Walk in Truth and Grace

I was excited to share the news of being able to attend an event with a nationally known speaker and mentioned it in conversation at lunch with another ministry couple I'd been thrown together with for the day. My elation was met with a scrunched nose and words of, "You couldn't pay me to sit through that and listen to Glenn speak."

My table-mates then tore apart the speaker, nit-picking over things they'd heard (misquoted, at that) and stomped on my admiration of this man who'd done more to point me to the cross than anyone else in my life. 

I learned long ago not to argue with these types, not to try to defend the speaker I was excited to see, because preconceived opinions are rarely changed. At each bit of their dissection of Glenn they sat a little taller in their seats. 

"He's divorced, you know."
Yes. Everyone knows, it was headline news. 
"I  heard he cheated on his wife and that's why he got divorced."

I sat back and listened to the negativity being served and hoped that lunch would end quickly.

"He's done things we would never do."

And that's when it hit me.

No, you might not sin in the same way he has but you still sin.

I looked at this couple and hoped that when the years grew them into maturity they'd realize their words did not align with their actions, because I'd witnessed Julie and Scott in a web of deception that reached far beyond the walls they tried to keep it in.

Julie and Scott were in youth ministry at the time it happened. Pastor Scott was growing the youth group out of the room designated for them and had permission to rent space closer to the high school, but this space was also used by the town council and they had some city memorabilia on display in the space that they didn't want moved or damaged. "No problem," Pastor Scott assured them, "We will take good care of it."

On the first evening they met there one of the teens tossed his shoes across the room and they knocked over the display. Pastor Scott watched in horror as the milk bottle from a now defunct dairy farm fell to the floor and shattered. He quickly cleaned up the mess and put the items back on the shelf.

Instead of confessing what happened to the town council, Pastor Scott and Julie said nothing. Instead, they did an internet search for the bottle and bought the first one they found. When it arrived they were dismayed to see that the bottle was quite larger than the one they'd watched break.

They returned it and continued the search. Even going so far as to have extended family look for this particular bottle at antique stores. They were nervous every time they went to have their youth meeting at the new location. They didn't make eye contact with the city council members when they saw them in public.

They didn't know what to do.

Finally, after about six months of this, they listened to the advice of Julie's parents and told the council members what had happened.

And you know what?

The council members laughed it off. The bottle was one of a dozen they had stored in a back room. They simply got another one and put it on display.

All of the fretting and deception of the previous few months could have been avoided if they'd simply confessed immediately. 

Unfortunately this act of deception was on display for their youth group and family to see. Not the kind of witness they hoped to project. 

Our lunch finally ended and I walked away remembering the words I'd seen on Facebook earlier that day, "Don't judge someone because they sin differently than you do."

We each fail daily. Walking in truth and grace are two fundamentals of being a Christian. Be honest, be kind, be like Christ.

The world is watching, be the light.