2 Samuel 12:1-14
Last night, I was having frozen yogurt
with my small group, and we started talking about the state of our
church. As I listened, I could tell that our church is in a
transition state. There's something in the air, and it's causing
people to question things.
People aren't doing what they're
expected to do, and it's pissing other people off. I made sure to
chime in with the voice of righteousness and tell the people sitting
at my table that we shouldn't make judgments about how much or how
little someone is doing something.
It wasn't five minutes later that I
completely contradicted my own statement and started going off on the
people I thought weren't doing things right. It was a perfect example
of what happens when I think I'm the voice of righteousness. I'll say
something profound and leader-worthy, and then blow it up with my own
contradictory bad-mouthing of people who aren't living the way I
think they're supposed to live.
In today's passage, the prophet Nathan
is confronting David about murdering Uriah the Hittite after sleeping
with his wife. Yes, that's right. The man after God's own heart is
having a come to Jesus because he's just screwed up big time.
Interestingly, the way Nathan confronts
David isn't through a lecture or a scolding, but through a parable.
Nathan tells David about two men – one rich with lots of livestock,
and the other poor with a mere lamb. The poor man's lamb is like
family. It eats off the plates of the family, drinks from the family
cup, and even sleeps in the family bed. It's like a daughter to the
man.
One day, a visitor arrives to the rich
man's house, but the rich man is too stingy to give up any of his
livestock to feed the hungry visitor. So, he goes after the poor
man's lamb. The rich man steals the poor man's lamb because he
doesn't want to sacrifice any of his bountiful herd.
When David hears the parable he
screams, “Someone should find where this man is and kill him!”
Nathan responds, “The rich man is
you.”
When David realizes
that he's the character in the story, he confesses his screwup and
says he's sinned against God.
I'm convinced that
my eyes are naturally set to see the mistakes and flaws in other
people. When I hear a news story or watch other people, my eyes are
If I can see a
mistake and flaw in somebody else, that means I already know what the
flaw is. How do I know what it is? I've done it myself. I don't
notice other people's flaws if I don't have the flaws myself.
It is normal to
hone in on the defects of other people. It's normal to get into
political, theological, and philosophical conversations about how bad
or wrong politicians, church leaders, televangelists, or coworkers
are. That's why we have news media.
What's not normal
is taking a look at ourselves to see why we feel such a strong need
to hone in on other peoples' bad behavior. I believe there's a
spiritual alternative to every normal misgiving. So, if the normal
thing is to judge other people, then there must be a spiritual
solution. The spiritual solution I use is two fold.
First, I ask myself
certain questions about how I functioned throughout the day. Was I
resentful? Was I selfish? Was I thinking of myself most of the time?
There are about fifteen questions that I answer honestly to gauge
where my heart is each morning. If I don't do this, I am blind to my
own flaws. The more blind I am to my own flaws, the more I see the
flaws in others. Make sense?
The other way I can
gauge how accurately I'm seeing my own mistakes is through others. I
find somebody I trust, who knows the good and bad, and give them
permission to speak.
The lie is that I'm
always righteous. The truth is that most of the time I'm not.
Today's Action: I'm going to
see or hear something that pisses me off today. I have two options:
judge the person in question, or ask myself if I share the same flaw.
Do something about it.
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