Now I know I've been notorious for blogging about kiddos... trust you me... I'll get to that in a few days. I'm still recovering; also still pondering why anyone on God's beautiful earth would come up with some grand idea of having elementary school kids go out the door at 7:01 in the morning to catch a bus to school. I get that it's good for the teenagers to sleep in later because their natural sleep rhythms change and they go to bed late... but did anyone bother to ask mom about THEIR sleep rhythms? If they had... I hope someone would have mentioned that there is a high percentage of us that are now walking our kids to the bus stop in our pajamas, hair half-in, half-out of yesterday's ponytail and flip flops on the wrong feet. Forget homemade lunches; it's "cafeteria-city, sweetheart" and a halitosis kiss from mom before you're on your way.
So, yeah, I got a couple of things to say about back to school... but it's not why I'm so worked up.
I'm sad.
And I'm mad.
And you know, that means I'm gonna write about it... and hope it blesses just one person as much as writing it down and sharing it with you blesses me. (And saves me a therapy co-pay.) :)
I wish we'd put away our rocks.
Not our diamonds... not our bling... our rocks.
The ones we come running with when someone screws up. When someone does something we cannot tolerate. When someone crosses the imaginary line of acceptable...that funny enough... we, as a "western" culture, promote and dare people to cross... but then flock like pigeons at a bread factory when someone crosses that line... gathering like a collective mob to throw that person under the bus.
Yes... I'm talking about Miley Cyrus (And you'll NEVER see my Hyperlink her name. If you like this story, share it... but I trust those who are supposed to read this will get their hands on it without me trying to manipulate search engines!) But I'm talking about just about every person here on the earth. We seem to have stones in our purse or briefcase... tucked away in our pockets... ready to come out a moment's notice when somebody does something.
Anything, really.
So she gyrated and sexed herself up and down on a stage in front of a world-wide audience. It's MTV... it's pop culture... there's no ethics committee in the media folks.. what did you think was going to happen? And now that it has... why are we lining up to throw stones at her? We've got her in every blog, every commentary, left-wing, right-wing... from E! News to Fox News... we're trying to assign her to some spot on the "you really screwed up" bell curve.
Reminds me of an old story I heard.... (Oh, you know where I'm going with this.)
John 8:1-11 NLT: As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 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!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Okay... so a woman CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ADULTERY... literally!!!! I mean, getting drug out of a bed, or wherever she is? Probably naked.... probably grabbed a bed sheet (what the heck was it made out of then, anyway?) Anyhoo... what does Jesus do? I mean, she broke the law and had tons of witnesses. And look at this crowd... they are ready... PUMPED... to "be good people" and slay her with their stones. And Jesus? Well, heforgives her and tells her to not do it again.
It's a great story of forgiveness, but I love the sub-plot here. Jesus gives simple directives to the gathered crowd... "Whoever hasn't sinned...not even one single time... YOU... YOU can be the first to hurl your rock at this gal's head." (Uh, translation mine.)
Even better is that while the crowd is so busy yelling accusations at the chick, calling for her death... Jesus looks down and starts drawing! Fast forward a 2013 of this story:
Everybody is busy dragging Miley Cyrus into the middle of the spotlight... tearing her down... pointing their finger, calling her names, expressing their outrage. But Jesus doesn't even stop to watch the news clips, read the tweets or re-post the letters to the press. He looks down and doodles on his etch-a-sketch. Then he asks all of us to go ahead and stone Miley if we have never sinned.
Pause.
The bible says that all sin is created equal. The bible says that in God's throne of judgement, killing your neighbor is just as much a sin as being jealous of your neighbor's new car. God doesn't "stack-rank" sin, people.
So where does that leave us? Definitely looking for a place to set down our rock.
Because who ARE we to judge?
Saved or unsaved... I'm fighting the good fight but I still fall to sin. You bet. In fact, until I am sitting next to Jesus in heaven, I DEFINITELY have to put my rock down. I've judged. I've been jealous. I've been angry. I've been greedy. I've been prideful. Shoot... that was just this week! :)
I hope you are hearing me here.
If the woman caught in adultery can be compared to Miley, he would have loved her, forgiven her and encouraged her to go and stop sinning. It's his love that leads us pursue a life of righteousness.
Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not outraged at Miley. We can be outraged at what America considers acceptable to air on TV and we can be mindful of what our own eyes take in and what images our children are subjected to... but that's a whole other post. I'm praying that Miley's heart would be turned to a life with Jesus. I'm praying that she would encounter the unconditional and radical love of Jesus. I'm praying for new people in her life to show her a different way!
But I'm not here to talk about the actions, instead, my heart was burdened by the hearts of others. I was even bothered by my own heart... not at what I did or didn't do about Miley's performance, per se, but what I've thought about others when they cross MY imaginary line of acceptable.
What we need to do is drop our stones and pick up our hammers.
Jesus was a carpenter until his ministry began. Let's use our hammer to "build" up a society that embraces and promotes wholeness, love and truth. Hammers can join things together... rocks destroy a structure! It seems to be a tool that brings a lot more love into the world as opposed to holding onto these rocks... ready to destroy.
John 13:34-35: "....Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
I'll admit... this is harder to do than you think. But I think this is a good place to start. Remembering that we are in no position to judge. Because when we really step back... we would all be deserving of those stones, wouldn't we??
I know, that for me and my heart... I will choose to remember we are ALL children of God. While I cannot control what happens to me, I can control how I respond to it.
Be blessed and feel loved... you are!
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