I have male pattern baldness, my back goes out, my beard is gray, I need my tri-focals to see. I am growing old.
But wait... I am not feeling bad, because I am growing. I know things today that I didn't know I knew. New things I know which are really old things. Things that have been around but I was too young to notice. Now I notice. Now I know.
I had a conversation today, which a few years ago, I would have said things like "thats not fair, that's not right... we did the right thing, they did the wrong thing, why are we having to pay..." Today I didn't say that, I realize I have seen this before and the outcome will not be about what is right or fair, but this is one of those times to settle and move on. This isn't worth the fight. I am not NOT fighting because I am chicken, but I have been around the block and know that this particular issue isn't where I want to spend my time.
The point of this isn't that I don't fight anymore, I hold my ground a lot, but I know when to fight and when not to. I appreciate the story out of John 8, the woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus. When confronted with Jesus' words, "'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' ...At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first..."
I want to be the kind of old guy who is not only the first to drop my stones, (I am not talking kidney stones here) but to not be so quick to pick them up in the first place. I do want to be first to protect the vulnerable, last to be an accuser of the innocents.
I would continue but I forgot what I was going to say...
4 comments:
hmmm.
She is forever known as the “the woman caught in adultery”. I have always wondered if a better title for this section of John is the “woman caught in forgiveness”. Maybe the biggest “stone” of all is not just the ones we use to fight, but the labels we assign others by their acts (sin or not) and not God’s acts of redemption. He “stooped down and wrote in the dirt” (He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men). “Straightening up, Jesus said” (there is therefore no more condemnation). Can we have no stones in our hands yet our hearts still hold on to one?.
"Caught in forgiveness."
That's hot.
Tony,
Your post really got me thinking this weekend. I began to realize that if we throw down our stones and walk away we merely join the ranks of the mob that will 'live to throw another day'. Would not our passion be as Jesus, the Incarnate Purity standing face to face with lowest degradation of sin, with one hand on the infinite mercies and grace of the Father and the other on sin broken lives reconciling the two? Thanks for the thought provoking post.
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