It started as a simple spelling lesson. My son was sailing along with his spelling list and showing mastery of the phonetic rule we were focusing on, until we hit the last couple words on his list. He struggled with them and finally exclaimed, "Mommy, these words don't follow the rules. They are sinful!" I laughed to myself, as I began to question his reasoning. See, the words did not follow the rule we were focusing on, but they did follow a different phonetic rule that he knew, but wasn't expecting.
As we have gone through this week, I have seen how that same lesson applies to so many areas of my life. How many times have I stepped into the middle of an argument between children, made a quick judgement only to have one child explain that I wasn't seeing the whole picture.
How many times have I felt someone was being selfish and demanding, only to find out later that they saw the situation completely different and were working from a different set of principles. From their perspective their actions were not selfish, but from mine they were.
It reminds of me the adulterous woman in John 8. She was caught in an act that by Old Testament Law demanded she be stoned to death. The mob took her to do exactly that, but brought her to Jesus first. The scribes and Pharisees were technically right in their assessment of how she should be dealt with. There is no question about what she did and what she deserved. But in bringing her to Jesus, they were confronted with a different, and for them a "new" and higher law. The law of mercy and grace.
Jesus saw something they did not. He saw the bigger picture. He looked at not just the sin, but the hearts of the accusers and the sinner.
We are not told what He saw in the woman, but we do know what he saw in the crowd. He saw sinful hearts, whose view of the woman was tainted and distorted. While eager to judge and condemn the obvious sin of the woman, they were overlooking that every single one of them deserved the same punishment. While Jesus saw sinful hearts in need of salvation and grace, they saw a single sinful act in need of condemnation.
Jesus deals with this earlier in Matthew 7 when he reminds us to "take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye". Paul points to our limited view in 1 Corinthians 13, "For now we see in a mirror dimply, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."
Sin has corrupted our view of ourselves, of others and of God. While on this earth, we cannot see the big picture. We cannot see ourselves, others and God clearly, so our perspectives, views and judgments are always cloudy and distorted. Even in our most clearest God-moments, we are only seeing a dim reflection of God and His truth.
It is not that we should never call sin, sin. God has not told us we are to just allow sin go - in fact we are told the opposite. Sin must be confronted. But, we are to keep our own sin ever before us. We are to always be aware that we are just as wrong, just as sinful and just as deserving of condemnation as the worse of sinners. We are to always remember that we have no righteousness on our own. Anything good, upright and righteous in our lives is Christ's righteousness that He has given to us and we do not deserve it. That is why we are to always approach people with grace. Grace does not excuse sin, but it does say "Your sin has already been paid for". We are to "bear one another's burdens" because Christ already took all of our burdens on Himself to the cross. We are not to point to our, or other's, ability or choice to avoid sin, because it doesn't exist, but to the power of the resurrected Christ who has already overcome sin for us. The law of sin and condemnation is always overshadowed by the law of grace.
So next time I enter a room to yell at children to stop fighting, I need to take a good look at whether I am looking to stop an argument that is disrupting the peaceful home I want, or am I aiming to point fellow sinners to the cross of Christ and the wholeness He brings. When I am judging the selfishness I see in someone else, am I seeking to go to the cross with a fellow sinner, or am I attempting to change someone else's heart on my own terms.
Just as my child needed to take a good look at what law he was applying to his spelling lesson, we need to take a look at whether we are living under the impossible, distorted rule of law, or under the Law of Grace Jesus bought for us on the cross.
