The trap of oversimplifying

The tendency to reduce things to a singular value judgment translates into how we relate to other people. We want to reduce them to a score. This person is a “good guy”. That person is a “top performer.” In reality, every person has strengths and weaknesses. Every person is having victory over sin in some areas of life and is struggling in other areas. Every person can contribute if they are given opportunity to work to their strengths. Every person can fail if they are placed in situations that prey on their weaknesses. But, we take all the complexity that makes up each person and give them a composite score based on whether they are strong in the qualities that we consider important and positive and not too weak in the qualities we consider important and negative. Is it healthy for us to view people by a composite score? Or, are we called to see them in all their complexity? Are we called to love them regardless, to appreciate their gifts and abilities, to bear with their quirks, to forgive their transgressions, to exhort them to good deeds? Yes, we are. We will not do that faithfully if we start to view people as a score on a scale. We can make the same kind of mistake when we evaluate groups too. Our church is “healthy”. Our church is “struggling”. Are those even valid statements? Oversimplifying causes us to miss out on either the blessings or the challenges that we need to see.

How are you doing?

Life is not lived according to the simple “scale of 1 to 10” model, is it? Even in our normal greeting of “How are you doing?” we infer that someone can sum up all the facets of their life in one score. Life is “great” or “hard” or “okay”. But, in reality it is never that simple. At any given point we have a complex mix of pleasant and unpleasant things going on. It rarely, if ever, is all negative (even when it feels that way). And, it rarely, if ever, is all positive (even when it feels that way). At times in life when we get hit with an unanticipated amount of unpleasant things we can overlook the pleasant things. The pleasant things are still there but we no longer see them. Life is “bad”. This leads to a downward spiral. At other times when we have something really good happen or have a bunch of pleasant experiences we lose sight of the challenges in life. They are also still there. But, they are out of sight because life is so “good.” While we may enjoy this for a season, it ends in disappointment. Because, when the hard stuff hits we are not ready for it. We want to get back to where life is all “happy” again. We should not try to reduce our lives to a single value. We are always blessed and we are always facing challenges. We need to be grateful for the blessings and ask God for the grace to face the challenges. Most of the time when someone asks us how things are going we don't have time to give a real answer. That is okay. But, when we go before the Lord in prayer, we should take time to tell Him how we are really doing.

Why gnuhart?

How did the gnuhart name come about? First, it started as an account name using the letters of my last name that was less than seventeen characters, had no underscores, periods, numbers, or special characters, and was available on gmail. It was either gnuhart@gmail.com or hartung.jason.andrew.268235@gmail.com and I went with one I could remember without writing it down. But, after I chose it, it took on more meaning. Gnus and harts are words for deer and remind me of Psalm 42:1 and my need to thirst for God. Phonetically, it reminds me of the new heart that I have because of Christ (Ezekiel 36:26) and the hope I have in being delivered from darkness and transferred into His Kingdom (Colossians 1:13-14). Gnuhart reminds me of the gospel, God's revelation of Himself and His plans for redemption. May my words and deeds be a reflection of the new heart God has given me by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.