My wife and I are helping...
Illustration
Object:
My wife and I are helping a girl in prison near our residence. She was a former grade school pupil of my wife's years ago. When we first went to see her in jail before she was sentenced, she wept to see us. She had no real family in our area. Her father was in prison for killing her mother. Now she calls us Mom and Dad. The first thing she said when we went to see her: "Why did you come to see anyone as bad as me? I did a terrible thing and deserve jail!" She had stolen a CD from a store while under the influence of drugs and shot into the ceiling when they tried to stop her. She never tried to justify her actions because of the terrible situation she came out of. She only planned to endure her punishment.
It is much more fun to always blame the other guy when we have troubles. The divorces I have counseled usually put the blame for the divorce on the other partner. That is one reason we have courts: It is up to a judge to decide which side is guilty. Lawyers are hired to make excuses to get the guilty off if they can. Sufficient money can help.
One thing we Christians should do is to accept responsibility for our actions. We do that in a general way in the confessional part of the service every week. One Sunday I used the passage of scripture that told us to set right anything we may have done to hurt anyone before coming to the Lord's table. I suggested that before we continue, those who have hurt someone should get up now and apologize. I was amazed to find two members who went over to apologize to another member. We were all crying it was so moving, but the communion meant something more to most of the people there that Sunday.
On the other side, I have had some in Nepal who had been arrested for trying to convert someone. They could face a six-year prison sentence plus beatings. Some told me that they were released because they forgave the jailers who were hurting them. They even converted some.
I have read of some perpetrators in our courts who were given lighter sentences because they confessed to their sins -- with genuine feeling. I have seen marriages restored when there were meaningful confessions.
It is true that we sometimes try to excuse our faults because there are others who we feel are far worse than we are, but we should never forget our Lord who forgave those who were driving the nails into his body although he had done no sin. So we should think of our Lord and not ourselves first.
It is much more fun to always blame the other guy when we have troubles. The divorces I have counseled usually put the blame for the divorce on the other partner. That is one reason we have courts: It is up to a judge to decide which side is guilty. Lawyers are hired to make excuses to get the guilty off if they can. Sufficient money can help.
One thing we Christians should do is to accept responsibility for our actions. We do that in a general way in the confessional part of the service every week. One Sunday I used the passage of scripture that told us to set right anything we may have done to hurt anyone before coming to the Lord's table. I suggested that before we continue, those who have hurt someone should get up now and apologize. I was amazed to find two members who went over to apologize to another member. We were all crying it was so moving, but the communion meant something more to most of the people there that Sunday.
On the other side, I have had some in Nepal who had been arrested for trying to convert someone. They could face a six-year prison sentence plus beatings. Some told me that they were released because they forgave the jailers who were hurting them. They even converted some.
I have read of some perpetrators in our courts who were given lighter sentences because they confessed to their sins -- with genuine feeling. I have seen marriages restored when there were meaningful confessions.
It is true that we sometimes try to excuse our faults because there are others who we feel are far worse than we are, but we should never forget our Lord who forgave those who were driving the nails into his body although he had done no sin. So we should think of our Lord and not ourselves first.
