We have a special refrigerator tucked away in a storage closet here at FBC. It is usually stocked with bottled water, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, and Sprite. The purpose of this refrigerator is to have a supply of beverages available for staff during the course of the work day and to offer to guests, when appropriate.
Some of our younger Baptists go roaming about the church, from time to time, to see what they can find. The lucky ones stumble upon our little stash of soda. When they do, they hurry off to find the nearest available pastor or staff member to obtain permission to partake of some of this sweet nectar the Lord hath provided. Permission is usually granted, with the caveat that they are not to carry open containers of soda throughout the church.
Recently, one of these young ones attempted to abscond with the better part of a six pack hidden under their sweatshirt. They were caught and correction was offered. But, I couldn’t get this event out of my mind. Initially, I was a little angry. Boundaries had been overstepped and our kindness had been taken advantage of. I considered moving our little cache to a secure location, somewhere out of sight and out of mind. I thought about removing any soda from the equation, as most of the adults in the building don’t drink soda anymore. But neither of those options sat well with me.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” – Psalm 119:103
We are happy to have young people in our church and if a few swigs of soda help them develop a desire to keep coming back, we’re all for it. I, personally, began coming to church and looked forward to it because I knew I would earn candy through memorizing verses and answering questions. Similarly, some Jewish Rabbis would put a bit of honey on a verse of Scripture and would allow a young student to taste it illustrating the words of Psalm 119:103, which reads, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” I see this as fulfilling a somewhat similar purpose.
It then hit me that perhaps I was focusing on the wrong problem. The young person in question was a guest at our church that day. It occurred to me that I had failed to consider the reasons why the child had attempted to take extra sodas. Perhaps their actions were not the problem, but an indication of greater struggles they were facing. Rather than focusing on a relatively small wrong, perhaps I needed to focus on how we might be able to help make things more right for this young one.
When we fail to see people as clearly as we see problems, it results in failure to help them find real solutions that allow us to make a measurable impact for good.
I’m not trying to defend questionable behavior. Once again, correction was immediately offered and a valuable teaching moment was had. But, the initial issue threatened to own all of my attention which would have resulted in a failure to consider what could be behind it. It’s a common struggle. When we fail to see people as clearly as we see problems, it results in failure to help them find real solutions that allow us to make a measurable impact for good.
A big part of loving neighbor as self is seeing beyond the surface issues to the person who is struggling with them. This is the love that God continues to demonstrate to us. The good news of the gospel is that though God is well aware of the mistakes we’ve made, He still chose to offer His good grace to us. Rather than meting out the punishment we deserve, God chose to offer us compassionate grace and continued correction in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. And, He didn’t stop by offering this one good thing, He continues to offer grace upon grace as we go.
The world is bitter enough without us rubbing salt in the wounds. Let us endeavor to counter the sour with the same sweet grace Jesus has offered to us.
We would do well to follow His example. Our world would certainly be a better place for our efforts. Yes, we should absolutely offer correction for the wrongs we see people do. But, we should always endeavor to see the person behind the problems and should work with equal diligence to find solutions to the problems they are facing as we do to correct the problems they may be creating. The world is bitter enough without us rubbing salt in the wounds. Let us endeavor to counter the sour with the same sweet grace Jesus has offered to us.
