Thinking about a set of painful and relationally fraught circumstances in our locality has provoked this outpouring. I so hope that compassion and common sense may prevail here, eventually, but …
… how quick we can be in passing judgement on others, affixing labels, which tend to stick, colouring future thoughts and inter-actions, thus locking people into our self-opinionated prisons, and cutting them off from meaningful relationship. When we do ‘write off’ someone in such a way we actually take on the various roles of prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, acting as only God has a right to do and, in effect, making ourselves into little gods. A lesson we fail to learn repeatedly is that it’s not for us to judge another person, or the path he/she decides to take simply because it differs from ours or from what we think is right or appropriate.
A reprehensible feature of our fallen human condition is this tendency to demean others, at the same time making ourselves look good, or better, without giving a second thought about the pain or misery we may inflict. Meanwhile, of course, we deeply resent any ‘discrimination’ against ourselves, and protest vehemently if we’re pigeon-holed or categorised – as though victims of major injustice. It’s a fact, no-one thrives by being locked down in the negative judgements of others.
Sadly, when we write others off we deny, and may even prevent, the possibility of change, failing to take account of redeeming grace – that godly dynamic which is capable of transforming a Jacob (twister) into an Israel (prince with God) OR a Simon (reed) into a Peter (rock) OR a Saul (Christ-hater) into a Paul (apostle) OR (in modern times) a Nelson Mandela (from terrorist into State President)
The wonderful reality is that divine grace sees beyond what we are at present, to what we may become, and even goes to work to fulfil that potential – so, for example, the previously-mentioned, Saul of Tarsus testified later in life: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy … so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience …” This beautifully reflects how all of us have been treated in the goodness of God, Who rather than writing us off, has written off the heavy debt of our sins, blotting them out, and choosing to bury them in the unfathomable ocean of His deliberate forgetfulness – so that where our sin overflows grace overflows even more.
Indeed, if God chose to remember and mark our misdemeanours we would be finished – or, in insurance parlance: A COMPLETE WRITE-OFF. Instead God can take the wreckage of human disaster and transform it into something beautiful, something worthwhile, something that actually honours Him – I find this simply astounding, and concur with the words of popular Christian song-writer, Bill Gaither, when he writes:
As those who embrace the Good News of free grace, we should find a fundamentally different attitude prevailing in our treatment of others – especially those who may not measure up, those who may differ from us, those who may fail miserably and so on – evidenced by deep compassion and understanding, rather than harsh and terminal write-offs ! We need to remember that at the very core of our Family Prayer we ask, “Forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive our debtors (those who trespass against us)”.
May we allow that grace, which is making something beautiful of our broken lives, to flow out through us, reaching those we’re inclined to write off and so enabling miraculous healing and transformation to occur where needed, mainly within us, methinks …
READY WRITER 