Watchword for the Month
1 Cor. 6v12 “’Everything is permissible for me’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’ – but I will not be mastered by everything.”
Dear reader/listener, this word ‘everything’ is a scary word! And to make it even scarier it seems here to be coupled with the word ‘permissible’ which when mixed together is dangerous. I’m sure that the vast majority of you will agree!
When one goes to places like Valkenberg or Lentegeur Hospitals in Cape Town you will find the victims of these dangerous words. I am sure that most of such ‘victims’ once also had those brave words in their minds and on their tongues: I will not be mastered by everything. A relative of mine and his friends have recently started with a similar recovery facility to help those who could not escape the dangers involved in being unable to control themselves.
This meditation is not compiled to scare you but to help us face the reality of what Paul is warning us about. The many images of ‘Everything is permissible for me’ are not impossible to find. The other day I was with friends who were searching for a lost friend when I noticed the many young people standing around on the street. A grandmother then commented on what she is exposed to in her area every day. It makes her sad that she is not in control of her own situation anymore. It drives you
crazy to try and keep our children away from everything, she says, knowing what is nowadays available to anyone anywhere. The victims become the patients of concerned families, individuals, and institutions.
Our modern society has with time created the impression that we are totally free to test, to experiment, to try everything available to us as we enjoy the freedom of being in charge of yourself. The sad part of this lifestyle and perception has led the inexperienced and uncontrolled mind to believe that you are master of everything. I reminded myself just now of the words from a song that could easily have fitted into this thinking: ‘Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you’. The lyrics review some of the simple ways in which couples and people on a broad level can get into arguments and trouble. A world order based on competition and survival of the fittest has already excluded those who cannot fit into this competitive approach to life.
It is simply frightening how even the simplest experience in life can become a troublesome one in one’s life. Many cravings, desires or needs have turned into destructive paths in life! Who would have thought that love, the affectionate emotion of the gift of the Spirit, could become or lead to a dangerous uncontrolled end result? I like to watch murder stories on TV which tell the tales of people whose lives have become out of control when everything wants to be permissible by the unstable minds in any society. Have you ever sat in a Crèche and watched the kids play? You may have also become nervous by some of the exchanges seen among our sweet little ‘babies’. Where the word ‘mine’ can end up in blood and tears and in a flurry of bewildered staff with phone calls to parents and carers to please come fetch your little one.
The possible remedies to all these cases can be spiritual or psychological or whatever comes to mind and has either been tested or becomes experimental. One of the first applications or references may be found in the starting point of the problem itself and that is in discernment. Do you really know yourself? Do you know your limits? Do you simply know the meaning and use of the words YES and NO? Attached to this one may be the need to discern for yourself the power of whatever you are busy with. Yes, many of us do not stop at warnings and want to try-out for ourselves – knowing there are always dangers involved. Not even the Ten Commandments will prevent you from seeing if it will master you.
Let me conclude by quoting from the text from which our Watchword for the month is taken: You are not your own; you were bought at a price. V.19b-20a. Whenever I conducted a baptism I spoke to the parents about receiving a child and the three promises we make before our Lord. On the first question we promise to receive this child as his property and return it to Him but also giving account of our conduct in this process. Have we sufficiently instilled in our child the seriousness of being
careful to discern what is permissible in life and what not? Remember: one day you will have to give account before God of things in your own life – what you did and what not; what went wrong and why; what was beneficial and what not. So, well done if you have been able to master your choices to be successful to this day!
Prayer: Dear Lord, help and guide me to become a true master of my life that will be honoured and praised by you. Amen.
Augustine Joemath (Bishop)