Turnabout is Fair Play

Have you ever experienced that humbling moment of getting caught doing something wrong, not long after you were just telling someone else not to do the very same thing? If you're a parent, I'm pretty sure you have. We all try to set good examples for our kids, but we all backslide from time to time. Thus, the "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy of parenting often comes into play. It shouldn't, but it does. However, this article has almost nothing to do with parenting...well, at least with us as humans being parents.

Last week at AWANA, one of our leaders expressed to me his disapproval of the way that events for that evening had been organized. I told him that, while I saw his point and even agreed with him in some respects, it was not our job to arrange these events; it was our job to see that said events were run successfully - as they were organized. It was our job to present unified leadership to the kids we were shepherding throughout the evening. The decision had already been made, not by committee, but by our ruling authority. In other words, we had our marching orders; it was time to shut up and follow them.

This past Sunday evening, I found myself involved in a conversation with this same leader about various facets of our AWANA ministry that I disapproved of. I hadn't intended for our dialog to last over an hour, but it did. I kept wanting to walk out the door and get home, but the Holy Spirit kept me rooted where I was, saying "listen to this man." Eventually, I came to realize that our conversational roles from several evenings prior were now reversed. I was the one who was out of line, and he was correcting me.

It did not matter that we were not at a club meeting at the time, with kids all around us waiting for us to lead. What mattered was that I was now the one who was disrespecting the chain of command, and I was taking my problem to the wrong person. This is how divisions begin in the church, and as Bible-believing Christ followers, we should not be a part of this practice. The church should be unified before the world and before God, speaking with one voice, proclaiming the same gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, as the once-and-for-all atonement for our sins.

How easy it is for us to get distracted by our own narrow, selfish point of view. How easy it is for us to take our eyes off the prize. How easy it is to forget what our primary objective is as disciples of Christ - to go forth and make other disciples of Christ. I was reminded that God's purpose was being fulfilled through our AWANA ministry, so the petty details should not matter. Dozens of kids have been saved this year as a result of what God has done through us. There are only two club meetings left this year, and I here I am, attempting to muddy the waters, to prevent us from finishing strong. What a fool I am!

As my loving Heavenly Father, God is my provider, my guide, and even my disciplinarian when necessary. That is, He is the best parent I could ever or will ever have. My job as His child is to trust and obey - to leave the details to Him, to trust He knows what He is doing, and to do what I'm called, told, or led to do. God does not make mistakes, nor does He ever give us a bad example to follow. It was no mistake that He preserved His word for us to read today, and it was no mistake that, within His word, we are given the best example possible to follow - the life and death of Jesus.

"Father, You are my sovereign Lord. Thank you for your discipline. Thank you for giving me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it. Help me to trust always that You know exactly what You are doing, and to leave the details to You. Take my life, and be further glorified by it. In Jesus' name, amen."

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." - Matthew 7:5

"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." - Ephesians 5:21