Clay in the Hands

Last night, my youngest son was doing homework and he asked me for a little help.  I have to be honest, there is very little homework these days with which I can actually help.  He asked me to define a deferent society.  I had to admit to him that I had heard the word but could not recall what it means.  So we looked it up together and I learned that it means mutually respectful – a tendency to yield to the will of another.  So a deferent society would be one in which everyone gets along because each person would be equally concerned about others’ feelings and desires.  Sounds good to me.  Unfortunately, sin has thrown a kink in that plan.

But it got me to thinking about the family of Christ followers – the church.  Surely, as believers, we could realize such a community.  Unfortunately, as followers of the Way, we are not immune to sin and selfishness.  We allow our own desires of getting ahead and getting the things we want to supersede our relationships.

Possibly even worse is when we allow our beliefs to drive wedges in our relationships within the family.  This morning I was reading in Romans 14 (yep, I’m still in Romans) about a different kind of problem we face in the church.  The problem of being judgmental – of drawing our circles of what is acceptable smaller and smaller – until we are the only ones left inside.

Paul says this in Romans 14:1-4

¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. ² One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Accept him whose faith is weak and don’t pass judgment when it comes to issues that are matters of opinion.

Now I realize that the issues I deem as disputable may not be issues someone else sees as disputable.  But what I understand Paul to be saying is that we should have respect for others and their opinions.  Ultimately, it is God that we will all answer to anyway.

If the church could truly grasp this concept and begin to live it, I believe we would see a community of mutual respect and love, just as Jesus intended.  That would be a deferent community – one the world needs – one for which people are longing.