Someone sent me a forward in my email, “We might as well dance.” I’ve seen these quotes from the writing posted on various people’s statuses on Facebook. It is about a cab driver who picked up an old woman passenger only to learn that she was on her way to Hospice and that her doctor had told her that she was about to die. The driver turned off the meter, and drove the woman to wherever she wanted to go. One of the places was past a warehouse where she used to go dancing. At the end, before she got out of the car, the driver gave the woman a hug. When the door between them was closed behind, the driver said that “It was the sound of the closing of a life.” Then, the driver reflected over what had just happened and how he (or she) viewed what had just taken place. These are some quotes from the end of the writing (in red) followed by my comments on each quote:
“PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”
Feel/feeling – “sensation; impression; mood; experience; think; believe; emotion; reaction.” All of these synonyms for the word “feel/feeling” are subjective (personal; individual; skewed; biased) and are dependent entirely on the one doing the “feeling,” not on the one to whom the person responds with a particular feeling. We often say “you made me angry” or “you made me frustrated.” Yet, we make ourselves angry, frustrated, happy, etc. We control our feelings. No one else “makes” us feel a particular way. Someone could show enormous love and kindness to us (example: Jesus’ kindnesses to the world and to his own people) and yet we could respond in hatred, jealousy, anger, rejection, etc. Or, someone could be mean and hateful to us (example: Jesus’ persecutors and those who crucified him), and yet we could respond in forgiveness, mercy and love. So, we do not make anyone “feel” any particular way. They make themselves “feel” however they choose to react or to respond, out of their own free wills, to the actions and words of others. What we are responsible for is our beliefs, thoughts, actions and our words, NOT for how people may react or respond to them or to us. And, we are answerable to God, not to man.
“Often it is the random acts of kindness that most benefit all of us.”
I agree with this statement to a point. Acts of kindness, whether random or planned, are nice to be on the receiving end of. The one act of kindness that benefits us most of all, though, was not random at all. It was planned from even before time began. Yes, I am speaking of what Jesus did for us on the cross of Christ in saving us from our sins. If we share the light of the gospel with those who are dying, then that is the most beneficial act of kindness we can ever do for someone. Sure it is nice to know that your last words to someone were kind before that person died, but what if that person did not know Jesus? What benefit would it be to him or her if we were “kind” but we never told the person about his or her need of Jesus? This woman was dying. The most kind thing this driver could have done for her, if he had known Jesus, was to share how she could know Jesus, too, and to lead her in a prayer of confession, repentance and to a heart relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.”
The woman was dying. The driver took her by a place where she used to dance. The woman died. Now she could no longer dance. This final statement, following this story about the dying woman, sounds like it presents an “eat, drink and be merry” attitude to which God responded, “You fool” in Luke 12. It sounds like a philosophy that is very empty which says that life may not turn out the way we like, so while we are here on this earth, we might as well make the best of it, or we might as well just have a good time while we can.
A woman just died. The driver was reflecting over his actions toward her right before she died. He was glad that he took that extra time with her and that he gave her that hug. That’s nice. He was reflecting over what benefit he provided for the woman. To end the writing with this sentence, thus, appears unfitting, humanistic, at best, empty and hopeless. Yet, when we consider the overall message of the writing, it fits, because the overall message is one that is humanistic, empty and hopeless. It offers nothing but the potential of guilt over how we “make people feel,” and temporary joy that will perish when we perish.
I wanted to see what God’s word had to say on the subject of “dance” in the New Testament. The only passage using that exact word is this passage found in Luke 7:30-35, which fits with this whole idea or attitude of “eat, drink and be merry”:
The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary says this: “John’s baptism was one of the symbols they chose to reject. Their obdurate (stubborn) opposition to each of God’s messengers is described as the fickleness of children, who become annoyed when others won’t play their game. Jesus and John, when in confrontation with the Jewish leaders, refused to ‘play their game’ and so are the objects of their taunts. The people not only criticize but exaggerate the habits both of John, calling his asceticism (self-discipline) demonic, and of Jesus, calling his normal habits of food and drink gluttony and drunkenness. The concluding saying probably means that those who respond to wisdom prove its rightness.”
This is actually a great illustration of my beginning point, which was that the actions of a particular person do not determine the feelings of another. John’s and Jesus’ actions were loving, kind, just and righteous. And, yet the religious leaders acted like children, and they became annoyed (their emotion “feeling” reaction) with both John and Jesus. They were annoyed with them because John and Jesus did not play their games. They did not dance their dances. John and Jesus did not have this “eat, drink and be merry” attitude. And, that is exactly the attitude that is being presented in these quotes from this writing which suggests that we somehow make people feel a certain way, or better yet, that somehow our actions or words are subject to other people’s “feelings” or that we should make sure we do or say only what makes people “feel” good so that they have good “feelings” about us. Oh, how wrong this philosophy is!
