Thick Skin or Sick Sin?
The
other day in my church the choir was discussing how they were going to get time
to practice in the church basement before the Sunday service. The problem was
that the space was being used by the Sunday School. And the Sunday School classes
were going WAY over time - running 20 minutes over time and leaving no time
for choir to practice before the service.
"You know," said one person, "the classes are only supposed to go until 10:30. Years ago we used to ring a bell at that time to let them know that it was time to finish."
"Great idea," said the choir leader. And then she appointed a choir member to ring the bell on Sunday morning, promptly at 10:30 am.
Come Sunday at 10:30, the classes were nowhere near finished and the choir needed to practise a difficult number. The person asked to ring the bell started doing it. A child, fascinated by the bell, asked if she could do it. So the bell ringer, a kindly person, handed over the bell.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
One by one the adult Sunday School members looked up.
"Why is that child ringing that bell?" asked the Sunday School Superintendent. "I didn't say any bell could be rung!"
"Well, my granddaughter wouldn't be ringing the bell if she wasn't told she could!"
In jumped the original bell-ringer, "Why I did because she asked if she could ring it and we have choir practice."
Off stomped the Sunday School Superintendent in a rage that she wasn't consulted, but leaving a parting comment with the original bell-ringer, "Who told YOU that you could ring the bell?"
The original bell ringer started to respond, "Only your daughter!" but the Superintendent was gone ... only the echoes of her feet stomping up the stairs remained.
The male Sunday School members jumped in, saying, "Who do they think they are breaking up our Sunday School meeting?"
And the person who was told to ring the bell retreated to lick her wounds. I imagine she asked herself why on earth she should even stay for the service. She left the church not long afterwards.
Looking at this story, we might say, "Of course the Superintendent should have been consulted first. Of course, that poor woman who just did what she was told should have been upset. And of course, those fellows were upset that their class was being disrupted."
Quite frankly, that is just excusing sin.
We should be thick-skinned when it comes to other Christians - and thin-skinned when it comes to sin. Too often, as in this case, it is the other way around. We are thin-skinned when other Christians supposedly offend us and thick-skinned when it comes to dealing with our own behaviour and sin.
How did these people act? Did any of these people demonstrate Christian love and forgiveness? Did anyone ask in a nice way, "What does the ringing bell mean?" Did anyone say, "I can see why that is important to you - why you need to practise (or ring the bell or study)?"
No one did. Instead, each person in the story (with the exception of the child) responded selfishly - only looking at their own point of view.
No one looked at the other person's view. No one looked with eyes of compassion. No one looked with love.
Instead, each person responded: "How dare you do this to ME!" "How dare you infringe on MY rights and privileges!" "How dare you treat ME like this!"
I may be criticized for being too strong and outspoken, but I see Satan alive and well in this situation, laughing because these Christians reacted just the way he would.
What should they have done?
What would Jesus have done?
Let's see how the situation might have been if people responded with the fruits of the Spirit instead of the fruits of their own spirit.
Ding, ding, ding, ding.
"Little girl, what does that bell mean?"
"I don't know but she," pointing at the choir member, "said I could ring it."
"Choir member, what does the bell mean?"
"It means it is time for the classes to finish up."
"Why did you decide that the bell needed to be rung?"
"Because the classes are supposed to end at 10:30 and they haven't been doing that ... and the choir isn't able to practice their songs as a result."
"We didn't realize that we were making it difficult for the choir. We'll have to be more considerate in the future and finish on time."
And if the Sunday School Superintendent was upset that she wasn't consulted, she should have gone directly to the choir leader and discussed the matter with her, instead of spiritually jumping on the bell-ringer and throwing punches at her.
And that would have made a world of difference.
"If we claim to be sharing in His life while we walk in the dark, our words and our lives are a lie; but if we walk in the light as He himself is in the light, then we share together a common life, and we are being cleansed from every sin by the blood of Jesus his son ... A man may say, 'I am in the light'; but if he hates his brother, he is still in the dark."
1 John 1:6-7 & 2:9
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:34-35
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