“They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” John 8:7 (NLT) Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
Tell
Tattling is one of those things that teachers find extremely challenging. Some children seem to enjoy telling anyone who will listen about all the things that someone else has done wrong. The funny thing is, quite often the tattler will have recently done the exact thing he is now trying to get someone else in trouble for. Of course, that does not occur to the one telling the tale. All he has on his mind is seeing punishment handed down.
It seems to me, that adults today are becoming more and more like those students all the time. Our news and social media feeds are full of people “telling on other people” they don’t agree with. And just like the offenders in the classroom, these adults have the goal of gaining followers who believe their tales, want to take part in judgement, and then inflict punishment on those they’ve targeted. Simply put, they point their finger in hopes of getting someone else in trouble.** But, we all know the old adage that says when one finger is pointed at another, three more are pointed back at ourselves!
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3-4 (NLT)
Just recently I was talking with my mother-in-love about cleaning my house. She was trying to reassure me that our house always looks clean and I responded that she just didn’t look closely enough, to which she replied:
“If I want to see dirt, I’ll look at my own house!”
Isn’t that exactly what Jesus is telling us in the verses above? Don’t look for someone else’s dirt until you’ve cleaned your own house! And the thing about dirt is, we can dust one day and then the very next time the “Son” shines in, new specks are already showing up again!
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet, God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Romans 3:23-24 (NLT)
The truth is, every one of us deserves to be in trouble, with or without the help of a tattletale, and the world has seeing our punishment handed down on its mind. “Yet, God.” Because of His grace our punishment isn’t simply handed down; but because Jesus’s hands were nailed down to the cross, it has been forgiven. Now that’s a tale worth telling!
This post is written as part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free Writes Challenge. You can read posts from other writers on the same topics over at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com I hope you know that I so appreciate you being here! God bless, Cindy
Cindy, this post is full of truths. We all sin. I love that old saying when you point your finger at someone remember there are four more pointing back at you. Glad to meet you as part of the October writing challenge.
So true – none of us is perfect, and remembering that should help us offer grace to others!
Well said, as always!!