“It’s my life”
How many times have you heard someone say, “It’s my life, I’ll do what I want, my choices are mine to make”?
How many times have you had those same thoughts?
The gist of this is that people want left alone to make choices and do not want anyone to say something different than the agenda they believe they should pursue. In other words, don’t get in my way or try to change my mind.
While this attitude permeates many mindsets, how does it actually play out in relationships, community, work and society at large?
Do the decisions you make simply affect you and you alone? Contrary to that thought and more in line with reality, almost every choice has repercussions, either small or great, which affects others, whether in small or great amount, or in short or long term timeframe.
Consider the person who drinks or takes drugs then drives, getting behind a vehicle impaired. Consider when that person crashes, injuring or killing innocents. Does their right to drink take precedence over the safety of others?
I needn’t even get into the choices of unprotected sex and the real ramifications of transmitted diseases, or the long term results of unhealthy diets and low activity levels, which lead to higher health care costs for everyone.
How many of us have seen the selfishness of irresponsible spending habits that handicap not just future retirement plans, but even shortchange immediate family members here and now. Or the egotism that ruins relationships because someone only considers themselves when betraying the person they’re supposed to be committed to.
Example after example could be given by anyone who has experienced even a little from the self-centered decisions and inconsiderate actions we have witnessed of those individuals who move in a narrow-minded mentality of , ” It’s my life and I’ll do what I want since it only affects me.”
Everything you do effectively affects someone else.
All of your actions, decisions and choices have outcomes and aftereffects that encompass others.
How many times have family members or friends had to bail out, suffer through or be victimized by this rebellious and unsupportable way of thinking?
This is far removed from Romans 12:10 NIV that says “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
When we don’t take into account others, then we are discounting their lives, feelings and progress to dishonoring the relationship.
Or how about Gal 5:13B-14 NIV Rather: serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in keeping this command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Let’s be honest here: Would anyone want done to them what they do to others?
How would some people react if others considered them with the same indifference and reckless disregard as some ill-mannered, self-absorbed mental juveniles do? When will some people grow up?
Life is not all about you. There are others who do not wish to be disproportionally put out for reasons they had no input or control over.
It is a spiritually calloused human who refuses to see past themselves.
The, “It’s my life” crowd cannot co-exist harmoniously with regular folks who understand that sometimes we must subordinate the me, myself, and I for the we or us.
This principle especially pertains to Christians when we apply 1 Cor 6:12-20 as it refers to this attitude of having a right to do anything and the fact that we belong to Christ and we are not our own. V19B. That we should take into account our rights weighed with God’s claims.
This becomes more profound as Christ came as a servant, went and died on the cross for our sins willingly, considering others, preferring others, humbling himself and giving up his life freely for all.
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Blessings.