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“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”  – Matthew 7:3 

Even though it has been almost forty years ago, what I did still haunts me.  I was a young rising-star business executive back then, and pretty “hot stuff” so I thought.  One day on my way home from work I stopped at a local supermarket to pick up a few items, but just as I approached a certain checkout lane the clerk closed it, as it was either break time for her, much deserved I’m sure, or the end of her shift.  But I was in a rush, not to mention feeling self-important, so I proceeded to berate her for inconveniencing me, and even though I saw the hurt in her expression and tears form in the corners of her eyes, not once did I offer even the slightest apology.  And that incident has haunted me ever since.

I would like to say that is the worst thing I’ve ever done, but sadly I’m afraid I have offended far more people in far worse ways than that.  Yet, why that one instance has lingered in my conscience I’m not sure, except it has been a gift in a way, perhaps because the shame and guilt of it has helped mold me, hopefully into a better person.

These chaotic times we are living in seem to foster quick tempers.  We see it globally from the military conflicts raging in various parts of the world, to the political polarization in our own country from national to state to local, all the way down to our personal encounters with others in the ways people cut one another off in traffic, for example, to anger over political signs our neighbors place in their yards, all of which too often turns into violence against one another.  No wonder people get angry, myself included.

And that, I think, is where that haunting memory of my rude behavior in the supermarket all those years ago has become a gift, by reminding me when someone cuts me off in traffic, treats me or someone else poorly, has radically different political views, or worse, high profile people like politicians and entertainers getting involved in scandals, that yes I too have a history of bad behavior.  I even catch myself at times using other’s misdeeds as an excuse for letting myself off the hook from my own.  So, that makes Jesus’ question a convicting one, doesn’t it? “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27 

Can you imagine a football or baseball game without rules, a business or organization without policies, or society absent laws and regulations?  The purpose of laws, regulations, rules and policies, after all, is to provide structure and order.  Without them it would be chaos.  But while rules, regulations, laws and policies do an overall effective job controlling human behaviors within reasonable boundaries, the one thing they cannot do is form or change a person’s character; for character comes from the heart, and is represented by behavior beyond simply abiding by the letter of the law.

My least favorite duty back in my Wall Street days was being responsible for ensuring everyone within my scope of influence abided by the rules and regulations, being a policeman of sorts.  I hated that.  But it wasn’t keeping people within the boundaries of the rules that was so difficult; rather the challenge was that certain people mistook abiding by the letter of the law with actually doing what is right.  Not the same.

Ironically it was an “expert in the law” who questioned Jesus about the most important commandment, for which he already knew the correct answer.  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself,” the man quoted from Deuteronomy.  And, being a strict rule follower he challenged Jesus further to clarify who exactly is one’s neighbor.  That’s when Jesus launched into perhaps his most famous parable, the story of the Good Samaritan.  We all know it well.  A man was lying beside the road half dead after being beaten and robbed.  A priest and a Levite each passed by without offering help – perfectly legal according to the Law.  But a Samaritan came along and stopped to render aid – doing what is right, beyond simply abiding by the letter of the law.

Laws, rules, regulations and policies do help to provide structure and order to society, and help us distinguish right from wrong.  But true obedience to the law is not simply following it to the letter, rather living within the spirit of it by loving God and loving others, obedience to which can only come from the heart.  That is why abiding by the letter of the law and doing what is right is not always the same thing.

“For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to give you hope and a future.”

• Jeremiah 29:11 

Our friend Lisa had had a trying week recently, and by Friday found herself both exhausted and discouraged, so on her way home she decided to do something she rarely allowed herself to do, indulge in her favorite fast-food meal, the #8 at McDonald’s.  Soon enough she was in the drive-thru lane, and with her permission I share how she described what happened next.

“After placing my order, I approached the pay window, where a young woman greeted me with a radiant smile.  Her joy alone lifted my spirits.  To my surprise, she excitedly revealed that the car ahead of me had paid for my meal, wishing me a great day.  In that moment, I felt as if God was sending me a message.  My doubts about hope melted away, and the heaviness I carried began to lift. . . The person in front of me didn’t know anything about my gender, race, faith, or political beliefs; they simply wanted to spread joy, and they succeeded!”  It was in that moment it hit her, “There is hope!” she realized.

