Just this week I was angry for receiving a ‘Notice to Comply’ from the council for having the 8 Meters of mulch on the nature strip – delivered last Thursday. I had until today, midday to move it off the nature strip (considered to be part of the road and I was encroaching on it!) or they would move it at my cost, plus get a $2000 fine!
But that isn’t what annoyed me.
The council knows that everyone gets a delivery of soil, rocks, mulch etc all the time and it is invariably dumped on the nature strip. They also know that it is going to be moved and so they don’t worry about it too much unless a complaint is received. They are ‘reactive’ and not ‘proactive’. I was told we have a ‘darling’ resident in the area that finds every minor breach or infringement and e-mails the council who are obligated to respond within 24 hours. He ‘scours’ the area and sends up to 15 e-mails a week! He gets a kick out of making peoples lives a misery through picking up and exploiting the by-laws. Delivery was Thursday, he photographed the delivery, sent the e-mail and I got the notice to comply on Tuesday! The resident is protected by the Privacy Laws.
I wanted to at first throttle him…this is not the first time he has targeted us.
My mind can think of so many ways to ‘get him back’. I even worked out how I could identify him! I even considered taking an ad out in the local paper to name him, give his address and congratulate him on his diligence for keeping his neighbours under constant surveillance and for dobbing us in when we do wrong. Nasty heh?!
When I was chatting to some other Christian friends, I was reminded that my responses would not be Christian. My wife said ‘why botther to lower yourself to his level’. The Bible challenged me to ‘love my neighbour’! Plenty of godly wisdom… I came to my senses. My final response was to pray for this sad and lonely man.
Christians are …
… a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1Peter 2:9
And when we follow worldly ways and get overtaken by the cares of the world or influenced by the circumstances around us, we are no better than the chief priests who demanded Jesus be crucified.
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. John 19:15
Who is your king?
Is it money? Is it someone you idolise, like a singer, actor, preacher, model, politician (yes there are some who swoon over their every word), a friend, a person in authority… ? Is it your feelings, emotions?
For me, I choose Jesus.
But I don’t always get it right… sometimes I too am caught up in the world and it’s wisdom. But when I come to my senses, Jesus is King.
Who is king in your life?