It's What People Do

Edited from Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

"It's what people did." A friend of mine said this to me this morning while explaining away a behavior she knew in her core was wrong. I am not in any way judging what she was sharing; God knows I've done worse, but the phrase, "It's what people did," struck a chord for me. Actually, right after she said it I stopped hearing her and I was totally focused on that phrase. I began to think about things I have done, not because I wanted to, or even spent any time thinking about the right or wrong of- I just followed the crowd. Her point was if we could have known or realized what was in fact important back when we were younger, how would that have changed things in the in-between time. Would our adult kids feel differently about their faith today? I have been living life very differently from the crowd since I met my husband. He knew we were doing things differently but he embraced it. His leadership affected our entire family culture.

Then I started thinking about societal norms as a whole, and how we form them, and realized it has always been this way. As I have come to understand the Old Testament I can see how it happened, dating back to before Moses in Egypt. In a brief (very brief) summary, Joseph earned the respect of the Pharaoh and saved both Egypt and his people from famine. His father and brothers relocated and were given land by the Pharaoh because of Joseph's position. Then, 400 years passed before Moses's time and in those 400 years the Hebrews did what the people did. However, it was against what God had told Isaac and Abraham. They knew what they were supposed to do, but over 400 years it became less important, and living as the Egyptians lived seemed to be fine. So, during those 400 years, Pharaohs changed and the Hebrews became enslaved.

Moses freed them but they had to wander the desert for 40 years to learn to live according to God's law again. I could give examples of every time since then that people who should follow God instead did what the people did, but I am confident you could make those connections yourself.

Here is what is remarkable to me: we still do it! It is a statement that can be applied in the past tense, but also in the present tense, and for those with future vision you can see it will be the same in the time to come. Why? Why is it so hard for people to look to, obey, and honor God? I am not counting myself above it; believe me. When I examine my life, the areas I wish I could change are times when I was turned away from Him. I could say I didn't know, but that is only an excuse because though I did not know or understand as I do today, I did know (in my gut) what was right and wrong. I just followed the people, not God.

Today I live my life very differently. I hope I have been an example for my children to live differently and for them to be an example for their children to live differently. I will be forever grateful that God brought me and my husband together (it was literally the turning point in my life), and that my husband is very comfortable being different.