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Friday, October 29, 2004
I read a newspaper article about a young man who killed an 18-year-old girl because he was driving drunk. He was found guilty by a jury, who awarded the girl's parents a $1.5 million dollar settlement. The young man personally owed the parents that amount of money.
If I remember correctly, the parents of the girl offered an alternative settlement: If the young man would write a check for $1 per week for 18 years (the age of the girl who died), they would forgive the remainder of the settlement.
Sounds like a gracious offer, doesn't it? I mean, you pay a little over $900 bucks and the remainder is forgiven. You can't write them all at once or in advance, and if you're late, the deal's off...but you simply stroll down to the mailbox every Friday and drop a $1 check in the mail.
A little under 10 years afterward, the young man countersued the parents. Turns out that he felt the punishment was "cruel and unusual." Why would he say that? Isn't he the one getting a pretty good deal?
Not if you think about it.
Can you imagine what his Thursdays were like emotionally? He'd have to write a check with the date on it, put it in an envelope, seal it, stamp it, drop it in the mailbox. His check ledger would be filled with $1 entries each week, so every time he logged a check, he would be reminded...
...of his guilt. Of the trouble he caused.
It was likely the same way in the Old Testament. The first five chapters of Leviticus give detailed instructions on what's supposed to happen for a sinner to find access to a holy God (I'm sure you're busy reading them right now!). The only way is through the bloody, gross, killing of a perfect, innocent animal. Killing is serious business, and highlights that another death pays the price for our guilt.
Can you imagine what the Israelites must've gone through every time they needed to get right with God? They had to go through the bloody, gross, killing of a perfect, innocent animal every time they wanted to become clean. Can you imagine what their "Fridays" looked like? Their "check ledgers?"
And we do that same type of thing in Christian circles, too. We focus on sin and it's effects and we throw little pity-parties and beat ourselves up over and over and dwell on how it's no use to persevere in this walk with Christ. We think that we might as well just give in to it and give up...
..and the "other side" wins.
We lose our joy. The thing that lets the outsiders know we're out-living them. There's no laughter in our mouths. There's no joyful shouting in our voices. We're too busy focused on ourselves and our problems and our inadequacies. And we might be those things.
But the constant focus is on ourselves.
And fixing the "joy robbers" in our lives can only be done by focusing on the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" "once and for all."
More on that tomorrow...but for today, what is it that commonly robs you of your joy? What does that do to your emotions and thoughts? What happens to your personality and demeanor when you lose your joy? Why?
P.S. I know this was a downer of a devotional...but that's the beauty of the Good News, and we'll look at that in-depth tomorrow. Hang in there!
Brent 4:01 AM
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