Getting out of the stocks

Imagine a town way back when they used stocks as punishment. As people live in this town they see the stocks in the town square and sometimes they see people being punished in them. Now imagine someone commits a crime so she put herself into the stock because she knows that's what she deserves.

The Judge comes by and says "What have you done?" The person then confesses the crime. The Judge says "You are forgiven" and walks away. The person stays in the stocks though. She feels that her crime was severe and deserving of more time. The person sits in the stocks for days and notices there are other people walking around the town that the person KNOWS have committed the same crime she has. So the person gets mad. "Why aren't they being punished like I am?" The person starts to get angry at the Judge because she is in the stocks while other guilty people are walking around free.

One day the Judge walks by and sees the person in the stocks and says "Why are you still in the stocks?" The person says "Because I committed a crime." The Judge says "But I forgave you. The stocks aren't locked, you can leave them whenever you want." But the person doesn't leave. Instead she gets mad because the Judge isn't making other people sit in the stocks too. The person becomes resentful of other people who have committed crimes and aren't sitting in the stocks all day.

So how is this like God?

I have a friend who is struggling to forgive herself for a mistake she made years ago. She's feels like she destroyed her life with this mistake and is struggling to forgive herself. The mistake she made is a very common mistake people in our culture make. My friend gets very frustrated because she sees other people make the same mistake and yet their lives aren't destroyed. She feels like God isn't punishing other people who made this mistake and she can't understand why she is still being punished. She feels like, because her life pre-mistake hasn't been restored, she is still being punished.

I asked her if she has forgiven herself for this mistake. She admits she hasn't. I asked if she's asked God for forgiveness and she says she has. Now, knowing God I'm pretty sure she's been forgiven by Him. But she can't seem to forgive herself. She seems to feel as though she is being punished more than other people who have committed the same mistake because she sees them seemingly enjoying life without recrimination. 

This reminds me of my old town story above. God forgives us through Jesus. No sin is greater than another so its not like there these BIG sins that He holds over our heads and lets the little ones slide. Yet, we pick certain sins that we think are unforgivable and we put ourselves or others in the stocks. I'll say that again  WE PUT ourselves (and others) in the stocks. (This sounds very much like knowing between good and evil, Hmm... like The Fall) God has every right to put us all in stocks on a daily basis. We deserve to spend eternity in the stocks but that's the beauty of Jesus. Jesus came and suffered way more than the stocks for us so that we don't have to spend eternity sandwiched between wooden boards, having tomatoes thrown at us.

Now, some sins have natural consequences and God isn't going to miraculously take those away from us. For example, if you drink and dive you could get into a wreck and seriously injure yourself or others. Yet there are people who drink and drive on a regular basis and they never get a ticket or into a wreck. Life and consequences aren't fair. God isn't fair but He's good.

Sometimes, we've been in the stocks so long our arms are numb and we need help getting out of them. We are so used to the stocks and are so atrophied from being in there that when we are freed we are too week to extricate ourselves. This is when we need God and our community around us to take us out of the stocks, to clean the dried up tomato seeds out of our hair, to show us how to live a normal life, to forget why we were in the stocks and just love us.

God wants us walking in freedom. He doesn't want us sitting in the heat, getting splinters in our neck and wrists. Jesus took the splinters for us. He forgives us so who are we to not forgive ourselves? Do we know more than God? Are we better judges than He is? Isn't this what He was protecting us from when He told us not to eat from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Duck For President and The Fall

On Saturdays I get lunch at Chik-Fil-A where I get a kids meal. I like to give the books that come in the kids meal to my nieces. This week they are giving out the Doreen Cronin's books and I got Duck For President. In the book all the farm animals have chores. Duck, a bit of a trouble maker, doesn't like his chores and thinks he can run the farm better than Farmer Brown. So duck hosts an election and wins which means he gets to run the farm. He realizes that running a farm isn't fun so he decides to run for governor. He wins that race but realizes that running a state isn't fun either so he runs for President. He wins that election too and realizes that running the country is too stressful so he gives the job back to the former President and goes back to the farm.

