I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and an awesome week coming to a close for you!
This Happy Friday is going to be interesting. I know what is on my heart, what I want to say and yet, as I think through the different points I want to make, my thoughts are jumbled, seeming incomplete. I actually thought about changing the topic however the conviction of my spirit would not allow it. I am going to go ahead and proceed the very best I can and trust God, and the Holy Spirit leading in you, to make sense of it all.
I once heard Pastor Ken Whitten from Idle Wilde Baptist Church in Florida talk about how one of the first people he wants to meet when he gets to Heaven is Peter. He talked about how Peter had denied Jesus 3 times, how he is often talked about and referred to in disdain inside Christian circles. You know, "How could he?!", "I wouldn't do that!", "If I was Peter, I would...", etc. Pastor Whitten went on to talk about things like 1) Peter was the only one of the disciples who was brave enough, who felt convicted to even attempt to get that close to Jesus at that time, 2) How he was reconciled to Jesus before he died, and 3) In an act of incredibly great humility he was crucified upside down at his own request.
How about David? Adultery. Murder. We have plenty of opinions about him as well don't we? How would we describe someone today if we knew they had committed adultery? How would we treat them if we knew they committed murder in an attempt to cover up their act of adultery? Would we look on them lovingly, with mercy & grace? It is interesting. David is described in the bible as "a man after God's own heart."
The world of college athletics has been buzzing all week about Coach Petrino at Arkansas. He crashed his motorcycle, was dishonest with his boss about who was with him, admitted that a female was with him at the time of the crash minutes before this was going to be revealed in a police report, later acknowledged an inappropriate relationship and ultimately lost his job. He is now being vilified throughout the media, social networking sites, etc. Everybody has an opinion about him, what he should have done, shouldn't have done, etc.
Back to Pastor Whitten, later in his talk he said, "would I steal a million dollars? I don't know, I have never had a chance to steal a million dollars." He went on to explain that while he certainly hopes he wouldn't steal a million dollars, he does not know if he would or he wouldn't for that opportunity has never presented itself to him. This is at the heart of what is on my heart this morning.
We live in a flawed, broken world. Life is hard. My bible tells me that while we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by God for a specific purpose for which we are perfectly equipped (please let that speak to your spirit!) we are all born with a sin nature, we are going to sin and that the only way to get to heaven is through the mercy & grace of God when we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Lord and personal saviour. What would life look like if we truly walked out that sentence?
Peter, David, Coach Petrino, every robber, crook, thief, etc. is fearfully and wonderfully made for a specific purpose for which they are perfectly equipped. Did they do things that we don't agree with? Absolutely! Do we hope that we would react differently if placed in those same exact situations? No question. Do their actions change who they were created to be, Who's they are? No Friends, they do not. They are still loved by God, they are still fearfully and wonderfully made and there is still a purpose for their life for which they are perfectly equipped. Maybe they have gotten off the path ordered and ordained for them, maybe they had a failing moment or moments, however this does not change who God says they are, how He feels about them and what He desires for their life...just like you and me Friends.
The point I want to really touch on this morning is how we react to these people, to each other. We, I, am so good at sitting back and saying, "I would do this" or "I would do that" or "That person is a bum. How could they..." How do we really know though? My Beautiful Bride and I will often talk about situations, get all fired up with things like I have noted above and then, convicted by my spirit, I will say, "Honey, we don't know how we would react in that situation. We only know what we hope we would do." We are really good at judging the actions of others, often - most often - in the absence of all of the information, in the absence of having been in the exact situation, etc. But how do we really know? Most critically, how do we prepare ourselves to react as we hope we will and how do we respond to others when they have a failing moment. Please remember, your failing moments do not define you as a failure. Likewise, the failing moments of others do not define them as failures either.
As for preparing ourselves, I believe there are a couple of keys. 1) Surrendering our lives to God. Truly accepting the Lord into our lives as our personal saviour and then pursuing Him every day. Our spirits will talk to us - encourage us, implore us, warn us - if only we will listen. 2) Determine our values. We all know how we hope we would react in a given situation however unless our values, what we truly believe and will fight for, are determined before we are in the moment, we will find ourselves "taking the test without having studied our notes." This is not a good or comfortable place to be! 3) A friend used to say, "if you don't want to slip, don't go to slippery places." If David, the man after God's own heart, had not been on the edge of the roof at the time of day that he knew women would be bathing he would not have seen Bathsheba and he would not have begun his "slip." For each and every value you that you hold true, don't get on the slippery slope.
As for those who have failing moments, what if we lived out the the lyrics from "Courageous" by Casting Crowns that say "seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God"?
- "Seek Justice" - Justice is defined as "1. Just behavior or treatment. 2. The quality of being fair and reasonable." Hold accountable to laws, policies, etc.? Absolutely. Vilify, beat down, etc? I don't see a place for it here Friends.
- "Love Mercy" - Mercy is defined as "Compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm."
- "Walk humbly with your God" - Humble is defined as "Lower in dignity or importance."
Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I am always willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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