Friday, September 23, 2011

THINK ON THESE THINGS - FRIDAY


STRESSED AND DISTRESSED


Yesterday's message/devotional on "CRUSHING" seemed to have touched a nerve on an issue we must address. There was some amazing response, which you will not see in the comments section of the blog. Therefore, I have postponed the daily look at Hebrews 11 (the Faith Chapter) until Monday. Today, I wish to speak to what is becoming a huge problem in families...and that thing is RESPECT.


My friend Lynn Mosher spoke about the 'Aroma of Crushing'.  It was a beautiful premise which underlined Christ's teaching about the grain of wheat having to fall to the earth and "die" so that beautiful wheat fields can be produced.

What also seems to be dying daily is the spirit of many young people - women and men - in the workplace! It is especially so for many young mothers, who are moms of kids from toddler to college age. It pertains to an increasingly out of whack balancing of a stressful work environment , where the demands to excel are increasingly conflicting with the duty of childcare, education and well-being of the family unit!



In the Sunday Message, I will go in depth into Anxiety and other issues and how to deal with them, using the Word of God. Today, I wish to briefly look at one side of this equation to inspire any mom reading this to not let the hyper-caffinated daily drumbeat devour her in a hostile, oppressive environment.  


"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:19 (New American Standard Bible).

More and more women in the workforce are being viewed as sex objects and I have witnessed this first hand. Most men like myself have no problem with women supervisors as most of my own supervisors have been women. Having been brought up by a single mother (after my dad died when I was 11), I have nothing but respect for women.



But what is disconcerting, after a generation where the clouds of "sexual harassment" hung over the workplace (especially after the 1980's and 1990's Tailhook and Clarence Thomas scandals), is a brand new paradigm of "whatever"! This paradigm is powered by the ease and seemingly lack of accountability in social media relationship; sleazy reality shows on almost EVERY TV channel in America and a culture where more and more young women are using their bodies shamelessly.


As a result, because some working and/or professional women find themselves stretched by the demands to help pay (with their husbands, if they are married) the bills; pick up the kids at daycare or run Joey to football practice, they are sitting ducks for exploitation. What I am witnessing with great shock, is the ease some of this is manifesting itself in flirting, inappropriate lunch dates and extra-marital flings. To be sure, any man who has an affair with a married woman is both culpable and out of his mind.


While yesterday's message was on "Crushing", today's focus is all about on "Respect"....namely - "Self - respect". Nothing can be done, in the short run, about the demands of family, if we have children. This is called life. What we can affect is our conduct.  Some of my fellow male employees have to keep their eyes in their heads and have some sense of morality, for goodness sake. Exploiting a vulnerable stressed out lady is as despicable as attacking a referee at a school soccer game for making a call against your son.


At the same time, there will be less stress in those situations, which you and I observe, could be diffused and avoided, if appropriateness in dress and demeanor is practiced. I am not picking on women here. This is a suggestion which may lead to some pigs, who call themselves men, from taking advantage. Whenever possible, we men of God also need to step in, pull some of these men aside (whether they are Christian or not) and tell them to knock it off, respectfully. In some cases, we will have no influence or opportunity as some of the men are in higher positions than we are. In this case - PRAY!! Yes, pray!


While we are at it, let's pray for families; latch-key kids and all moms of all ages who have to work just to survive and make ends meet, just like the rest of us. Remember...the Key Word for today is  RESPECT....and it all starts with knowing who you are in Christ and WHOSE YOU ARE! Once this is understood, we can handle any situation! Agreed?


"....but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin..."1 John 1:7 (NASB).












3 comments:

Derrick Boyd said...

You are definitely correct about the lack of respect. I work in a school and the ideas that these kids have is way off. Some of them are in church regularly and still say they don't care what the bible says, they are going to do what they want to do. There is little respect in authority for some, and the treatment of the girls is appalling. And some of it is coming from the supposed church kids. We need to be the ones that set the example of how to live. God Bless You.

http://boydweeklydevotional.blogspot .com

lynnmosher said...

I agree! Respect has become a dirty word. Hubs and I were just talking about this the other day. It's so disheartening. Thanks for speaking up on this. Bless you!

The Bernie Lutchman Blog said...

@ Sister Lynn! you know it was the response to your Crushing repost which started this! I may be a faily good bible teacher, preacher etc but am learning from YOU how to get to the heart of a subject directly, and touch people where they live! Thank you for your work and friendship and willingness to share. We do this for the Love of Jesus, nothing else! AMEN!

@ brother Derrick - you know what is also sick etc---that 16 yr old mom show on MTV, music videos, Katy Perry, Lady Gagmewithaspoon etc etc...and you're right about church kids...we have more carnal christians making us look bad by their fleshly pursuits, cliques, materialism and what have you. Now Christianity has become all about entertainment rather than the Holiness of God and a right relationship with Him!! Appallaing brother!

God bless you as well!