My Little Devotional: "Nah, It'll Be Fine"

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “A Horse Shoe-In”

The “Great and Powerful” Trixie may be a lot of things, but one thing she isn’t is good material for running a school. Therefore, it was pretty clear to the people watching this episode that there was no chance that her trial run as Vice Headmare was going to end well. Nevertheless, Starlight Glimmer not only had her go through with it but kept passing her through the process in spite of some pretty obvious red flags. She was keen on the idea of being able to work with a close friend in her new position, and that biased her judgment until things got so bad that she blew up at Trixie and made a bigger disaster than what would have happened if she just said no at the start.

In the course of our lives, it’s inevitable…we’re going to see other people make blatantly obvious bad choices. It might be something like what Starlight did with Trixie in this episode, in which warning signs are ignored in favor of giving a friend special treatment in consideration for a position, even if they’re not really suited for that job. Or perhaps, we spot someone in public blatantly cough, hacking, and sneezing violating pretty much every social distancing rule in the book along with every common sense personal hygiene one. Or a friend who we know is strapped for cash and not in the best financial shape is boasting about having an extravagant fairy tale wedding or luxury vacation for two weeks. Or perhaps someone we know who makes incredibly bad decisions under the influence that have ended up self-destructive in the past is, nevertheless, going to party with an emphasis on drinking.

The worst one of all for me personally is relationships. I’ve seen family members who are divorcees fall right into a new relationship, get engaged, commit to large joint purchases such as a car and house…and, the whole time, I know the personality problems that ruined the last marriage are all still there. Sure enough, the new marriage ends just as quickly as the old one. Or one particularly troubling family member. He joined the service fresh out of school and, as people who have spent a long time in the service can tell you, there’s no shortage of individuals eager to get married to these new servicemen to secure a meal ticket and insurance. Not only has this family member fallen victim to this but, in spite of being taken advantage of, he stubbornly refuses to see what’s going on and has only distanced himself from the rest of his family to avoid being chastised over it.

Yet as infuriating and aggravating as these situations are, my last story up above illustrates an important part. While a bad decision might be blatantly obvious to everyone else in the world, odds are it isn’t to the person who is actually making the bad decision. That sounds fairly straightforward but it’s important to keep in mind. People don’t normally go around looking for poor decisions to make and then willfully make them. And they don’t stay in situations that are unhealthy or toxic because they know they’re ruining their lives. With very few exceptions (and then usually only when they’re naturally reaching the breaking point), people make poor decisions because they get something out of it, however minor or seemingly trivial, that’s important to them.

The person who violates disease guidelines may be putting themselves and everyone else at risk, but perhaps the real reason they’re violating these rules is because, deep down inside, they know that to acknowledge the guidelines is to accept that the sickness is real and just as dangerous as the experts keep saying…and that scares them. So they’d rather act in a way that pretends none of it is real so that they won’t be scared of what it could do to them. Maybe the person who spends far beyond their limits has spent their whole lives growing up having family members or those around them showing off their relative importance or even personal worth by things they spent, or have been suckered by the idea that they aren’t really anyone unless they “follow their dreams”; however impractical or expensive they might be. In the case of that one family member I mentioned above, the truth is he’s made a lot of poor lifestyle choices as a result of never really having much external motivation to be responsible for himself as he was growing up, and he wasn’t exactly the most social or popular of people. Consequently, he has a lot of self esteem issues, and they’re only made worse by the fact that he continues to make poor decisions that compound the idea that he’s foolish and incompetent. Hence, he’s gone to the only one who not only never criticizes him but praises him simply for being there…even if she’s taking advantage of him.

Bottom line: sometimes making the right choice isn’t as obvious as we may think it is, and sometimes recognizing the wrong behavior or, at least, concluding that it isn’t a good tradeoff isn’t as easy as we might think.

As Proverbs 14:12 classically warned: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”

And in that same vein, we should be cognizant of that when we scrutinize ourselves.

Odds are more than likely that all of us do at least one habit or behavior that other people don’t quite “get”, as that’s part of the human condition of everyone being different. Yet for many of us, it probably goes a bit further than that and we’ve actually been told, in so many words, that we’re engaged in a behavior that’s not worth our while or even self-destructive. Perhaps we’ve even sat down and considered that before during times of prayer or introspection, especially if we normally keep said habit or behavior a secret from people. And perhaps we’ve paused at times and actually considered if what we’re doing is entirely healthy for ourselves or, worse yet, whether or not it’s truly in line with God’s Will.

If you’re anything like me, my guess is if you’ve had those thoughts, you immediately did what Starlight did: you focused only on the benefit you were getting out of it, concluded that it was better than any potential negatives, and then rationalized that you should continue as you were doing. And since I’ve had this situation happen to me, I can easily see it happening to other people no matter how frustrated I become with them.

In the Book of Judges, particularly chapters 13 through 16, we read about the judge Samson. He was one of the only true superhumans of the Bible; possessing strength beyond that of any normal man due to a nazirite vow placed on him since birth. Yet he also had an affinity for non-Israelite women…in particular women from other nations who were hostile to Israel. And although his parents tried to warn him against it, he dismissed their concerns and pursued them. Eventually, it led to his own downfall in spite of several large red flags that the woman he was pursuing was planning to sell him out to his enemies. Nowadays, we can look at his situation and shake our heads and criticize his stupidity, but perhaps the real reason that story is in the Bible is to warn us against a similar fate that we could so easily self-deceive ourselves into falling into. That our own friends and loved ones could constantly warn us about the dangers and consequences of our actions, yet all we could choose to see and hear about is the small positive gains.

The truth of the matter is change isn’t easy. It’s uncomfortable, awkward, unpleasant, and requires a lot of discipline. And no one gets engaged in a bad behavior and stays in it without having a degree of familiarity or growing accustomed to whatever perceived “benefit” they have from it, and are scared at the thought of life without it. That’s why, as with so many other of life’s difficulties, we are encouraged to turn to God and rely on him for help–not only to make change where change is necessary but to even be brave enough to recognize we need to make the change.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)

“…yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10)

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7)

As my suggestion for today, the next time we go for a bit of introspection or someone points out to us something we’re doing that perhaps isn’t in our best interest, let’s all take a moment to see if there’s any merit to that, and pray to God to reveal if we really do need to make a change in our own lives for the better. Furthermore, the next time we try to deal with someone, especially a friend or loved one, who we know is going down a path of self-destruction, perhaps instead of criticizing the behavior itself we should try and take a few minutes to figure out what is driving this person to make those choices. Addressing a person’s more intimate needs might go a lot farther than giving them a scolding or sermon.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that when we truly listen for your voice and command you will confront us with our sins and wrongdoings…not for the purposes of condemnation, but for repentance, redemption, and freedom. Please deliver me from the sin of self-deception, and grant me the bravery and character to face up to my sins and transgressions and repent of them. And if there is anyone in my life who I know is engaging in the sin of self-deception, please confront them with the truth in a way they will be able to recognize and accept, and help me to always approach them, first and foremost, from a position of love while trusting in your care. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”