Flashback time. And granted, some people who read these devotionals didn’t grow up in Memphis…or just didn’t get into it (like my wife)…or whatever the case may be. But I understand that some people won’t realize that for a LARGE part of the Memphis and the Mid-South, the world used to stop every Saturday morning at 11:00. It didn’t matter what you were doing before that, or what you had planned that afternoon. Watching wrestling on Channel 5 was what you did at 11:00 on Saturday morning. The manly soap opera that was Channel 5 professional wrestling. Jerry “The King” Lawler, “Superstar” Bill Dundee, “Dirty” Dutch Mantell and the whole gang doing their thing every week. And I fully acknowledge, the actual “rasslin’” that happened in the ring was just something that helped space out the good stuff – the actual “rasslin’” was mediocre at best. Nothing great about it at all…some body slams, a few punches, and finally someone interrupting the match by running in from the back. But the good stuff was the microphone time. The interview times when THIS guy told the world what he was going to do to THAT guy on Monday night at the Mid-South Coliseum. “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart (a title I always wanted for myself) would come out and insult the “good guys”…and then, oh help him, and then he would taunt the fans in the stands while talking to Lance Russell and Dave Brown. And he always knew EXACTLY which phrases to throw out there to get them riled up. And it wasn’t just Jimmy Hart. But it didn’t matter if it was Andy Kaufman, or “The Universal Heartthrob” Austin Idol, or Hulk Hogan – they would turn to the crowd and call them a bunch of idiot, beer-drinking rednecks and oh, the outrage from the crowd was so loud that you’d have to turn the TV down.
Do we do that in arguments with each other? Co-workers? Friends? Family? Spouses?
Do we dig up that one issue, that one insult – that one thing that we can’t get past – and when our frustration with the other is at its peak, we drop that one thing on their head that’s sure to get the audience riled up? Something that happened years, maybe even decades ago? The easy button topic that gets drug up like a worn out old circus act…”oh great, here’s THAT again”. People will disagree, that’s just how it is. We’re all individuals, and we all have opinions on how things should be handled, or done, or not done, or spent, or not spent. But at what point does it get so far beyond a discussion about politics that we’re drudging up something that I’ve held against you since high school? And as usual, I’m not sitting in a glass house chucking rocks at my readers. I absolutely do it. Some guy at works makes me mad, and I drag up stuff he did 10-12 years ago. Some guy’s name from church comes up, and it’s “well, this one time, I sat there and listened to him just make jokes about this other guy – everything from how he looked to what he was wearing”…yeah, you read that right. “this one time” And it’s the first thing I go to…it’s something that I need to work on, I know.
The Bible has a lot to say about forgiveness. To name a few (In the essence of space I’ll ask you to look them up, I’ll not copy and paste them all here), Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 18:21-22, Luke 17:3-4, Acts 7:59-60, 1 John 1:9 – just to name a few about God’s feelings on how we should forgive others.
But to me, one the most powerful is Matthew 6:14-15. “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” That seems pretty self-explanatory to me – and very powerful. And to go along with that one is John 8:7…a woman caught in the act…brought before Jesus…”If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And I have a whole different devotional around this one. But for now, the point I’d like to make in this context is the Whisper I’d like you to listen for in this devotional.
Listen for the Whisper that says, when the One without sin had the chance to throw the stone, he didn’t. She was caught in the act. Some suggest she was set up simply so she COULD be caught in act so that the Jewish leaders could use her to trap Jesus. But the answer Jesus gave them was that the guiltless one could throw the first stone…and when all of the guilty men dropped their stones, the one guiltless Man among them, offered forgiveness. “Go and sin no more.”
The One entitled and qualified (by His own answer) to throw the first stone, did not throw a stone at her. She was caught in the act…it was a softball lobbed up to Jesus. But He didn’t push the easy button. He didn’t go to that old reliable argument starter about calling the Jewish leader hypocrites. And later when hanging on the cross, what did He offer? What did He ask for? Forgiveness. Forgiveness offered to the thief hanging beside him, and forgiveness asked for those that taunted and crucified Him. He knew their sins. He knew why He was hanging on that cross – but instead of dragging all that out and throwing it back in their faces, he offered the same thing He offered the woman caught in adultery: Forgiveness. (I’m hearing the chorus of Don Henley’s “Heart of the Matter” somewhere in the distance…”I think it’s about – Forgiveness, forgiveness, even if...you don’t love me anymore.”)
So the next time you face the temptation to blow the dust off that same tired old Easy-Button argument, don’t be Jimmy Hart. Don’t go to that one thing that you know will get them riled up. Don’t be so consumed with winning an argument or beating the other person, that you fail to remember that Jesus has forgiven you…and you are the one that caused His need to die on a cross. Just like I did. Just like the person you’re arguing with did. Just like we all did. And if Jesus can forgive all of us, and we’re willing to accept His forgiveness, then we need to be resolved to forgive each other. And once we’ve offered them forgiveness, we can let go of the Easy Button “crusher” argument-winner and focus on working through whatever differences we’re facing at the moment.
~Dwayne
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