Thursday of the 4th Week of Easter
Acts 13:13-25 | Psalm 88:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27 | John 13:16-20
Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly. (John 13:17)
In other words, “happiness is harmony in mind and action”.
There’s an oft-heard and distressingly universal “Beatitude” that illustrates a different take on this philosophy: “Blessed are the gong-gong (Hokkien for ‘stupid’), for ignorance is bliss.” The underlying logic is bizarre yet compelling: If you don’t know something is “wrong”, then you can’t be faulted for doing it, so it’s better for “personal advancement” not to delve too deeply into moral and religious stuff.
My parents never taught me to respect my elders, so I’ll park my well-toned butt on the only remaining train seat and focus on my Facebook. All the better to ignore the hunchbacked old lady who just boarded.
Aiyah, wife, you don’t give me sex, I go elsewhere to get it lah! Adultery? What’s that? They covered it in Sunday school? So boring, I slept through the whole thing!
Hmmm, somebody dropped his wallet. WOW! $350! Oh, there’s an ID in here. Better not look at the address on the back. Don’t see, cannot return, HAPPY HOUR!
(Yes, I was on the wrong end of that last example.)
Once we know what’s right and wrong, then sins of commission and omission will inevitably gnaw at us. It’s never a pleasant feeling, but we should welcome it as a sign of spiritual growth. We just need to fit deed to thought, and thus attain the bliss of harmony with God.
Lord, open our ears to your Holy Word, our eyes to see You in the people around us, and our hands to do right by You and by our heavenly Father. Kindle in us the desire to know You more each day, that we should never turn away from You for personal gain or earthly comfort. Amen.