Wednesday, 24 June 2009
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I Don't Do That!
Every five weeks, I serve in the toddler nursery at my church. These kids (2-3 yr olds) are surprisingly well-behaved and extraordinarily cute. Two of my favorite little boys are aging past 2, which means they’re starting to recognize me now. You’ve experienced that joy, right? the kind that warms your heart when a child’s face lights up as you enter the room? It touches the heart like little else. Anyway, on this particular Sunday I was serving along with a young married couple. I let them do the leading, and was amused by their method of communication. Something happened that caused me to think about my own sinful state and I’d like to share it here…
During snack time, one little boy, Jacob, decided that he was finished drinking his water. So he just dumped it out on the table. He looked around like, “What’s the big deal? I’m finished.” It was funny to me, however, he was gently reprimanded for his actions by the husband. As the other half dozen two year olds watched this whole scene, it was quiet… for about five seconds. And then a small voice… “I don’t do that!” followed by similar encores. I couldn’t help but relate the situation to grown-ups. See if this makes any sense as it leaves my brain and flows through my fingertips onto a keyboard and ending on your screen…
We are born judging others. No one had to teach these kids to proclaim their own innocence when someone else was caught in error. They look at a person caught in sin – they look at their lives – and they proclaim themselves innocent, conveniently ignoring all those times they have committed the same sin or worse. Making such judgment calls creates distance between the Judger and the Judgee. And friends, I’m sorry to say it, but, we don’t grow out of this just because we learn to read.
Some people state, “I was born this way!” as an excuse for their bad behavior, and they’re partly right. We are born sinners. However, for those who have repented from sin and entered into a relationship with the Lord… we now have a choice. Christ died to free us from sin. Is He too weak to break those strongholds in our lives? Are we so in love with ourselves that we would break the unity of the Body by pointing fingers?
Thoughts I've been considering this week.
(You‘ll be happy to know that I refrained from dumping out water on my desk while writing this. See? I’m waaaay more mature than a two year old. *pats self on back*)
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Comments (5)
Wow, very, very good points here. It is part of the human condition to see ourselves "through rose colored glasses" and everyone else as the ones doing wrong. The part where you wrote about people saying they were "born that way" reminds me of the homosexual issue. I never thought about it being that yes, they were born that way (sinful)....because certainly, they weren't born homosexual. That's a great comeback for that one. Anyway, I enjoyed your thoughts here and thank you for sharing them. Blessings! ~ Chris
Good thoughts! Isn't it amazing how children so young demonstrate a sin nature? We aren't born with a clean slate.
It's really easy to judge other people's sins as "worse" than ours because maybe they're more visible, or more people are affected, or whatever. But in God's eyes it's all the same ugliness.
so vital not to judge. its such a hard habit to break. good job on not spilling water :P
True it is important to "remove our plank" before we attempt to remove a brother's speck of sawdust, but unfortunately many christians take this to far and end up mixing scenarios of "don't judge, lest ye be judged", "he who is without sin cast the first stone" and "you will know them by their fruit"... you wonder why the body of Christ is so tiny nowadays. Whatever happened to the Fear of the Lord???
Lately, I've been recommended by friends to help out with children on Sundays too, but I don't know whether to help with the wee-ones or just the children's church... what would you recommend for a single guy like me?
You came back for a few posts! Figures it was while i was on vacation, ha.