I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ statement from this controversial story:
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. John 8:7b (ESV)
Ever done anything stupid or make a humungous mistake? We all have since we’re less than perfect.
When someone does something idiotic, don’t you think we ought to cut them some slack? Why would I, one less than perfect, condemn someone for their foolish actions.
I think we’ve culturally gotten into a bad rut. It seems we’ve begun to define people by their mistakes rather than see the contribution of the whole person. Why do we persecute others for their mistakes? It is self-justification? Maybe some how it feeds our own self-righteousness?
Can we give a little more slack and put down our stones? Let’s stop defining people by their shortcoming or mistakes. Let’s see them as people just like you and me. We’re all one bad decision away from doing something idiotic.
Your identity isn’t your shortcomings; people are more than the sum of their mistakes.
So, what’s my context? I have an acquaintance who posted something inappropriate on Facebook (like who hasn’t done that) and now they’ve been demonized as if the totality of their character is defined by this one stupid action. Really???
Oh, and if you don’t like the use of the “stupid” word, please don’t condemn me 🙂
