2 Timothy 2:22-26
Run away from infantile
indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining
those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get
involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s
servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher
who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to
obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change
of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s
trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his
errands.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
Each
night at Vacation Bible School (VBS), the leader talks to the children
during the opening activities about our mission project. This year, we
are collecting an offering to feed hungry families in Costa Rica.
During the crafts class, we are coloring fabric tote bags that will hold
food for distribution to these families. Our Costa Rica mission team
will deliver these bags and distribute the food later this summer.
As
leaders in countless VBS assemblies across the country probably do,
ours has challenged the boys to out-give the girls in this mission fund
raising. For the first two nights, the boys “out-gave” the girls by a
margin of almost 2 to 1. Last night, the tables turned, and the girls
donated almost twice as much as the boys. So our leader declared the
girls the “winners”, and a shriek like only little girls can emit
pierced the Family Life Center. Many of us - adults AND children -
covered our ears in defense. And Timothy burst into tears.
“We’re
LOSERS!” he cried. “She said the boys are LOSERS!” Big tears poured
down his face as he buried his head in my lap. I tried to console him.
I tried to explain that this was not what our leader meant. We are ALL
winners because Jesus loves us, and we are doing a GOOD THING as we use
our money to buy food for these hungry families. Timothy has been
concerned for the Costa Rican children. Each night at VBS he has asked
me about them…how will they manage without food (we’re going to feed
them), aren’t they lonely and sad (no, they will be happy to get our
bags filled with food, and they will know that someone loves them – that
Jesus loves them). And now, he feels like a loser…a failure.
We’re
working on this. I know that there will come a time when Timothy will
understand that this is just a game. When he gets older, he will
probably revel in this competition – and “beating” his sister at
anything and everything! But for now, this little guy is truly
disturbed to think that he and the other boys are “losers”. This breaks
my heart…and opens my eyes.
As I read today’s scripture passage,
I couldn’t help but replay this incident in my head. Where have we
gotten involved in seemingly innocent conversations and activities that
stir up trouble we didn’t ever imagine? Where have our thoughts and
deeds been insensitive, sparked an argument, and truly been inane to
begin with? In the case of our churches and money, it strikes me as
rather curious that we tend to emphasize “giving” so much, while
ministering to many people who barely have two nickels to rub together.
We say we want the hungry, the homeless and the downtrodden to join
us…to feel the love of Jesus in our midst. And then we tell them that
they need them to “give until it hurts” - both figuratively and
literally.
We “step on toes” in numerous ways…from promoting our
own agendas to expounding on social and political views to gossip and
discrimination of all kinds. Sometimes we don’t have a clue that we are
doing this – or hurting someone else. Other times, I think we know it
(at least a little bit)…and for some reason, we simply don’t seem to
care. We go right ahead and do it anyway.
Last night when I took
the children home, Timothy asked, “The boys will win tomorrow
night…right?” I told him that honestly, I don’t know. But I reminded
him that he is ALWAYS a winner…every single day…that in Jesus’ eyes, he
can NEVER lose. I hope it was enough, should the little girls rally
again tonight and pour on the pressure! But I know for sure that I will
be more aware of the ways that I might be involved (even innocently) in
controversies, judgments, words and actions that could be viewed as
divisive or hurtful.
I will deliberately seek to operate in grace, mercy and compassion for others… to see things through their
eyes…and to ask God to show me how to minister out of His abundance and
mature righteousness. We can learn a lot from the tender heart of a
5-year-old. Maybe it’s time a lot of us returned to this perspective in
our own lives and saw things a little more literally…with fewer gray
areas. Jesus tells us in Matthew 19:14 that “God’s kingdom is made up
of people like these.” Are you childlike in your faith and
discipleship? Isn’t it time you were?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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