My Little Devotional: "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul"

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “She Talks to Angel”

Fluttershy and Angel Bunny had reached a point of contention in their relationship. While Fluttershy had tended to animals living with her for years, Angel was accustomed to being her particular spoiled and pampered pet. However, things underwent a change when she opened the animal sanctuary. Now Fluttershy had the bulk of her time devoted to taking care of the various incoming and outgoing animals, and as a result Angel was no longer having any of his own concerns listened to (as Fluttershy was the only pony who could understand him). At the same time, Fluttershy was growing increasingly incensed at Angel’s demanding behavior when she was busy all day. Both individuals were becoming so wrapped up in their own issues that they failed to notice how they were upsetting the other one.

After one of Zecora’s potions ended up allowing the two to spend a day in each other’s shoes, both of them discovered that they were both right yet, at the same time, both wrong. While both had a legitimate complaint, they also had been so focused on their own grievance that they failed to acknowledge or respect the side of the other individual. It was only when they could appreciate the other’s perspective that both ended up resolving the other’s issue (Angel helping Fluttershy out, which in turn gave her more time for him).

One of the core messages of the Bible is that a person should not only be concerned with their own needs but concerned with the needs of others. Both Lord Jesus Himself as well as the Word emphasizes the need for the Christian to be the servant of all.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13)

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”” (Mark 9:35)

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Yet as anyone who has ever seriously busied themselves about caring for others can tell you, this is far easier said than done. Caring for people can be mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting…or a combination of all three depending on the situation. We only need to take a moment to think about the people in our own lives who have given of their own time and energy for others (or even for us) to realize how much extra work that requires.

So it might be understandable that when we already have busy lives that involve care for others and a crisis or problem pops up that we can feel pushed to the breaking point. Or, perhaps more generally, that we can be in a state where we’re going through a rough patch or working on serious problems and, as such, we want to neglect other matters or even other people that we feel we can afford to put off.

We can all think of examples of those times. The classic one, of course, is the parent who works later to try and ensure financial security for his or her family, but ends up having to omit more personal time at home. Or maybe someone is so behind on housework or spending time with their children that they want to cut out church visits on weekends so that they can have more time to catch up on both. Or someone simply finds themselves so awash in taking care of their families and day-to-day tasks that they don’t have any time for anything extra that involves service or outreach. Talking personally, as I’m working full time and back in school, I want to “cut corners” where I can to give myself more free time, including excusing myself from family events or trying to push off things such as my praise and worship or even this devotional while I’m stuck working on hard projects. Point being…there’s a lot of times where we have to prioritize or even “triage” things that we think are valuable and try to pick what we can omit so that we have more time to get the other things done.

The problem, as I’ve noticed in my own life, is that this sort of behavior eventually becomes a pattern. Then the pattern becomes a habit. And finally the habit becomes a lifestyle. When that happens, I end up becoming like Fluttershy and Angel in this episode. I reach the point where I can’t see beyond my own problems, needs, and routines that I need to get done every day. And even if those problems, needs, and routines are important, I’ve ended up reaching a point where I’m now used to regularly omitting or dismissing “lower ranked” important things.

“Yes, I know I need to go to church today, but my house is a mess and if I don’t get this laundry done I’m not going to have clean clothes for work tomorrow.” “Yes, I know I should probably go see my nieces and nephews, but I’ve got work and school to worry about and if I want to pass and keep my job I need to get this done.” “Yes, I could probably lend a hand at that event, but I don’t have time to set aside for it with all of these things I need to do and I can’t waste half a day on it.” “Yes, I know I should spend more time in praise and worship, but I can’t focus on it right now anyway because I have too much to do and God already has all of these people praising and worshipping him.” Eventually, I start thinking of those things as being a needless nuisance. Then I stop thinking about them all together.

And this gets to be the worst when it comes to relationships with others, especially God. That’s when passages such as the need for service seem to be annoying pains in the neck or irritants that are demanding more of our already limited time and energy. It’s times like that in which it’s tempting to be like Fluttershy and Angel in this episode—to wish that the other individual would recognize just how important our own needs are and would stop making things harder by pushing their respective needs on us.

However, this episode showed that if Fluttershy and Angel had focused on caring about each other’s respective needs and issues then they, in turn, could have solved each other’s problems. By setting aside more time to Angel, Fluttershy would have made him feel more acknowledged and cared for; and by respecting Fluttershy’s responsibilities and lending a hand rather than giving more tasks, Angel would have given her more time to spend with him. They ended up only hurting themselves by neglecting their relationship with one another, even for things they thought were important.

While Lord Jesus did indeed emphasize the need to become the servant of all and highlighted how, in many times, that will result in us finding ourselves “lower” or subservient to everyone else’s needs, I tend to think the end goal wasn’t individual self-abasement but more of the situation from this episode (which is another example of why Christianity has both an individual element as well as a collective element). That by each of us making ourselves available to each other, we will, in turn, end up solving the issues that ironically keep us from making ourselves available to each other. While there are definitely people and situations out there which are toxic—which do nothing but take from us and give nothing back—we can also find peace, support, love, and acceptance by making time for people who, in turn, care for us or make us better and more respective people. In short, the ends of service and outreach are not simply to practice good stewardship and work, but actually come back to benefit us when people we aid are, in turn, motivated to help us too—enriching both the community and our lives as a result.

When it comes to God, like with all healthy relationships, it’s a two-way street. We constantly turn to God for support and aid with our issues, fears, and worries. In turn, his answering us should free us up to be more at his service and, as a result, at the service of others. It should stimulate us more to want to understand him and his thoughts and heart, so that we can better act in accordance with his will. That, in turn, challenges us in new ways so that we return to him to ask for help and support again, to which he responds by helping us grow further, which allows us to return to him more readily, etc….all leading us to growing to be more like Christ (2 Peter 3:18). But it all starts with us acknowledging what is important and making time for it.

My suggestion for today’s devotional is that we not wait for a moment like in this episode in which we’re forced in a rather rough and humbling way to see what, or who, we’ve been neglecting or ignoring. Instead, I think we could all stand to take a little time to evaluate what our priorities are in our lives and if we’ve been moving something or someone that we know is important “to the sidelines”. We may want to consider whether we should give those things a little more thought or time.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that you do not simply desire to dictate things to me, but instead want a close and intimate relationship with me. Please help me to always have ears open to hear and listen to what you wish to say to me. And grant that when I pray and you answer my prayer that I might turn all of the blessings you have given to me back to you, to grow in faith, hope, and love as an imitator of Lord Jesus. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”