I know someone who is starting a divorce. I was telling him that, before I regained my hope of salvation, I might have married someone unsuitable. The person I was speaking with waived away that concern. "You could have married her and just seen if it would work out."
I exploded. "I just can’t! That’s not biblical!"
"Not biblical." It probably came across as "NOT BIBLICAL!" Harsh words to a man at the beginning of a divorce.
But I was jolted by that attitude. Yet, I might have served him and me better by staying calm and understanding how he and I are alike.
1. The curse of talent.
It’s easy to be outraged by someone else’s sin.
It’s like a judge I was in front of in Orange County. At a hearing for a violation of my client’s probation, I was explaining my client’s mitigating circumstances. My middle-aged client had lost her husband, who had discovered that, with his new prosperity, he was now attractive to a girl no older than their daughter. Also, my client had always enjoyed excellent health, but she had started having seizures. Her marriage and her health were the solid ground under her feet, and they had crumbled beneath her. As her ground wobbled, her morality had wobbled.
But the judge cut me off. She said, "I’ve had a hard life, too. If I could overcome, anyone can."
I was angry that the judge believed that everybody had her gift for overcoming hardship. Good for her, but not everybody has that gift.
I worked under a woman who was an organizational genius. She couldn’t fathom my disorganization. On the other hand, she seemed not to grasp the overarching theme of a criminal case; I was much better at that than she was.
Some of my friends are great athletes. They love to exercise. Others don’t naturally find in themselves that gift of physicality. It’s not laziness; it’s different-ness.
2. Doing right, doing wrong.
And I seem to follow some biblical directions more easily than others. Passing over my virtues, here are some ways that I tend to fall short.
And:
(I see a trend. These are all from the book of Matthew. Is there an argument that Matthew doesn’t belong in the Bible? Anyone?)
3. The gift of discontent.
Enough. Point made. I’m grateful that God has enabled me to have what virtues I have. But when they come to mind, my faults make me uncomfortable. They humble me (and I need humility); they make me know that I depend upon grace; and they give me an ache to be better than I am – and good must come of that.
No small part of that discomfort is my distance from the dominant theology of this American age -- a theology that says that salvation is easy. I will never lack need of grace; but with God’s help I will continue to be better at seeking and doing the will of God. That’s because "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21 (NRV).)
4. Sympathy.
But I fall short. God have mercy when I forget that.
So I can’t judge this divorcing person. He made a mistake that I’ve somehow avoided, and he can’t bear the burden of the bad marriage. People fall under all kinds of temptations that aren’t tempting to me, or that are, but I manage to resist them. But I succumb to faults that others walk away from.
5. Preaching and futility.
And maybe I shouldn’t judge churches that screech against homosexuality as if men were slipping out their backdoor together even as the preacher preached; but in fact everyone sitting solemnly in the chairs in front of the preacher is like-minded on that subject.
I wonder about churches that preach sermon after sermon about the evil of abortion, yet nobody who attends that church would remotely consider an abortion.
I wonder about the liberal minister who preached an Easter sermon to Barack Obama and condemned the hard-heartedness of Republican politicians.
All of their own sins are dealt with? They have to talk of the sins of others?
6. Priorities.
Flight crews instruct passengers that in case oxygen masks come down, each passenger should put on his own mask before helping others. The Bible is like that.
7. Joy in heaven.
Luke 15:7 says that angels rejoice when a sinner repents. It’s not easy for me to change my ways, but it’s easier for me to change my ways than it is for me to make someone else change theirs. So if I make joy in heaven, it will more likely happen when I look in, not out.
No comments:
Post a Comment