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Thursday
Reading: John 8 v 1 – 11
Evidence FOUR: The meek always look for the strength and virtues in
others.
Paul, in Philippians 2 v 3, tells us that we should regard one another as more
important than ourselves. In the world in which we live this teaching is terribly
counter-cultural. We tend to be programmed to look for the failures and the
flaws in other people and when we find them we make them look far bigger than
in fact they really are. I think it appropriate that we could at this point apply the
80/20 rule where people are generally 80% good and maybe 20% not so good,
but we have this incredible ability to take the 20% not so good and make it look
like it is in fact the 80%.
Jesus never fell for this trap. Jesus always applauded the strength and the virtues
of others even though they may have been so small. Just think, if you will, of the
call of Matthew in the passage above. None of the disciples, I’m sure, wanted
Matthew to join them in following Jesus, after all he was a tax collector, a sell-out
to the Romans, an outcast of society, and I’m sure the disciples could recount all
of this man’s failures. But there was something about Matthew that attracted
Jesus, and when Jesus called Matthew he immediately left his table to follow
Jesus. His life thereafter was merely a response to the wonder of that which
Jesus had seen which no-one else had.
One of the saddest tendencies in human relationships is the tendency to judge
people at their lowest point. A person can do a thousand good things and no-on