...Rejoice in their Failures

Why do we rejoice in other people's failures? Why do we "sometimes" find joy in other people's demise? Some would just call this hateration, my family would say "Bad Mind" and so on and so forth.

The process:

1. Observe unfavored individual's situation
2. Analyze it
3. Relate it to ourselves
4. Choose to happily think condemning thoughts

Step 3 says a lot about our reaction found in step 4. Let's consider the process for reacting to someone's well fortune.

1. Observe unfavored individual's situation
2. Analyze it
3. Relate it to ourselves
4. Become threatened by their success

A terminally ill cancer stricken atheist, Christopher Hitchens, once wrote a book "God is not Great".... I was infuriated when I saw the title at Target a couple of years back. I got over the anger and prayed that he would change his view one day (cause honestly, God is so FARESSHH). Now that he is sick, some Christians would delight in saying "Good, that's what you get". Others have declared a prayer day for him. Hitchens has no intentions of taking part in the prayer but appreciates the well intentions from those who genuinely care about him possibly recovering.

Those who replied with the "Good..." were threatened by the author. They may have felt that he would be leading many away from salvation or just straight disrespecting God. Those that held the prayer day were probably more grounded in their faith. They knew how Christ reacted to others who were not historically nice to him. They knew how God views all of mankind, not just Christians. 1 John 4: 8 says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." So we see that God is more prone to reply with a loving response and that is expected of his followers. I don't doubt that these Christians were also a little upset when they heard of the title for the book. They are not compromising their beliefs to accommodate another's view. They just know that God likes good things and not when someone dies (Ezekial 18:32). They also understand that no one is truly a threat to the God they serve.

Does this say that we condone foolishness? No. What it encourages us to do is to extend the same mercy to another as Christ has done for us, even if it is just in thought. Try empathy from time to time. Realize that there are conditions beyond our knowledge that may have contributed to someone's folly. If you were up against the same odds, would you have triumphed? Are you sure? Look at the person for what good they could be. Their current, previous, and possible future mistakes do not annihilate the greatness in them. It may distract it a bit but it doesn't kill it.

Finally, distinguish yourself from others. Be confident in your greatness. "Real recognize real." The closer you are to your "true" greatness is the more you want to see sincere goodness in the world around you. You should know that I don't mean seeing a taker bragging and roaring through town in a ripped off BMW. You should want to see that thief transform his/her life for the good, and maybe even switch the emphasis in his/her "taking" skills to becoming an automotive technician. See how this benefits you? You don't have about that particular "taker" taking your _________________. This should ease any threats you may have had.

Again:
Don't be afraid to be happy for someone ::initially unfavorable::. Don't feel like someone ::unfavorable:: is capable of taking away your shine. Don't break down others to build yourself up. We were all supposed to be stars, just in different capacities...