Us versus Grace

     In a room full of traffic offenders, almost everyone is indignant that they have been caught speeding when others (who were, apparently, faster and therefore "more wrong") got away without being stopped, and so the offenders who were slow enough to get caught should not be found guilty.  Awesome logic, that.

     The second attempt to deflect attention away from one's own bad actions is to blame something inanimate that forced your unlawful action:  "The speed limit is too low on that road," (as though every driver is empowered to be his or her own legislature); or  "It was raining/there was a lot of construction/I was in a strange neighborhood/it was dark and I couldn't stop/avoid the collision/see the stop sign," (as though there was no driver responsibility to avoid obstacles or adjust their driving according to road conditions).  

     When I was a judge in my previous life, I used to try to explain that in America, self-government meant that we were expected to use self-restraint and respect the rights of others; and that people shouldn't complain about the government making "too many laws" because it is their own behavior that caused the proliferation of laws:  folks couldn't manage to drive in a single lane, in the same direction, at a safe speed.   (Someone once told me that "if you throw the book at somebody you don't get to lecture them; if you're reducing the fine, you can say whatever you want...")!

     The following profundity is why I love studying the Bible in small groups...while not an exact quote, the gist of the comment was:

     "When people can't restrain themselves and respect others, we create rules. When there are lots of rules, people break them. It becomes a lot of trouble to deal with the rulebreakers, so we just declare everyone right."

     That's our way.  This is God's way:

     This is the way to live a God-centered life.  Exceeding these limits will result in chaos, sickness and death.  I know you will not only break through these limits, you will bend them and blur them and blame others.  I love you and will forgive you for this, but you are still wrong in both your understanding and your actions, and I want you to let me steer you back to the best course, a better way.

     So when Grace is available, why do we still insist on being right?