Just recently it was pointed out to me that what appeared to
be something was really not what it appeared to be after all. Ever been accused
of something that just was the furthest thing from the truth? I have! Stephen
Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” shares a story of a man
and his two young boys on a subway. The story basically goes something like
this. A man and his two boys got on a subway and as the father sat down the two
boys began running around and acting up making the passengers uncomfortable.
The dad seemed to be oblivious to the fact that his boys were making a ruckus
and causing the other riders to be very distressed and even highly annoyed.
After a short while Stephen who became agitated and even angry that this dad
was not even paying attention to his own children approached the dad wanting to
scold him for his misbehaving children and confronted the ‘irresponsible’ dad.
After he confronted the man, the dad apologized for his boys behavior and for
not keeping them in line but said his mind was on the fact that his wife, their
mother had just died at the hospital. For what had seemed to be a careless
father with rude children actually turned out to be a totally different
situation all together.
How many times will someone see a situation in another
person’s life and make a ‘judgment call’ on that person. For instance, how many
are quick to judge someone’s motive or actions based upon what ‘appears’ to be
the truth. How many react with condemnation or criticism when they see someone
stumble in the faith or maybe act or respond differently than what they think a
‘Christian’ should. Just maybe the person is struggling and growing in his
faith and does make a mistake or isn’t mature enough to do the ‘right thing’ at
this point in his Christian faith. Maybe it could be that the one being judged
truly is walking with God and walking by faith IN THE FIRE! Sometimes God takes
us through the fire with Him to teach us, to show us, and ultimately to change
us. Walking in the fire with Jesus is going to be tough, hard, and at times
painful! It’s during these times that God ‘refines’ His children and consequently
those ‘ugly’ things, the ‘chaff’ float to the top and become visible to all
around. These are painful times and yes, during these times we should respond
to God’s refining work in good and positive ways. Sometimes our responses might
appear to some as being wrong or undignified and even ‘unchristian’. Can you
imagine Peter when he cut Malchus’ ear off? It’s obvious that Peter wasn’t
seeking cut off his ear. He actually was aiming for his head! Certainly this
wasn’t a very ‘Christian’ thing to do was it? Surely a disciple of Jesus would
not want to hurt someone! A nice Christian would never do such a thing as this
would he? The fact is Peter was close to the Lord, growing in his faith, and
following Jesus! It happens like this still today. Many will unfortunately
‘misread’ and ‘misjudge’ situations like these. Now there are times, because of
habit that we react instead of respond and sometimes we react in negative and
even wrong or sinful ways. This doesn’t mean that we’ve backslidden and are living
in rebellion and open sin or that Satan has taken over. It just means that we
have stumbled as we follow the Lord on this road of faith. The road that at
times that takes us through the fire! Walking in the fire with Jesus will be hard
and it will get hot and you will stumble, fall, and even sin!
Even so, walk on!
Scott
