The Lord has been asking me lately to describe myself to him (as I see myself) and for the last few days I have been trying figure out what exactly it is that he is asking of me. Last night I had a lot of problems sleeping and it was driving me crazy... however, the question popped into my head "What is your clique?"
I thought "is this ever strange... I have not heard this word since high school, IT MUST BE A GOD THING!" The next thing I knew, I was thinking about the good ol' days of high school and how mercilessly we used to define our classmates and put them into the appropriate clique:
The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say? " They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
Jesus bent down and wront with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first; "Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?
"Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."
It was then that I really got it... God only has one label for all: SINNER.
My family, my friends, my acquaintances, my co-workers, MYSELF... we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. It is like my pastor as stated many a time, if you break one of the Ten Commandments, then you have broken them all. No one's sins are any better or any worse than another's. Just because the particular sins that I have committed in the past are not seen as criminal in the eyes of the world, doesn't mean that I am a better person or Christian than someone who has stolen or murdered.
This was definitely a hard pill for me to swallow, but one that I needed to learn. It does not mean that God wants me to not be on guard and cautious at the workplace, but that I need to not think of myself any more highly than I should.
I thought "is this ever strange... I have not heard this word since high school, IT MUST BE A GOD THING!" The next thing I knew, I was thinking about the good ol' days of high school and how mercilessly we used to define our classmates and put them into the appropriate clique:
- the head cheerleader
- the quarterback of the school's football team
- the all-around jock
- the stoner
- the brainiac
- and finally the clique that I meshed quite nicely into THE BAND GEEK.
At this point I was thoroughly exhausted and started to pray to God for a little rest, but he wasn't done with me yet. God then said to me, " That is how you identified others when you were young, I want you to think about how you identify people where you work and play."
I knew that this point that God was trying to teach me something. I work at a prison and spend time around some of society's "unacceptable people". Because of the negativeness of the work environment, people often take to off-colour humor to relieve the stress. Very often "colourful" words are used and although I try very hard not to engage in such behavior, a "colourful" word has slipped through my lips (more about how I am working on that in another post).
God continued to throw questions at me,
"How do you think I label the offenders that you work around? How do you think I label members of your family? What label would I put on you?"
Okay, now I was totally done in for and started thinking about all of the Bible stories I had read to my children and two stories seemed to keep popping into my head: the adulterous woman and the paralytic.
John 8:2-11 (The Message)Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
I knew that this point that God was trying to teach me something. I work at a prison and spend time around some of society's "unacceptable people". Because of the negativeness of the work environment, people often take to off-colour humor to relieve the stress. Very often "colourful" words are used and although I try very hard not to engage in such behavior, a "colourful" word has slipped through my lips (more about how I am working on that in another post).
God continued to throw questions at me,
"How do you think I label the offenders that you work around? How do you think I label members of your family? What label would I put on you?"
Okay, now I was totally done in for and started thinking about all of the Bible stories I had read to my children and two stories seemed to keep popping into my head: the adulterous woman and the paralytic.
John 8:2-11 (The Message)Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say? " They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
Jesus bent down and wront with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first; "Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?
"No one, Master"
"Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."
My family, my friends, my acquaintances, my co-workers, MYSELF... we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. It is like my pastor as stated many a time, if you break one of the Ten Commandments, then you have broken them all. No one's sins are any better or any worse than another's. Just because the particular sins that I have committed in the past are not seen as criminal in the eyes of the world, doesn't mean that I am a better person or Christian than someone who has stolen or murdered.
This was definitely a hard pill for me to swallow, but one that I needed to learn. It does not mean that God wants me to not be on guard and cautious at the workplace, but that I need to not think of myself any more highly than I should.
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