Now that I have a teenager in the house, I’m starting to get used to the looks and phrases parents of teenagers get all the time from their daughters... you know, the eye-roll and the phrase, “Whatever.” Could you pick the mess you just made on the floor up? “Whatever.” Could you unload the dishwasher? “Whatever.” How about an attitude change? “Whatever.”
Sometimes… I feel like that’s kind of how we approach our faith lives – like a petulant, annoyed teen who just doesn’t want to have to do whatever it is the parent or – in this case, God – is asking of us. We kind of roll our eyes at God and go, “whatever – I’ve got better things to do right now.”
For example…
Jesus said love your neighbor…. “Whatever – Jesus didn’t have MY particularly annoying neighbor.”
Jesus said love your enemies…. “Whatever – like that’s realistic.”
Jesus said, “do unto the least of these as you would have done unto me.” …. “Whatever. People just need to learn to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
Jesus said “may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” …. “Whatever. I don’t like the way things are being done, so I’m just going to leave.”