Hope!  It has been said of human beings that we can live forty days without food, four days without water, and four minutes without air.  But we cannot live four seconds without hope.  Whether that is scientifically accurate I cannot say, but what I do know is that hope is essential to living.  As Dostoevsky put it, “To live without hope is to cease to live.”  Think about that in terms of the impact that kind person had on our friend Lisa in paying for her #8 order.  That generous stranger not only bought her meal, but in doing so performed CPR, breathing new life into a discouraged soul.

These are troubling times we are living in, when hope seems in short supply, especially when we look for it in all the wrong places – the internet, social media, political parties, world leaders, and the like.  Yet hope is alive and well as ever, just not “out there,” rather right in front of us, like that stranger in the car ahead in the drive-thru lane.  God, of course, is our ultimate Hope, as He promised through his prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to give you hope and a future.”  But since we are created in God’s image, so must we share that hope with each other. . . And would you like to guess what Lisa did for the stranger behind her in that drive-thru lane?

“Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” – 1 Corinthians 10:24 

I was just a little tyke when this occurred, maybe four or five, but I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was just before Christmas and we had gone over to visit my parents’ longtime close friends, Millie and Jack, when just as we stepped in their front door I spied two bushel-baskets beneath their lavishly decorated Christmas tree overflowing with every sort of toy you can imagine.  My eyes glazed over as I figured Santa Claus must have arrived early at their house – and on my behalf no doubt.  Just as I was about to dive into the middle of those bountiful baskets of treasures I heard that all too familiar voice stop me in my tracks.  “No, darling,” Millie lovingly chided, “those toys are for . . . [a certain needy family in our community.]”  Instinctively I knew, even at that young age, exactly the family she was referring to, and that they were indeed needy – and that I was not.  I’ve never forgotten the lesson I learned that day.

For over fifty years Millie labored long sometimes erratic hours caring for people as a nurse.  (She was the delivery room nurse when I was born.)  Even after retirement she had a heart for caring for others in one way or another.  Jack was a prominent grocer, and I’ve been told that during the darkest days of drought and depression in our small farming community he continued to sell groceries on credit knowing many could never afford to pay, his concern always being about feeding families rather than lining his pockets.

Millie and Jack’s lives were driven by the kind of purpose Rick Warren described in his best-selling book a few years back, The Purpose Driven Life, as not about them, but about others, being leaders in every sense of the word, unafraid to take on responsibility for the welfare and betterment of the children and citizens of the community.

Millie lived well into her nineties, and during those last years of her life I would often make the long trek out to West Texas to visit her, to “sit at her feet,” as they say, listen to her stories, absorbing her wisdom.  In the end what I learned is the same thing she taught me all those many Christmases ago when I was a little tyke, and what St. Paul expressed in that great scripture passage, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”  What I learned from Millie and Jack was a gift from God, and as someone once said, “God’s gift to you is often God’s gift to others through you.”  I pray that to be so.

“Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.”  – Psalm 37:27 

I recall sitting in the office of an executive with the Wall Street firm where I was once employed discussing the challenges of dealing with unethical or marginally ethical people within our industry.  (Every profession has them, by the way.)  The executive with whom I was meeting made a comment I will never forget.  Bad people never last, he assured me.  Eventually they go too far, step over the line, and get caught resulting in disciplinary action, firing, revoked licenses, law suits, or prosecution – and on rare occasions all the above.  I disagreed; for it seemed these clever shysters were ever present in my world placing an enormous burden on my staff and me to constantly monitor and police their activities – not the best use of our time and energy.  It’s just a fact of life, though, that from petty dishonesty to crime to terrorism to murderous dictatorships, evil is forever among us, and indeed has been throughout the history of mankind.

Someone once said that no matter how things may appear, there is no future in evil, only in good.  Pondering that has caused me to take heart; for discouraging as it is when it seems the bad guys win, when we consider that throughout history when evil actually is defeated – and it always is eventually, though not necessarily within our lifetimes – it is because in some way good has prevailed, thus validating that there is no future in evil, only in good.  Or as my old Wall Street executive friend assured me, bad people never last.

On Mount Sinai Moses received the same assurance from the Lord himself who said, “. . . for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

So we should take heart in doing good, for by doing so we are paving a path for the future; as there is no future in evil, only in good.  Or as the Psalmist affirms, “. . . do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.”