Cycle

I love to go white water rafting. Living in Tennessee, it’s not too far of a drive to get to the Ocoee River, one of the better strips of white water in the country. There’s a thrill in the feel of being at the mercy of the river with swift moving water and rocks all around you protected only by your little rubber boat and the knowledge of your river guide. Occasionally people fall overboard in the middle of a rapid and have to float further downstream where the other members of their boat can pull them back in. On one trip however, a friend of mine was met with a bit more excitement. He happened to fall out of the raft in a rapid that had created a vortex near some large rocks. He regaled us with the story afterwards of how he was sucked under the water and couldn’t surface due to the cyclical nature of the vortex. He said, “I was kicking and swimming to get to the surface but the rapid kept cycling me back through over and over. I couldn’t break free. Finally, the rapid released its hold on him and vomited him back to the surface again, coughing and sputtering, but overall, fine.

Cycles

I often use the concept of getting stuck in a cycle with many of my therapy clients. So many of them seem to be miserable in their life circumstances but feel stuck, as if they can’t escape their struggles. “I just can’t go on like this anymore,” “What am I supposed to do now?” What’s fascinating is that the majority of the people sitting across from me on the couch in my office know what is wrong. They even know what they should do to fix the dilemma that they’re currently in. As their counselor, I often ask the surprising question, “What do you think you should change in order to fix your problem?” Many of them look up, confused, perhaps wondering why the person they’ve come to to get the answers is the one asking them this obvious question. It is then that I ask it again. “What do you think you should change in order to fix your problem?” I can see the cogs in their heads turning as they process this strange concept.

There is a quote commonly heard that it credited to Albert Einstein. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So often, we get caught in a negative cycle, knowing how to escape it, yet being continually pulled back into its grips. Maybe it’s a bad relationship, a bad habit, a string of business failures. We know the very thing that we’re doing wrong, yet we do it again and again, each time meeting with grief and distress that the outcome is the same.

Paul writes in Romans:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Romans 7:15-20 NIV

Most of us know what is right and what is wrong. We just don’t do it. Life tends to happen and we make poor decisions based more on our own selfish desires rather than on the desires reflecting God’s nature. This cycle of selfishness and “I want” mentality keeps our cycle running strong generation after generation. Paul says that we are incapable of escaping this cycle left to ourselves. In fact, try as we might to do good, we continue to do evil. Only Christ living in us can transform us into the creation that God intends for us to be; a creation that brings glory to Him.

Greed

Money is one of those topics that we rarely want to hear talked about when it comes to religion. The stereotype of course is the preacher who stands up in front of the congregation at budget time each year and preaches a rousing sermon about tithing and how God expects everyone to give according to his or her means.

Scripture speaks much more about money than just giving to the local church. In fact, money is one of the most frequently talked about topics anywhere in scripture; especially when it comes to the topic of greed. Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright, the money changers in the temple, and Judas’ betrayal of Christ are just a few examples of people who gave up their morals and ethics for the almighty dollar. Ok, so none of them used dollars but you get the idea.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5b

The almighty dollar is used today, however. Nearly any person can take a moment, stop, and think of a person he or she knows that compromised his or her values and ethics for a few extra American greenbacks. Oftentimes, the excuse is, “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.” This theory maintains that what is done in business has no connection with what is done in one’s personal life. Sometimes business is separated from all other aspects of life. Church may take place on a Sunday morning and then early on Monday a cutthroat business deal may transpire destroying people’s very livelihoods in order to save a few dollars.

How easily we separate and rationalize the decisions we want to make in order to help our stomachs and our heads digest them a little more easily. Good companies that began for noble reasons oftentimes take a turn toward insatiability and greed seeming to never be full and always wanting more. Corporate Financial Gluttony has perhaps been one of the Satan’s greatest tools in America. It conveniently gives us something seemingly valuable and stable to strive for, all the while slowly whittling away at our souls.

I heard a recent story of a small business owner who used less than honorable tactics to do away with an employee thus producing more profit for his business. The company was not doing well and he needed to cut a salary. Rather than laying the employee off, he resorted to “business” tactics. He verbally abused the employee hoping that he would have enough, get frustrated, and simply quit the job. The employee stood firm so the businessman had to resort to harsher tactics. He loaded the employee down with so much work (outside of the employee’s expertise) that the employee was sure to fail. Naturally, the employee began to make some mistakes in his work. Threats of termination were mixed with the silent treatment as the business owner refused to make eye contact and talk with the employee. Finally, the business owner walked in unexpectedly one Friday and fired the employee. No explanation, no severance package, just, “You’re done. Leave.”

Now this situation could have been handled much more professionally and with a touch of humanity in the mix in order to preserve relationships and not burn bridges. Dare we even mention an addition of Christian ethics and values into the business world to treat others the way we would want to be treated? Oftentimes, however, this is not the case as it cost additional money. Treating someone with respect and dignity in the workplace takes effort. Effort on one front causes decreased productivity on another. Decreased productivity leads ultimately to less revenue which leads to an impossibility to treat others with respect the next time around the cycle.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert.” 1 Peter 5:6-8a

Another example is that of corporate America. I heard another story of a company that was initially created to make a difference in people’s lives. It was a humanitarian effort; all about helping people help themselves. It quickly morphed into a machine of bad policy and poor ethics where employees were forced to work less at changing lives and to work more at making the company money. The machine grew and grew opening up new branch after new branch until it could barely sustain itself. One day, a tiny pin was thrown into one of the cogs of the machine and it started to sputter, clink, and clank. Greed had pushed the business leaders to spread themselves too fast and too thin. The business began to ache and rumors spread about collapse and closing. Ultimately people lost their jobs, their sense of purpose, and their trust in the company that was at first created to empower others. (It doesn’t hurt to mention that as layoffs loomed, upper level executives received end of the year bonuses that were equal to the average employee’s annual salary.) “We have to cut the budget by 20% and increase productivity by 10%. That means layoffs and increased work loads. It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.”

“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8b-9

And so Satan roams the earth looking for whom he might devour. If he can work himself into businesses; into the very fabric of American society where we steadily separate ourselves from our ethics, morals, values, and beliefs that we hold so dear on Sunday mornings sitting in our pew then he has us. We are his for the killing. His strategy is strong and it works.

Be wary that when we play shopkeeper in real life that real lives are affected.
Real families are affected.
Real futures are affected.
Real souls are affected.
It may be yours.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5: 10-11