Yes, we should show kindness – absolutely! Yes, we should be considerate, to a point, of other people’s feelings. Yet, we should not dance their dance just so that they die feeling good about us. It is not about us. It is about Jesus Christ. What is important is that we share Jesus – the whole gospel – with a world that is dying and is in need of a Savior. And, it is also important that we not buy into this humanistic philosophy that is based on the teachings of man, not on the teachings of God’s Word. I guarantee that when each person gets before God on the Day of Judgment, that our actions and our words will most certainly matter. People will not care then about how “we made them feel.” They will care whether or not we told them the truth and whether or not we led them to Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:12-15:
“PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”
Feel/feeling – “sensation; impression; mood; experience; think; believe; emotion; reaction.” All of these synonyms for the word “feel/feeling” are subjective (personal; individual; skewed; biased) and are dependent entirely on the one doing the “feeling,” not on the one to whom the person responds with a particular feeling. We often say “you made me angry” or “you made me frustrated.” Yet, we make ourselves angry, frustrated, happy, etc. We control our feelings. No one else “makes” us feel a particular way. Someone could show enormous love and kindness to us (example: Jesus’ kindnesses to the world and to his own people) and yet we could respond in hatred, jealousy, anger, rejection, etc. Or, someone could be mean and hateful to us (example: Jesus’ persecutors and those who crucified him), and yet we could respond in forgiveness, mercy and love. So, we do not make anyone “feel” any particular way. They make themselves “feel” however they choose to react or to respond, out of their own free wills, to the actions and words of others. What we are responsible for is our beliefs, thoughts, actions and our words, NOT for how people may react or respond to them or to us. And, we are answerable to God, not to man.
“Often it is the random acts of kindness that most benefit all of us.”
I agree with this statement to a point. Acts of kindness, whether random or planned, are nice to be on the receiving end of. The one act of kindness that benefits us most of all, though, was not random at all. It was planned from even before time began. Yes, I am speaking of what Jesus did for us on the cross of Christ in saving us from our sins. If we share the light of the gospel with those who are dying, then that is the most beneficial act of kindness we can ever do for someone. Sure it is nice to know that your last words to someone were kind before that person died, but what if that person did not know Jesus? What benefit would it be to him or her if we were “kind” but we never told the person about his or her need of Jesus? This woman was dying. The most kind thing this driver could have done for her, if he had known Jesus, was to share how she could know Jesus, too, and to lead her in a prayer of confession, repentance and to a heart relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.”
The woman was dying. The driver took her by a place where she used to dance. The woman died. Now she could no longer dance. This final statement, following this story about the dying woman, sounds like it presents an “eat, drink and be merry” attitude to which God responded, “You fool” in Luke 12. It sounds like a philosophy that is very empty which says that life may not turn out the way we like, so while we are here on this earth, we might as well make the best of it, or we might as well just have a good time while we can.
A woman just died. The driver was reflecting over his actions toward her right before she died. He was glad that he took that extra time with her and that he gave her that hug. That’s nice. He was reflecting over what benefit he provided for the woman. To end the writing with this sentence, thus, appears unfitting, humanistic, at best, empty and hopeless. Yet, when we consider the overall message of the writing, it fits, because the overall message is one that is humanistic, empty and hopeless. It offers nothing but the potential of guilt over how we “make people feel,” and temporary joy that will perish when we perish.
I wanted to see what God’s word had to say on the subject of “dance” in the New Testament. The only passage using that exact word is this passage found in Luke 7:30-35, which fits with this whole idea or attitude of “eat, drink and be merry”:
The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary says this: “John’s baptism was one of the symbols they chose to reject. Their obdurate (stubborn) opposition to each of God’s messengers is described as the fickleness of children, who become annoyed when others won’t play their game. Jesus and John, when in confrontation with the Jewish leaders, refused to ‘play their game’ and so are the objects of their taunts. The people not only criticize but exaggerate the habits both of John, calling his asceticism (self-discipline) demonic, and of Jesus, calling his normal habits of food and drink gluttony and drunkenness. The concluding saying probably means that those who respond to wisdom prove its rightness.”
This is actually a great illustration of my beginning point, which was that the actions of a particular person do not determine the feelings of another. John’s and Jesus’ actions were loving, kind, just and righteous. And, yet the religious leaders acted like children, and they became annoyed (their emotion “feeling” reaction) with both John and Jesus. They were annoyed with them because John and Jesus did not play their games. They did not dance their dances. John and Jesus did not have this “eat, drink and be merry” attitude. And, that is exactly the attitude that is being presented in these quotes from this writing which suggests that we somehow make people feel a certain way, or better yet, that somehow our actions or words are subject to other people’s “feelings” or that we should make sure we do or say only what makes people “feel” good so that they have good “feelings” about us. Oh, how wrong this philosophy is!
Yes, we should show kindness – absolutely! Yes, we should be considerate, to a point, of other people’s feelings. Yet, we should not dance their dance just so that they die feeling good about us. It is not about us. It is about Jesus Christ. What is important is that we share Jesus – the whole gospel – with a world that is dying and is in need of a Savior. And, it is also important that we not buy into this humanistic philosophy that is based on the teachings of man, not on the teachings of God’s Word. I guarantee that when each person gets before God on the Day of Judgment, that our actions and our words will most certainly matter. People will not care then about how “we made them feel.” They will care whether or not we told them the truth and whether or not we led them to Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:12-15:
