the rules you should lay down everywhere you go. If a shop keeper insists that an old lady stand in the rain rather than in his store, step in and tell him that the lady will stand out of the rain and he will have to figure out a way to deal with it. If he is “only” a clerk fearing the wrath of his boss, tell him that his boss should fear your wrath if he doesn’t act with humane decency.

Lay down the law, mainly the humane.

Sometimes you must firmly stand for your own rights, even if you’re the old lady needing a dry place to stand. It could be password-only access or policies about giving information over the phone. Beneficial laws need enforcement for everyone’s sake.

You may need to enforce a “shoes off” policy, even in someone else’s house. We step on all kinds of filth and disease. As inconvenient as cleanliness is, somewhere shoes must be taken off.