My little buddy, Lindsey, had come to spend the afternoon with me for the first time. A precocious child of four–curious and energetic–she began fiddling with the knobs on my stereo equipment. I quickly realized I needed to establish some guidelines. Since my television, stereo and VCR were black, only one rule was necessary.
“Lindsey, if it’s black, don’t touch it.”
To my delight, she accepted my request. Every so often, maybe to see if the rule had changed or just to let me know how compliant she was, she’d point to my stereo or TV. “This is black, so I can’t touch it, right?”
While this was an effective strategy in communicating with a four-year-old, I started thinking about how occasionally I’ve heard Christians speak this way to one another. For example, instead of taking the time to instruct a new or young believer with kindness and patience regarding what it means to be set apart for Christ, we say, you shouldn’t do this. Or you shouldn’t do that.
Though our salvation occurs in an instant, being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ takes a life time. God is infinitely patient with us. He simply asks that by His grace as His followers we extend this same kindness and patience to others. Legalism is stating God’s law without sharing God’s intent—His heart of love toward all. God doesn’t want us merely to obey “a bunch of rules.” He desires to know us and to enjoy fellowship with us. I’ll never get that. Yet with every ounce of my being I know it’s true.
Telling Lindsey not to touch anything black was helpful only because everything I didn’t want her to touch essentially was black. I chose not to address the real issue—that she was too young to operate my equipment.
As this new week begins, I want to take my own words to heart and remember God’s heart of love and compassion behind His commands.
“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage –with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:22)
This is good, Gayle. People need to know and love God first. I like your example of a four-year-old, because they tend to have a simple trust like that with those in authority over them, and if they are loved unconditionally, I think they “get it” more as they get older (that they are not loved for what they do, but who they are..)