Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap..." (Gen 14,21-23)
Abram was no longer the same, he changed through following God. This can be seen in his decision for the conscious loss - he could keep Sodom's property, and according to the customs of the time, no one could tell him that he was not entitled to do it. However, no one becomes generous by chance, he has to grow up to it. Nevertheless every growth is accompanied by at least three pains: the pain of awakening, the pain of rebirth and the pain of rejection.
Awakening means to see things differently from what has been seen before; abandon the usual, accepted way of view and dare to climb higher and look from there anew. The pain of awakening that accompanies this process is like the light that penetrates unpleasantly into the eyelids and disrupts the current sleep: What? Things are not quite as I have viewed them before? Am I not who I thought I was? It is said that the average person feels good in the world. It is as if made for him, he finds understanding with others and is not lacking anything. What fun has it been so far with others, how was everything "clear" to us and we could definitely not be mistaken?
The new light will bring new knowledge to a man and consequently a promise of the new freedom. However, there also comes a crisis - the pain of rebirth, because now it is necessary to adjust. At this stage one begins to think and live differently. At the same time, he finds out that it is not always an easy path and old habits, the "old man" is still pulling the reins by the power of inertia. He who perseveres will win, because the true light brings also a new power for victory.
If a man changes in this area or another, it will finally prove to him that things are different from what he or his enviromenment previously thought, and that it is much better to live on the higher level to which the new knowledge has brought him. However, this will naturally move him away from those who did not receive this light. He is different now and no matter how much he grew up internally, from the external point of view he experiences misunderstanding with those with whom he was previously in agreement. He can understand them, but they are not able to understand him. He experiences the pain of rejection - a certain degree of loneliness and misunderstanding ("isn´t he strange?"), the same as did all people of the past who exceeded their era and rose higher.
After all, we can find plenty of examples in the history of our country.
