A fleeting glimpse of glory
We all make mistakes. Some make more than others though |
I’m a fairly positive guy. I
generally have a reasonably positive outlook on life and would consider myself ‘glass
half full’.
This drives some friends and work colleagues of mine a little bit
crazy. The question, “Why are you always
so disgustingly positive?” has been thrown my way on more than one occasion.
So when I get a little down, it’s quite noticeable.
Now, normally it takes quite a bit to get me down, but Wednesday this
week was one of those days.
I was feeling pretty tired in the morning and wasn’t exactly operating
at maximum thinking capacity. This
clearly manifested itself by me promptly screwing up two things at work in very
quick succession – all before 9am.
The condemnation was swift. I
had people in my ear for most of the next hour, laying into me for my mistakes.
I offered a number of apologies but these only seemed to spur people
on. It was like they sensed their prey
was weakened so they went in for the kill.
To be blunt, this wasn’t much fun; particularly because, in my opinion,
the mistakes weren’t that significant.
But the severity of a mistake is in the eye of the beholder. The one who is affected by your mistakes is
naturally going to feel more aggrieved than the one who caused the mistake in
the first place.
So, in essence, I didn’t have a leg to stand on. I simply had to fall on my sword and admit
that, yes, I’d screwed up.
This did remind me though of how foreign it is in popular culture to
actually forgive someone when they make a mistake. To resist the urge to lay into them and tell
them what a muppet they are, but instead to not hold it against them.
To make a choice such as that, especially in the corporate world, is
often seen as weak. Yet, to the one who
is forgiven, it can be a wonderful thing.
All this was quite an interesting coincidence, as earlier that morning
I’d prayed quite a dangerous prayer. I’d
asked God to help me get a deeper understanding of His forgiveness so I could
be more thankful for it.
Well, in a worldly sense, that was a really dumb prayer. Because a really obvious way to contrast the
overwhelming and total forgiveness of God when we screw up, was to demonstrate
the complete lack of forgiveness other people give one another when mistakes
are made.
Yet, for a fleeting moment, probably no more than 2-3 seconds, I was
fully reminded afresh of how awesome God’s forgiveness is.
When you compare the outrage of people when relatively minor mistakes
are made, with the forgiveness of the creator of the universe when we grieve
Him… well… it’s one heck of a contrast, isn’t it?
Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, God doesn't hold our wrongdoings against us. Rather, He forgives us.
Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, God doesn't hold our wrongdoings against us. Rather, He forgives us.
So, on Wednesday this week, despite making a few mistakes and getting
my ego a little battered and bruised, I was able to get a renewed appreciation
for the awesomeness of God’s forgiveness.
I reckon that’s a fair trade.
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