Having been worn out and burned by fellow parishioners at a former congregation and a noncommittal parishioners of a dying church along with financial woes of being a self funded missionary as a recent college graduate; I have adopted a most unorthodox interpretation of an orthodox teaching.
The orthodoxy: the total depravity of humanity. Apart from the life changing power of the God, humans are only capable of sinning against Him.
The unorthodoxy: Expect nothing from people, but everything from God. Christians and non-Christians suffer from a sever lack of altruism and magnanimity. When such qualities are made evident in a person, then ll praise be to God for motivating them to perform such acts of kindness; otherwise, most people seek to serve themselves rather than God. They’ll give only when they reap a direct benefit from the program or mission. They’ll donate out of guilt or to prevent guilt or from peer pressure. Most people will give out of their excess. Very few people will give to others when their own pocketbook is close to empty. I cannot feed my family alone, but we can all feed each other.
So I repeat – expect nothing from humans, but everything from God.
