Articles
Attitude Like His
If you are a walking talking human being, surely you can relate. Do you sometimes realize you are part of the problem and not part of the cure, or that some of your actions are just as condemnable as those of other people who you want to single out for whatever reason.
If you have ever been a boss, or a supervisor, a teacher, a parent, etc., you know that sometimes when you are trying to deal with a problem in other people, you realize pretty quick that you too have issues, even the same type of issues some times.
In our goal to love our neighbor as ourselves, sometimes in the midst of these situations we back way off from our original thought processes because the more we look at ourselves the harder it is to try and correct the missteps of someone else. Seeing and recognizing this gets easier the older and more mature you get, able to see yourself perhaps a little more realistically than when you were younger. We see that in the following Bible story.
"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. (John 8:3-9)
Some people will say 'Jesus didn't condemn this lady' and they are right, Jesus Himself says "neither do I condemn you". But if we leave it there, we don't finish Jesus' conversation with her though. He told her one more important thing, perhaps the most important thing said in the entire ordeal. He tells her plainly, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus never hinted she was OK as she was, He said she needed to change her life completely, leaving the sinful life she was living behind. That was the lesson for her, that and seeing Jesus as a loving compassionate 'teacher' (Rabbi), but the lesson for the rest of that mob and us today is that we all have problems with sin, and that all of us need to recognize that, and have compassion on people in their struggles just as we would want compassion in the midst of our own sin.
Maybe there is another lesson for the rest of us too. If we are still a slave to sin, Jesus tells us too, "leave your life of sin” and He not only tells us how to come to Him, but He paved the road.