This got me to thinking about our society. We also seem to have this idea that the "dirty jobs" are undesirable and that if we can get into management it will be easier and more fun. This is a lie though. Mike Rowe gives a great Ted Talk on how people who do "dirty jobs" are happier and find more fulfillment in their lives. Here is the link. (Warning, he talks about castration which is gross but he's a really great speaker so its worth it)

I'm a school teacher and people have said to me "Why don't you become a Principal." My answer is "Heck NO!" Being in management isn't all its cracked up to be. There may be less manual labor but the stress level is so much more. There is more responsibility and more to answer for. As a teacher I show up, teach and go home. I don't have to go to Board Meetings or worry about all the new legislation. I don't have to worry that if our test scores go down I might have my name in the paper or that the Superintendent or Board will be yelling at me that I didn't manage my school well. Don't get me wrong, I have a share in the responsibility of our school's accountability but it doesn't rest so heavily on my shoulders. Principles and Superintendents ultimately are responsibility for EVERYTHING that happens in their school.

Its the same in the business world. If I work in a widget factory I show up, work my eight hours and go home. I don't have to worry about the price of my raw materials; I don't have to worry about our stocks. I don't have to worry about paying the mortgage or the unions or how to offset the cost of raising insurance premiums.

So how does this compare to The Kingdom?
Example 1:
I realized that being in management is what God tried so hard to protect us from. Lets start with The Fall. Adam and Eve had a job, to name the animals and care for the world. At that time, everything was working pretty well so this was an easy gig. Then the serpent comes along and convinces Eve that God is holding out, that God doesn't want her to be able to judge good from evil because God wants to be superior. Eve is convinced that she should be promoted to management. So she eats the fruit. Now she can distinguish between good and evil.
It might be easy to agree with the serpent, that God was trying to keep himself superior so that we had to do the hard work or so that He could be "better" than us. (Lets be real, He is) What if God wasn't keeping us from judging (the knowledge of good and evil) to be better than us but instead to protect us from stress that comes with judging?
Becoming judges puts us in a position of management. We now have more responsibility. If we aren't good stewards of our responsibility then we are liable for our actions.
Judging that is what we do right away. We see someone and immediately start judging them. Is he a good person? Is she smart? Is she trashy? Is he attractive? Is he going to like me? Do I want to like him? I bet she thinks she's smarter than me. I bet he makes a lot of money. Why in the world is she wearing THAT? Why does he talk like that? He is weird. She has it all together.
We don't just judge others, we judge ourselves. Am I doing a good enough job? Am I fulfilling my purpose? Am I a good enough... (teacher, wife, friend, worker etc)? Am I as pretty as she is? Am I worthy of God's love? 
Its exhausting this judging! We're so often wrong too.

Example 2:
Another biblical example would be the Israelites. They didn't have a single ruler, a king. God wanted them to be able to be together and treat each other well without needing someone in management. But they saw other nations with a king so they asked God for one. He tried to talk them out of it. He tried to make them see that life is better without a human in a position of power over them but they didn't believe Him. He gave them Saul. That worked out for a while but eventually his human nature took over and he didn't do a very good job.
The problem with humans wanting to be in positions of management is that we are so selfish in nature. When we are selfish we stop looking at the Big Picture and look after our own best interests instead. This is why its so much better when we let "Jesus Take The Wheel." He has a view of everything and He loves us so much that He doesn't look after His interests, he looks after ours. He is good at judging between good and evil because He can see the whole picture and we can only see our side. He has the best interests of everyone because He loves everyone. I have the best interest of Stephanie because I want to make sure that I come out ok. I may be good enough to try to see other people's point of view. Even when I compromise or try to make a good choice for all, I'm putting a spin on it that makes me come out looking good and getting what I want.

What did Jesus tell us?
Jesus didn't charge us with being in management. He didn't want us going around elevating ourselves so that our feet get washed. He charged us with racing to the bottom, becoming servants. He wants us to lower ourselves to washing others' feet. We aren't to judge someone and only wash their feet if they are counted worthy. Everyone is worthy. I love how Greg Boyd says it "Your only opinion of someone should be to agree with God that they were worth Jesus dying for." This means I can't judge them. I don't know their whole story so I don't have enough information to do it well. This means I do my chores without trying to manage the farm. The farmer goes home at night exhausted from managing. My few chores aren't so taxing. I need to remember to just do my part and let God rule.