A few days ago I did something I promised myself I would never do: I watched a sermon by Joel Osteen. The reason I try not to watch Osteen is because it always gets me riled up—he and I never seem to see eye-to-eye (To put it mildly). But one good thing did come out of this particular instance: it gave me the motivation to write this post, which I hope will end up as something more significant than a simple reactionary tirade. In his April 21st sermon, Joel Osteen gave a sermon entitled, “Taking Control of Your Happiness.” During the sermon he talked about those situations in which the people around us expect us to make them happy, to give them all of our time and attention, etc. Dealing with this kind of people can be exhausting, emotionally, mentally and physically. So the question is, how should we respond to such people? What do we owe them?
(or, A Fragment of Theology)