we are the government

Tuesday February 3^rd, 1 Corinthians 8: ⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. The unfortunate tendency throughout history is for individuals to turn their focus inward toward their individual rights and away from the needs of the community. One could say it all started with that tree in the garden thing.   The whole “government is not the solution, the government is the problem” focus of the last several decades is an example.  It denies the fact that, in essence, we are the government and our abdication of that responsibility does not usher in some great society, but rather open the gates to the robber barons like those of the late 20^th and early 21^st century.  Our children may not exactly thank us as they pay off the debt of those who have gained so much.  In a true Christian society there would be no need for taxes because every individual would gladly give, to the best of their ability, for the needs of the whole. But we all know that doesn’t work in church and it certainly doesn’t work in society.  In reality everyone tries to get by with contributing the least they can get away with for the needs of the whole while padding the needs of old number one. In the midst of all the greed going around, personal, corporate, and governmental, we are called through scripture to set aside some of our desires for the sake of the whole. We are constantly being called to move from the needs of the “Me” to the needs of the “We.”  Christ gave his life so that “We” might have life. What are you willing to do to help bring this about in the world?